D Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion. Since then, his journey has seen both success and struggle. He nearly won the Tata Steel Chess tournament but lost to R Praggnanandhaa in a tie-break. This close match took place in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.

However, his performance dropped in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.

Freestyle Chess results disappoint

Gukesh started the Freestyle Chess Tour in Weissenhaus, Germany. Unfortunately, he didn’t win a single game. Later, in the Paris event, he finished at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Currently, he is competing in the Superbet Classic in Poland, which is part of the Grand Chess Tour. After seven rounds, he has 3.5 points and stands in joint seventh place.

Criticism grows, but a new chance awaits

Due to recent results, Gukesh is under pressure. Critics have started questioning his ability as a world champion. Still, he has a big chance to bounce back. He will play in the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger later this month. Hopefully, this event can help him move past his Freestyle losses.

More importantly, the tournament will feature a highly anticipated match — Gukesh vs. Magnus Carlsen. It’s a clash between the current world champion and the world No. 1 in classical chess.

Carlsen plays down the clash

For Gukesh, this could be the biggest match of his career. In fact, it might mean more than his title win over Ding Liren in Singapore five months ago.

On the other hand, Carlsen has shown little excitement. The 34-year-old stepped away from classical chess in 2022. He chose not to defend his world title, which allowed Ding to face Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2023.

Since then, Carlsen has focused on Freestyle Chess. He co-founded the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and the Freestyle Chess Players Club with German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner.

In an interview on Take Take Take, Carlsen said, “Obviously I’ve played him in Freestyle but I know that that’s not his thing, at least so far. I think everybody has a lot of respect for him in Classical Chess.”

He also explained his reasons for avoiding the classical format. “But I can tell you for sure that the reason why I’m not playing a lot of Classical chess is that I’m not motivated to play it. I don’t want to play it that often.”

He added, “I think for him it’s different, it’s his main thing. So it’s kind of natural that we don’t clash that often.”

Norway Chess set to feature elite lineup

The 13th edition of Norway Chess will be held from May 26 to June 6. Carlsen, a six-time winner of this event, will play on home soil. Alongside him, the world’s top five players will also compete.

This includes Hikaru Nakamura (No. 2), Arjun Erigaisi (No. 4), and Fabiano Caruana (No. 5). Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi, ranked eighth, will also take part.

Overall, with $148,000 in prize money and a powerful lineup, Norway Chess promises to be one of the strongest tournaments this year.