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For over 90 minutes, Carlsen wasn't just comfortable, he was winning comfortably. For a few moments here and there, Gukesh considered the possibility of resigning: he had next to no

counterplay and he was dying by a 1000 moves. The Norwegian was slowly, but surely, positioning his pieces to land the killer blow that would trap the exposed white king in a knight-rook

endgame. A small error in his calculations --move 52. Ne2+-- gave Gukesh a chance to turn the game around. Gukesh could see a clear path to checkmate. After exchanges in a pawn race, the

Indian was in a better position to queen. "I don't know, I'm still kind of shaken from that game," was his immediate response to TV2, the official broadcaster. "I

don't know what happened, basically. There wasn't much I could do, I was clearly lost. I was just trying to make moves which kind of was tricky for him and luckily he got into time

scramble. One thing I learned from this tournament was time scrambles can go out of control." Gukesh admitted that he was trying to get some counterplay with Ng5. Even when he found

that square, Carlsen was still winning. But because he made some miscalculations per the engine, his opponent kept growing into the game. After Carlsen's blunder, the Indian blasted

open that hole and placed his tank on the World No. 1's backyard. "In this endgame, I was trying to get some kind of Ng5. And, luckily, after Kf6 and h4 (Carlsen's 39th move

and Gukesh's 40th move)... probably he was winning and I have some spite checks (when opponents delay inevitable checkmates). 99 out of 100 times I would lose... just a lucky day. First

Classical win over Magnus, not the way I expected (or) wanted it to be but I will take it." The last 30 minutes caught everybody, including the organisers, by surprise. In fact, they

were getting ready for the local favourite to do two interviews onsite and they were putting in place the logistics. Once the tables turned, they quickly pivoted to getting Gukesh to agree

to 'two short studio interviews'. Usually, Viswanathan Anand, one of the very few Indian players to have an over-the-board Classical win over Carlsen, would have been present with

the official broadcaster. But the former World No. 1 had to fly to Italy to take part in a two-game 'Class of Generation' exhibition encounter against Argentina's Faustino Oro

(the 11-year-old lost 0-2).