Stavanger: Moments after D Gukesh pulled off a shocking heist on Magnus Carlsen at Norway Chess on Sunday, his coach Grzegorz Gajewski was requested what it will imply to the Indian for the rest of the match.

World Chess Champion D Gukesh throughout Round 6 of Norway Chess 2025 match, in Stavanger, Norway. (Norway Chess)

“Well,” Gajewski stated, “hopefully we can break another unbreakable Arjun.”

The world champion positive did. In comparable model in addition, albeit not practically as startlingly. Gukesh beat Arjun Erigaisi in Round 7 of Norway Chess to earn his first traditional victory over his compatriot who, as Gajewski described, is a “very unpleasant opponent” for the world champion.

In scripting back-to-back firsts towards Carlsen and Erigaisi, the 19-year-old additionally flipped the script on the 2 males who had dragged him to defeats in his first two video games, elevating extra questions on Gukesh’s kind and confidence.

Accepting an enormous bar of chocolate from a fan after his win on Tuesday evening appeared acceptable, the bitter starting has certainly sweetened.

Gukesh’s place in each the victories nonetheless was something however candy. The nice escape towards the world No.1 was nearly surreal, and Gukesh arrived for his conflict towards Erigaisi in any case the opposite video games had begun.

After his belated first transfer “nothing went my way”, Gukesh summed up later. Digging right into a weak place, Gukesh held on till Erigaisi let the benefit slip. And then within the endgame plagued by errors, Gukesh sprang up.

“I was just losing at some point, was slowly getting outplayed,” Gukesh stated. “But once I got to this position, I had to keep making moves that don’t lose on the spot. Then in the time scramble, things happen.”

They positive have for him on this coastal metropolis as a result of Gukesh has, even in excessive adversity within the final two video games, refused to throw within the towel. The fighter in him has the shades of a youthful Norwegian.

A younger Magnus, as Gajewski recalled chatting with Indian media right here, “kept playing those little bit better positions” in testing conditions. “I don’t even experience him (Carlsen) having so many lost positions that he kept fighting in, but he was definitely a fighter,” he stated.

Gukesh has proven comparable qualities, actually in his final couple of video games the place he has demanded precision from his opponent in changing a successful place to a win. “And if you’re not up to it, you might mess up the position. Even if you’re No.1 in the world,” Gajewski stated.

Those two traits mixed have outlined Gukesh’s resurgence over the past couple of days. For Gajewski, the preventing spirit isn’t probably the most extraordinary side of it.

“In the sense, everyone here is a fighter,” he stated. “Simply, Gukesh has extraordinary calculation abilities, which, combined with his fighting spirit, help him defend so many positions.”

The two video games have, in a approach, been a microcosm of Gukesh’s time in Stavanger to date. As the world champion coming in with kind beneath a cloud, the opening two defeats had made issues gloomier for Gukesh. He discovered some gentle when he beat Hikaru Nakamura in classical and Fabiano Caruana in armageddon earlier than the final two wins brightened his place within the leaderboard to second (1 level behind Caruana, 0.5 above Carlsen) from down among the many final.

What bought him up, sarcastically, was a launch of strain after a aggravating begin.

“Your hopes kind of go down, your adrenalin goes down. And you feel relaxed, because all your tension is suddenly gone. It’s like you’re already lost,” Gajewski stated. “And then, the next games are much easier because you don’t feel the pressure you felt in the beginning.”

Gukesh, make no mistake, did really feel the strain, much more so after “an unsuccessful tournament in Bucharest”, because the Polish GM stated. The coach doesn’t want to learn an excessive amount of into Gukesh’s latest ends in freestyle occasions, however final month’s Superbet Classic the place Gukesh completed one level above the underside place was a “difficult” end result that jumbled his thoughts.

The gradual begin right here may’ve additional difficult the puzzling ideas. But, in contrast to the Stavanger climate, Gukesh ensured issues cleared up in time. “That’s a very big success, regardless of how the tournament ends,” Gajewski stated.

“This is a very nice thing to achieve for him because from now in every tournament, if he starts badly, he will know that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad tournament.”