Norway Chess 2025: Gukesh suffers successive loss as Arjun Erigaisi pulls of victory over World Champion

STAVANGER (Norway): Arjun Erigaisi pulled off a victory over D Gukesh in the second round of Norway Chess 2025 on Tuesday, to join Hikaru Nakamura, who defeated Magnus Carlsen in an Armageddon playoff after the two highest-ranked players in the world battled to a stalemate, in the joint leadership.

Reigning world champion Gukesh thus suffered his second defeat in as many days, having lost to world No. 1 Carlsen on the opening day of the event. Gukesh is placed at the bottom among six players, and he is also the only player not to collect a single point so far in the tournament.

Going into this game, Arjun had a stunning 5-0 record in classical wins against Gukesh, and he’s now made it six. Erigaisi finally defeated Gukesh in 62 moves, forcing his opponent to resign after giving him a check with his knight.

2nd LOSS in a row for the WORLD CHESS CHAMPION #NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/ATIVlvOVyH

— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) May 27, 2025

Fabiano Caruana bounced back with a fine win over GM Wei Yi, while GM Magnus Carlsen first spoiled a promising classical position against Nakamura and then lost a crazy Armageddon where he couldn’t put the finishing touches to a winning attack before the U.S. star hit back, according to chess.com.

Anna Muzychuk took the only classical win in round two of Women’s Norway Chess 2025 against Koneru Humpy to take a 1.5-point lead. After accurate draws, GMs Lei Tingjie and Ju Wenjun won their armageddon encounters against GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu and Sara Khadem, respectively.

Earlier, Gukesh suffered a defeat against Magnus Carlsen in a thrilling encounter. This was their first classical match since Gukesh won the world title, and it also marked Carlsen’s return to individual classical chess after nearly a year. Despite being away from classical tournaments for 12 months, Carlsen showed no signs of rust in his comeback.

Gukesh will play American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, while Erigaisi, on 4.5 points after two games, will take on another American, Fabiano Caruana. (ANI)