World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju arrived in Stavanger on Saturday, 24 May, ahead of the highly anticipated Norway Chess 2025 tournament, set to begin on 26 May at the Sparebank 1 Sør-Norge headquarters.
The 18-year-old prodigy, who made history last year by defeating Ding Liren in Singapore to become the youngest world champion, is now set to clash with World No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the classical format — their first such encounter since Gukesh’s world title triumph.
Speaking about taking on the Norwegian icon Carlsen in his backyard, Gukesh said, “I feel great being here (in Stavanger). I’ve had good memories from Norway. I am sure playing Magnus here in a classical game will be a fun challenge. Also, for the spectators, it is about the world champion versus the No.1 player in the world. It surely sounds very exciting so it’s surely something I am very happy to give, myself and the chess fans. And I hope it will be a treat.”
“I see it as a challenge to prove to myself that I can handle this.” – Gukesh
Elaborating on keeping up with expectations, particularly after his recent success, Gukesh said, “It is a new level. But I see it as a challenge to prove to myself that I can handle this. Even though the expectations are high, I can meet them if I keep working hard and doing my best.”
“In a classical game, you end up playing five hours and those are the times you cannot be fully thinking about the game. I think there are random thoughts that come into our mind, but the important thing is to stay in the game and come back to those thoughts later. This is the purpose of the note that you’re making. And you can’t afford to allow weak moments,” he further added.
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