Stavanger, May 27 -- The marquee clash of Round One at Norway Chess 2025 lived up to expectations as Magnus Carlsen launched a classic king hunt to defeat reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a thrilling encounter. This was their first classical match since Gukesh won the world title, and it also marked Carlsen's return to individual classical chess after nearly a year.

Despite being away from classical tournaments for 12 months, Carlsen showed no signs of rust in his comeback.

"He's also an ambitious player," Carlsen said of Gukesh on live commentary after the game, as quoted from Chess.com.

"So I thought we're not necessarily going to get a totally flat game just because he's at least equalised from the opening," he added.

Wh...