With the Grand Chess Tour underway in Croatia, longstanding opponents Magnus Carlsen and the youngest classical world champion in history, Gukesh D, are set to face each other. Firing a fresh castling attack on Gukesh, Carlsen set a tone of caution and said, ” I will sort of approach it as I’m playing one of the presumably weaker players in the tournament actually.”
Magnus Carlsen will take on Gukesh thrice over this tour, twice in the SuperUnited Rapid and once in Blitz Croatia 2025. This will mark their first interaction since the infamous “table-banging” match at the Norway Chess 2025.
Questioning Gukesh’s credentials in the shorter time control formats, Carlsen said that India’s number one “hasn’t done anything to indicate he’s going to do well in such a tournament.” “Gukesh actually played quite well here last time,” Carlsen conceded before adding, “But it remains to be proven that he’s one of the best players in such a format.”
Talking to interviewers ahead of the tournament in Zagreb he said, “this is a very, very strong field that we have here. Players like Gukesh and Anish Giri… they have a lot to prove because there aren’t a lot of players you can feast on… I hope for Gukesh’s sake that he can play better.”
After losing out on a close checkmate, Carlsen’s livid reaction welcomed comments from former world champion Garry Kasparov. He said that there are “heavier tables” in Zagreb to which Carlsen replied, “No, I plan to make good moves so that those gestures won’t be necessary.”
Grand Chess Tour 2025
The SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia is the third segment of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour. Apart from Carlsen and Gukesh, the field will welcome players like Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Ivan Saric. The format of this segment will include nine rounds of rapid and eighteen rounds of blitz. The rapid game between Gukesh and Carlsen is set to happen on Thursday, with the blitz games in the days after that.