How Magnus Carlsen Lost his First Ever Chess Game

Recently in an interview with Chess.com, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen revealed how he fell into an opening trap set by his opponent, at the inception of his classical chess career. According to Carlsen, he was just 8 and a half years old when this happened during his first ever classical tournament game.

Magnus, with the white pieces, played the conventional d4 to which his opponent responded with e5?!, known as the Englund Gambit:

As Magnus went down the memory lane, he advised against playing .. 1.e5, calling it a “terrible opening”. Following is the sequence of moves that was played with Magnus Carlsen commentary;

And with that, white is forced to give up the queen, losing the game on the spot. While such a swift loss can often be discouraging, it clearly didn’t stop the prodigy who was destined for big things. Magnus’ golden career is a testament to that.