Carlsen gave up a farmer early, and that gave Duda the opportunity to put the world champion under pressure. After two breaks of thought for almost half an hour, Carlsen made a mistake on his 22nd move and gave his Polish opponent a big initiative.
The Norwegian chess set started to work their way back into the game, but with another mistake on move number 31, it eventually became too tough to avoid losing for the 126th time in a row in long chess.
– I overlooked the queen move he made. At the time, I really thought I was going to win. It’s extremely disappointing, Carlsen told TV 2 right after the party and continued:
– I sat and thought that it can not be so easy, but I did not see any move for him. I could not get away at all. It is completely unforgivable.
Duda, who was last in the Norway Chess summary before Saturday’s party, had the honor of being the first to beat Carlsen since 31 July 2018.
– I’m very happy, of course. I did not expect to win this game at all, said Duda.
Revenge opportunity
Carlsen gets the chance to revenge himself already on Sunday. Then a new meeting with Duda awaits. The world champion from Lommedalen has now played against all five of his opponents in the tournament in Stavanger.
This week, Carlsen will in turn meet Fabiano Caruana, Aryan Tari, Alireza Firouzja and Levon Aronian once again. There he must rise considerably after a messy party on Saturday.
More than half an hour passed before Carlsen made his 17th move, without there being particularly many moves the Norwegian considered.
– It was a terribly complicated party today. I gave a farmer for an attack on his king. Now I thought for a very long time about my last move. I do not know why, I did not have many options, Carlsen said in the confessional after 19 moves.
Loss cover
Before his 22nd move, Carlsen also thought for a long time, but this time the consequences were far greater. The chess computer gave Duda a clear advantage, even though both players struggled with little time left on the clock.
The time pressure and the bad position may have led to the loss in Carlsen’s 31st move. Then he overlooked Duda’s opportunity to shake his king piece with his tower.
Then Carlsen’s chances of winning and drawing were almost zero, and it was only a matter of time before the loss was a fact.
With the loss, Carlsen lost the lead in the Norway Chess summary. It happened after Levon Aronian and Alireza Firouzja won their games on Saturday. The latter beat Aryan Tari after the Norwegian had revealed himself with black pieces in the beginning.
Aronian leads with 11 points ahead of Firouzja with 10. Carlsen is standing with his 9 points.
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