I taught my younger brother how to play chess when I was in junior high and he was in elementary school. I took pleasure in routinely beating him despite his being a beginner. But he quickly caught up and the unimaginable happened — he beat me one snowy winter day.
I didn’t bang my fist on the table like Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, the top-ranked player in the world, did over the weekend after he lost to 19-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju, the current world champion.
No. What I did was much worse. I gathered all the chess pieces and threw them out in the snow in our front yard. I threw my brother out behind them. I told him he couldn’t come in until he found all the pieces and closed the door.
Talk about a sore loser. I think I’ve outgrown that over the past 50 years but my brother and I have never forgotten it. He even wrote an essay about it in college.
Carlsen’s unexpected loss — he’s considered among the best players of all time — sparked a debate about sportsmanship on social media.
The 34-year-old Carlsen and the up-and-coming Dommaraju met Sunday at the 2025 Norway Chess, an annual international tournament.
After Dommaraju made his final move, Carlsen slammed his fist onto the table in frustration and stood up out of his seat before shaking hands with the grandmaster from India. NBC News’ Jason Abbruzzese called it the “fist slam heard ‘round the chess world.” Carlsen apologized before abruptly striding away.
We can all relate to pounding a table in frustration or some other gesture after losing a game.
Certainly, there are much worse examples of bad sportsmanship at the highest levels of sport. Remember Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight throwing a chair across the court? Or France’s Zinedine Zidane headbutting an Italian player in the 2006 World Cup soccer final?
But this is chess. Slamming a fist or scattering the pieces is about all you have, not that either are justified.
“‘Graceless’: Magnus Carlsen’s reaction after losing to Gukesh upsets chess lovers,” read the headline in the Times of India. The article included several social media posts that both ripped and defended the Norwegian.
“Look at the frustration of Magnus Carlsen. Never seen such a behaviour. Also notice how Gukesh can’t believe he defeated Magnus. What a moment for Gukesh! First time defeating,” according to one poster on social media.
Another wrote, “I’m not sure why #MagnusCarlsen is receiving hate for his reaction after he lost to #DGukesh? Soon after he accepted his defeat, he can be seen turning back to the table, raising both his palms, apologising for the way he reacted just a few moments ago.”
And as the Times of India pointed out, “Despite his initial reaction, Carlsen showed sportsmanship before leaving the hall. He picked up the fallen pieces, patted Gukesh on the back in congratulations, and exited . . . “
Dommaraju, who became the youngest world chess champion last year, also reportedly told Chess.com that he could relate to Carlsen’s reaction, saying, “I’ve also banged a lot of tables in my career,” per NBC News.
“Ninety-nine out of 100 times, I would lose. Just a lucky day!” Dommaraju said after the match. “First classical win against Magnus, I mean, not the way I wanted it to be, but OK, I’ll take it.”
Carlsen acknowledged afterward that Dommaraju’s tactics confused him.
“I don’t completely understand what his concept is here. It seems to me that I just have excellent play,” he said.
Neither my brother nor I ever mastered chess, though he played on the chess team in school. I never did. Whether my brother confused me with his moves like Dommaraju did to Carlsen, I don’t remember. But at least Carlsen picked up the pieces after he lost.