World number one Magnus Carlsen lost to Jorden van Foreest in round four of the 2026 TePe Sigeman tournament, marking his first defeat in classical chess in a year.
Before round four, Carlsen was still considered the favorite for the title after sharing the lead with two points. His loss to Van Foreest therefore became the biggest upset of the tournament so far, as it was the first time the Dutch grandmaster had beaten Carlsen in a classical game.
It was also Carlsen’s first classical defeat since losing to Gukesh Dommaraju at Norway Chess 2025. Back then, Carlsen drew attention by slamming the table after the game. This time, he quietly resigned when the position became hopeless, though the disappointment was still visible on his face.
The game quickly became complicated from the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation, with Carlsen playing Black. Van Foreest chose the less common 6.f4 line, forcing Carlsen to spend nearly eight minutes thinking in the opening phase alone. The Dutch player later revealed that he deliberately selected a variation Carlsen might not have prepared deeply for, hoping to push the world champion out of his comfort zone.
Carlsen soon found himself in time trouble. At one point, he had only around three minutes left to deal with difficult moves, while Van Foreest kept applying pressure. Still, Carlsen’s famous defensive skills helped him steer the game into an endgame that appeared drawable despite being down exchange material.
It was the type of position Carlsen had escaped from many times throughout his career. He recovered an important pawn and built a defensive setup that convinced many spectators the five-time world champion would survive again. The Norwegian grandmaster could have repeated moves for a draw, but instead chose a riskier continuation.
Even Van Foreest thought the game was heading for a draw. Afterward, the Dutch player admitted he had already accepted the result and no longer expected to win. But once only seven pieces remained on the board, computer evaluations kept swinging between a draw and a winning position for White. In the decisive moment, Carlsen’s knight became trapped with no escape squares.
The final position when Carlsen, playing Black, resigned because he was about to lose a pawn while his knight had no way out.
Carlsen resigned after nearly six hours of tense play. “It’s crazy. I never thought I would beat Carlsen in classical chess,” Van Foreest said after the game, a victory that lifted him to world number 16 in the live rankings.
The win became even more memorable considering the circumstances before the match. The night before the game, a fire alarm suddenly went off at the hotel where the players were staying. Everyone had to leave their rooms at around 1:30 a.m. because of a false alarm. Van Foreest said he woke up in panic and confusion because the room was completely dark and the alarm was extremely loud. He was unable to fall back asleep until around 2:30 a.m.
Despite that disruption, it was Van Foreest who handed Carlsen a miserable day.
The defeat pushed Carlsen behind in the title race. After four rounds, he no longer held the lead and now faces pressure to win his remaining games to stay in contention for the championship. Even so, the 35-year-old stayed for about 10 minutes after the game to analyze the position with Van Foreest, at times even smiling.
For years, classical chess had been considered almost untouchable territory for Carlsen, who had lost only four games in the previous three years. He is renowned for punishing even the smallest mistakes by opponents, especially in the middlegame and endgame. But in Malmo, it was Carlsen himself who made the final costly error in a nerve-racking endgame battle.
While Carlsen disappointed, 14-year-old talent Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus emerged as the tournament’s new sensation. The Turkish prodigy defeated Nils Grandelius to take sole possession of first place after four rounds with three points. It was also Grandelius’ fourth straight loss.
Erdogmus has stunned the chess world with his rapid rise. His live rating has surpassed 2716, moving him up to world number 27 at just 14 years old. After beating Grandelius, Erdogmus remained characteristically calm. “The important thing is just to play good chess,” he said.
After four rounds, three players sit directly behind Erdogmus on 2.5 points: Van Foreest, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Arjun Erigaisi. In round five, Carlsen will face women’s grandmaster Zhu Jiner in what is effectively a must-win game to keep his title hopes alive.
Watch the 2026 TePe Sigeman tournament live here
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