Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, suffered a major defeat on Sunday to current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.
After Dommaraju made his final move, Carlsen, 34, was seen slamming his fist onto the table and standing up out of his seat in frustration before shaking hands with the 19-year-old grandmaster from India. The video of Carlsen’s loss in the classic chess match at round six of Norway Chess, an annual international chess tournament, quickly spread on social and sparked a debate about sportsmanship online.
It was a shocking loss for Carlsen and a “lucky day” for Dommaraju, the younger chess grandmaster told a reporter with Norwegian broadcaster TV2.
The match was live streamed on Twitch via Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website. Despite the defeat, Carlsen was still in the lead at the tournament.
CARINA JOHANSEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images 
Magnus Carlsen’s ranking
Carlsen became the world’s top-ranked player in 2010 at 19 and has won five World Championships. He achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882 in 2014 and has remained the undisputed world No. 1 for more than a decade, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier this year, Carlsen made history after more than 143,000 people worldwide played against him in a single, record-setting game. Billed as “Magnus Carlsen vs. The World,” the online match began April 4 on Chess.com and was the first-ever online freestyle game to feature a world champion.
Who is the current chess world champion?
Dommaraju became the youngest world champion last year at just 18 years old following a final win over China’s Ding Liren at the International Chess Federation (FIDE) 2024 World Championship.
He surpassed a record held by Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at age 22, after clinching a dramatic endgame in Singapore to be crowned champion. Dommaraju also became the second Indian, after five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand, to hold the title.
Following his victory against Carlsen over the weekend, Dommaraju told TV2 that he was still shaking after the game.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said.
Dommaraju is ranked No. 5 in the world, according to Chess.com
How chess player rankings work
There are two main systems for chess ranking: the Elo System and the Glicko System. According to Chess.com, which uses the latter method, the ranking “represents your strength of play” and is calculated using statistics.
In the Elo System used by FIDE, the chance of one player defeating another is calculated in a percentage.
For example, player A has a 60% chance of defeating player B. If player B wins six out of 10 games, player B’s ranking would stay the same. If player B won seven or more games, player B’s ranking would go up. If player B wins 5 or fewer games, player B’s ranking would go down.
The Glicko System is more complicated and built on the Elo System, using a more complicated formula, Chess.com said.
contributed to this report.
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