Reigning world champion D Gukesh defeated Magnus Carlsen in the sixth round of Grand Chess Tour, on Thurday. Facing each other in Zagreb, Gukesh has now taken the sole lead with 10 points after defeating the World No. 1.

Similar to how things unfolded during the Norway Chess 2025, Carlsen enjoyed the early advantage. Both players blitzed out at the start, with Magnus trying to catch Gukesh off gaurd with the English Opening. But then, on the 23rd move, Carlsen made a mistake, going to push his b pawn, ahead to b4, which shifted the tide in the Indian GM’s favour.

In the fourth and fifth round, Gukesh beat Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov and American GM Fabiano Caruana, before taking on Carlsen. The result served the perfect revenge for Gukesh, considering what Carlsen said ahead of the showdown.

After the win, Gukesh said, “Yes, beating Magnus is always special, for sure. I think this also gives a bit more confidence in a sense that, like, I just had a horrible position from the opening. I just mixed up something really bad. It's nice that, like, two losing positions in a row, I could win against Magnus."

Meanwhile, chess legend Garry Kasparov, who was present in the official commentary team, said, “Now we can question Magnus’ domination. This is not just his second loss to Gukesh, it’s a convincing loss. It’s not a miracle… or that Gukesh just kept benefitting from Magnus’ terrible mistakes. It was a game that was a big fight. And Magnus lost.”

Earlier, Gukesh began the day with a loss to Duda but bounced back decisively, outplaying a reckless Alireza Firouzja of France and defeating compatriot R Praggnanandhaa to earn four points out of six.

Carlsen matched Gukesh’s score, defeating Wesley So and drawing his games against local star Ivan Saric and Duda. Meanwhile, Wesley So, alongside Gukesh, was the only other player with all decisive games, securing victories over US compatriot Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri of the Netherlands.

The pair will meet again, and their upcoming games will be played in the blitz format.

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