Norwegian chess star Magnus Carlsen endured the worst losing streak of his professional career at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in Hong Kong.
The world number one lost four consecutive rapid games while representing WR Chess, marking the first time he has suffered four straight defeats since before becoming a grandmaster in 2004.
The losses came against Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, Armenian player Shant Sargsyan, Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov and Azerbaijani player Aydin Suleymanli.
The difficult run also pushed Carlsen’s live rapid rating down from 2832 to 2803. According to tournament reports, this is the lowest rapid rating he has recorded since FIDE introduced official rapid rankings in 2012.
Carlsen’s tournament had started steadily. He drew with Indian grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani and recorded victories over Ukrainian veteran Vasyl Ivanchuk and China’s Xu Xiangyu. A draw against Russian grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev followed before his form collapsed.
The Hong Kong event comes shortly after a disappointing showing at the Norway Chess tournament, where Carlsen failed to finish among the top three on home soil.
Despite the setback, Carlsen remains the world’s highest-rated player and one of the most dominant figures in modern chess. However, his struggles in Hong Kong have become one of the biggest talking points of the championship.
