Magnus Carlsen, world’s top-ranked chess player, has confessed that he is no longer enjoying the game, following a second successive defeat at the hands of Indian prodigy D Gukesh.
The 19-year-old Grandmaster defeated Carlsen once again, this time in the rapid format at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz event in Zagreb on Thursday, extending his winning run to five matches and taking sole lead after six rounds.
"Honestly, I am not enjoying playing chess at all right now," Carlsen said in a candid interview with Take Take Take. "I just, I don't feel any flow at all when I'm playing. I'm constantly hesitating and it's just really poor right now."
The latest loss comes just weeks after Gukesh stunned Carlsen in the classical format at the Norway Chess tournament, where the Norwegian reacted by famously banging the table in frustration.
Despite previously questioning Gukesh’s abilities in faster time controls, Carlsen acknowledged the Indian’s superior form. "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."
Also read: Gukesh topples Carlsen again, leads SuperUnited Rapid in style
Carlsen, who has managed only one win in the tournament so far, admitted that his performance had been well below his own standards. "I have played kind of poorly the whole tournament and this time I got soundly punished."
Reflecting on the game, Carlsen said he found himself "hopelessly lost" at one stage despite initially enjoying a strong position.
"I had a very, very nice position. He took his chance to open out his position with C6. After that it was a little bit like earlier where I got short of time and I couldn't really handle it that well and he found a lot of really good moves."
Carlsen added that he had a fleeting opportunity to draw but chose to press on. "I had one last chance at some point to bail out to something that was very, very drawish but I thought let's continue playing and then a couple of moves later I was pretty hopelessly lost."
The Norwegian was gracious in defeat, saying, "It was poor but all credit to Gukesh. He's playing well and is taking his chances too."
Gukesh, now the reigning world champion, has continued to prove his mettle on the global stage, particularly in formats where critics once doubted his agility.
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