Magnus Carlsen loses cool, puts finger on his lips to silence crowd: ‘It pissed me off when they cheered for Hikaru’

Magnus Carlsen was left fuming as the crowd cheered for Hikaru Nakamura after Game 3 of their Esports World Cup semi-final showdown.

It was Magnus Carlsen’s day as he booked a berth in the finals of the 2025 Esports World Cup chess tournament. The world No. 1 defeated Indian GM Nihal Sarin in the quarter-finals, and then went on to beat Hikaru Nakamura in the semi-finals. In the semis, Carlsen was a his brilliant best, as he edged past his American opponent in a thriller affair, that went to the Armageddon.

Magnus Carlsen made a special gesture to silence the crowd. (Twitter)

The showdown had its fair share of spice, drama and entertainment. The Norwegian won the first game, taking advantage of Nakamura’s errors and took the lead. In the second game, Nakamura was once again making errors, but managed to escape with a draw by repetition. Then in Game 3, Nakamura defeated Carlsen, trapping his queen in a rare tactical move, and it was also the Norwegian’s first loss in the event.

The crowd in Riyadh went into a state of meltdown, cheering for Nakamura, which left Carlsen fuming. Then in the fourth game, Carlsen got his winning combination, and he put his finger to his lips, responding to the crowd, when he played 34…a4!.

Here is Magnus Carlsen’s reaction to the crowd:

Game 5 saw a draw, and then Nakamura needed a win to stay in the match, and Carlsen ended up making a blunder, which levelled proceedings at 3-3.

Nakamura had earlier spoken about preferring black pieces for Armageddon games, and he showed it by bidding only six minutes and 12 seconds. It was a huge deficit to Carlsen’s 10 minutes, but Nakamura only needed a draw.

It looked like he would manage to hold Carlsen. But the Norwegian had the last laught, and eventually won the game, booking a berth in the final.

Speaking on the crowd’s reaction, Carlsen said, “It pissed me off when they cheered, when Hikaru was winning!”