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Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen went viral last week when he slammed his fist in frustration after he lost a classical match against Gukesh Dommaraju in the Norway Chess 2025 tournament.
Carlsen shook Dommaraju’s hand and walked off in a huff.
Carlsen appeared on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” and lamented his actions, explaining how he feels when he loses.
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Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen participates at the Energy Denmark Champions Battle 2019 in Circus Building, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 22, 2019. (Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters )
“Part of me, honestly, when I had that loss, recently just felt it was so dumb and so unnecessary, and it made me feel so kind of washed and useless,” he said on the podcast. “My thoughts for a few days were, ‘Ugh, I’m sure why I’m doing this.’ When I win, it’s good. It feels kind of normal. And when I lose, it just, you know, for a moment, the world just falls apart.”
Carlsen said the losses feel a lot worse than the wins feel great.
“Unfortunately, the sad thing about chess, as in life, is that negative feelings are kind of enhanced a bit,” he said. “Like a really painful loss, like people might have seen from my last tournament, it hits a lot harder than the wins.
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen attends a news conference ahead of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris April 7, 2025. (Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes)
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“So, I’ll have like, I’ll be very satisfied about the win often when I win. I may not always show it, but the reaction to losing is unfortunately stronger still.”
Carlsen is one of the most well-known chess players in the world and has a marketing empire behind him to show for it. The Play Magnus app is one of the top chess apps on mobile devices.
Carlsen still ranks first in standard, blitz and rapid chess, according to the World Chess Federation.
However, he has no real interest in being the “bad boy” of chess.
“I don’t inspire to be a bad boy. Sometimes I think I’m in a position compared to some of my peers I can afford not to take s—,” he said. “But, honestly, the moments I have like banging the table, I’m generally not going to apologize for outburst in the moment. As long as you realize after you are showing your opponent the proper respect.
Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen plays chess during the 6th TATA Steel Chess India Tournament at Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium. (Dipayan Bose/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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“I obviously wish I could’ve avoid that by winning the game. I honestly think that there should be room for that in chess as well. It is a little bit like smashing your racket in tennis as well. It is such an uptight sport to begin with that I think it is OK.”
Fox News’ Connor McGahan contributed to this report.
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