Magnus Carlsen admits 'failing' in Firouzja's tests as world No 1 begins Norway Chess 2026 with resounding loss

Magnus Carlsen spoke about not wanting to return to the World Chess Championship and his desire to retain the world No 1 title before the Norway Chess 2026 got underway on Monday, but his first game at the tournament proved to be a disaster as he was resoundingly beaten by Alireza Firouzja, finding himself at the bottom of the standings.

Firouzja, who recently suffered an ankle injury and played against Carlsen with his right leg resting on a chair, beat the five-time world champion in 38 moves. Carlsen was forced to resign under time pressure after committing a blunder.

Carlsen admits Firouzja outplayed him

Carlsen's blunder was playing Kg8 with black on the 33rd move when Nxe3 was the best choice. As a result, Carlsen resigned despite having the queen, a rook and a knight on the board.

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While admitting his mistake, Carlsen conceded that he was put under "a lot of tests" by Firouzja, who won the match convincingly.

"A very difficult game from early on," Carlsen told the broadcasters. "I kind of severely underestimated his plan of bishop G3 there. It seems so counterintuitive to move your bishop away to make way for the pawn, but I realised it was pretty dangerous. Later on, I think there were a lot of pleasant choices for him. He gave a lot of tests and at the end I failed them.

"He doesn't necessarily find the best moves always, but he put me under a ton of pressure, that's kind of what you want to do."

How Firouzja defeated Carlsen

While Carsen began with a loss, India's D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa picked up wins in Armageddon against Vincent Keymer and Wesley So, respectively, after playing out draws in their classical matches.