'I got soundly punished': Magnus Carlsen praises D Gukesh after suffering another defeat, admits struggling for form

A humbled Magnus Carlsen conceded that D Gukesh winning five straight games at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2025 is “no mean feat” after the world No.1 was defeated by the current world champion on Thursday.

With five consecutive victories and a score of 10 after six Rapid matches at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2025, the 19-year-old Gukesh currently holds the sole lead after Day 2 against a tough 10-player field, two points clear of second-placed GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

The Thursday match between five-time world champion Carlsen and 2024 world champion Gukesh was their first meeting since Magnus lost his first-ever classical match to the Indian chess star in June 2025.

Ahead of their clash in Croatia, Carlsen had even taken a dig at Gukesh, calling him one of the "presumably weaker players."

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Gukesh, however, did not let the public criticism affect his game, as he forced Magnus to resign after 49 moves with the Norwegian for form.

Carlsen: I was 'soundly punished' against Gukesh

Analysing his defeat, Carlsen admitted that he was “soundly punished” by Gukesh for his mistakes.

“I have kind of played poorly throughout the tournament and this time I got soundly punished,” Carlsen told Take Take Take. “But I think I had a very nice position. He took his chances to open up the position with c6 and after it was a bit like earlier, where I got short of time and I can’t really handle it that well and yeah, he found a lot of really good moves.

“Yeah, he did that part very well. I had one last chance at some point to bail out to something which was drawish and then I thought, well, let’s continue playing. A couple of moves later, I was hopelessly lost, it was poor.”

Carlsen added that Gukesh deserves all the praise for taking his chances and winning five games in a row in the tournament.

"All credit to Gukesh; he's playing well and he's taking his chances too. - He's doing incredibly well now. It's a long way to go in the tournament, but winning five games in a row is no mean feat."