Magnus Carlsen was defeated by American Hikaru Nakamura in the online semifinals of the Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters 2023 after the Norwegian (in his last tournament as world champion) bounced his mouse, CNN reports.

Magnus Carlsen’s mouse slipped

After ties in the first two games, the two faced off in an Armageddon-style skirmish, which involves one game in which one player (drawn by lot) plays white pieces and has 5 minutes at his disposal. His opponent with black pieces has only 4 minutes at his disposal. Since he has less time, the player with the black pieces wins even in the case of a draw.

After a close encounter, the match went down to the final seconds with very little chance of separating the two chess titans and deciding who would play Fabiano Caruana in the grand final.

A moment of bad luck for Carlsen leveled the two after the Norwegian’s mouse slipped and he bet the queen on F6, allowing Nakamura to take it and win.

Nakamura, wearing a T-shirt with the words “I just don’t care”, raised his fist in joy, while five-time world champion Carlsen grimaced in disappointment, News.ro writes.

Nakamura likened the pair’s rivalry to two giants of Major League Baseball.

“You try to defend and defend and he can’t win every game. I know he’s the greatest player of all time, but he can’t win every game! Can’t be lucky every time. It was just nice that the changes went my way.

It’s like comparing the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. I mean, the Red Sox won the World Series in 1918; they didn’t win again until I think it was 2004. Over the last few years I’ve found a way to play well… I think the main thing is that I don’t lose to Magnus. Before, I would have lost my way very quickly” – Hikaru Nakamura for chess.com..

Magnus Carlsen has decided not to defend his world title this year after withdrawing from this month’s World Chess Championship, where he defended his title against world number 1.2, Jan Nepomniaczy.

Earlier, he said that he would give up the title if his addressee did not represent the “next generation”, and mentioned Alirez Firuzja in this connection.

But Nepomnyaschy’s victory at the Candidates Tour 2022 prompted Carlsen to announce that after a long reign at the top, there will be a new world champion.

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