Indian Chess grandmaster D Gukesh has revealed a deal with one of his cousins, who bet on the fact that the youngster will beat Magnus Carlsen in the Grand Chess Tour in Croatia. The 19-year-old disclosed that his cousin was upset with him about not giving a shoutout after a commanding victory over Carlsen.
Ahead of their showdown, Carlsen's comments of questioning Gukesh's ability in the rapid chess action gained plenty of spotlight. However, the Norwegian was forced to eat his words despite Carlsen beginning the game well but Gukesh outsmarted him when he tried to push the B pawn in what was the 23rd move of the bout. The tide of the contest changed Gukesh emerged victorious.
Speaking amid the Grand Chess Tour In Zagreb, Gukesh revealed:
"There is one thing, it's a bit funny. Before I came to this tournament, one of cousins, he told me that I was going to beat Magnus. Then I said, 'we made a deal that if I beat Magnus, I will give a shoutout to him in the interview. I forgot yesterday and he was quite upset about that. So, want to give a shoutout to him."
"I got soundly punished" - Magnus Carlsen
After the match, Carlsen admitted that he has hardly played the way he usually does and deserved to lose. He remarked, as quoted by The Hindustan Times:
"No, I've played kind of poorly the whole tournament and this time I got soundly punished. I think I had a very, very nice position. He took his chance to open up a position with c6. After that it was a little bit, like earlier, where I get short of time. I can't really handle it that well. And he found a lot of really, really good moves. And I think he did that part very well."
