Magnus Carlsen convincingly clinches Clutch Chess 2025 by winning it with two games to spare

by Shahid Ahmed - 31/10/2025

Magnus Carlsen won Clutch Chess Champions Showdown 2025 with two games to spare. The World no.1 started the final day with two wins against the World Champion, D Gukesh. Then he defeated Fabiano Caruana in consecutive games to win the event. The last two games against Hikaru Nakamura was immaterial, so he just drew them. Carlsen scored 25.5/36. Caruana secured second place scoring 16.5/36. Nakamura third 14/36 and Gukesh fourth 10/36. Carlsen once again asserted his dominance once he got himself enough rest and showed the world why he is considered as the undisputed 'greatest of all time'. Photo: Lennart Ootes

Carlsen keeps conquering

"Yeah I was a lot happier today. There are still things here and there that I am not super happy about. There was more flow and I felt that I was kind of more on top of things and not missing as many tricks. Today was a lot better and that feels really really good to end on a high note and to actually be able to win convicingly in the end." - Magnus Carlsen on how he felt with his play on the final day. When GM Maurice Ashley mentioned that Carlsen blew up his format, Carlsen shared with a big smile, "That's of course unfortunate in terms of the excitement but I think when you win ten out of your first 16 games, it's not a shock."

Magnus Carlsen won Clutch Chess Champions Showdown 2025 with two rounds to go | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Interview with Magnus Carlsen | Video: ChessBase India

Round 7 Game 1: Carlsen - Gukesh: 2-0

World Champion, GM D Gukesh (2693) started the day with a loss against the World no.1, GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2808). He made a tiny positional inaccuracy and it cost him the game.

D Gukesh - Magnus Carlsen, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

In the second game, Gukesh made an unforced error which allowed his opponent to invade his rook and later with the remaining pieces.

Magnus Carlsen - D Gukesh, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Dr. GM Karsten Mueller (GER) analyzed Gukesh's final game of the event against Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2767) which was an exciting encounter.

Caruana doesn't even understand how he got second | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Interview with Hikaru Nakamura | Video: ChessBase India

Hikaru: Decent performance, not what I was hoping for | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

What Did Gukesh Think of the Clutch Format? | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

IM Sagar Shah, Aditya Sur Roy and Amruta Mokal with the winner of the tournament - Magnus Carlsen | Photo: IM Sagar Shah

Spectators following the action live at Saint Louis Chess Club in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

The winner's trophy | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

For more photos, please click here.

Final day: Behind the scenes | Video: ChessBase India

Venue tour | Video: ChessBase India

Watch live stream

Replay Round 7-9 live commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan & Maurice Ashley, WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, and James Dash | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay Round 7-9 games

Final standings

Magnus Carlsen dominated the field 25.5/36 | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Links

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