Magnus Carlsen feels ‘really lucky to survive’ against Zhu Jiner in rare Classical clash

Magnus Carlsen survived a scare as he defeated Zhu Jiner in the fifth round of the TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament 2026 in Malmo on Tuesday. This was Carlsen's first rated Classical game against a woman in 8 years.

Carlsen won the match in 41 moves after making a frustrating start as China's Zhu Jiner blundered with Ng3 on the 36th move with her Black piece when Kf8 was the best move according to the engine.

Carlsen praises Zhu Jiner after winning

However, Zhu Jiner did manage to trouble world No 1 Carlsen at the beginning of the game as the five-time world champion later admitted that he was "lucky" to survive.

“No, it was incredibly shaky. I thought early on I was doing all right, but I couldn’t figure it out and then I lost the thread, she completely outplayed me for a while, and I didn’t like what was going on at all," Carlsen, who struggled with managing time, told Sveriges Schackförbund.

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"...I feel really lucky that I managed to survive.”

How Carlsen defeated Zhu Jiner

It was a much-needed win for Carlsen after his defeat to Jorden van Foreest in the previous round.

Playing his first Classical tournament in 2026, Carlsen admitted that his defeat was not a surprise as he was not ready for that level of competition.

"Yesterday was kind of fun, to be honest! A lot more fun than today, that’s for sure. I lost quite deservedly as well, so those things happen when you play pretty sharp chess, which I’m not really capable of at the moment.

Carlsen also spoke about his conqueror Van Foreest: "Obviously, I’ve played against him and I’ve seen a lot of his games against others, also in training camps. Jorden can look 2800 and 2400 in the span of minutes, both with his moves and his explanations and all of that, and that kind of makes him really interesting."

After five of the seven rounds at the TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament, Carlsen is currently half a point behind the leaders Arjun Erigaisi and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, who are 3.5/5.