Stavanger

On his 19th birthday, World Champion D Gukesh ultimately won back his campaign, earning three points in Norway Chess Round 3 on Thursday by defeating World no. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, from the United States.

 The world champion reflected on that factor as he basked in the relief of hitting back with a win.

"I feel quite good! I think my time management was much better today than before. He had some drawing chances, but I guess overall it was a good game," Gukesh said in a video posted by Norway Chess on YouTube.

When asked about potential Armageddon tie-breaks in the tournament, Gukesh said, "Yeah, I mean, at some point it will come for sure. But right now, I'm just happy with this."

Earlier, Arjun Erigaisi pulled off a victory over D Gukesh in the second round of Norway Chess 2025 on Tuesday, to join Hikaru Nakamura, who defeated Magnus Carlsen in an Armageddon playoff after the two highest-ranked players in the world battled to a stalemate, in the joint leadership.

Reigning world champion Gukesh thus suffered his second defeat in as many days, having lost to world No. 1 Carlsen on the opening day of the event. Gukesh is placed at the bottom among six players, and he is also the only player not to collect a single point so far in the tournament.

Going into this game, Arjun had a stunning 5-0 record in classical wins against Gukesh, and he's now made it six. Erigaisi finally defeated Gukesh in 62 moves, forcing his opponent to resign after giving him a check with his knight.

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This was a must-win match for the World Champion to get his rhythm back on track.