Magnus Carlsen ahead of a match with Alua Nurman.© X (formerly Twitter)
A dramatic moment involving Magnus Carlsen and his opponent Alua Nurman unfolded during the second round of the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open in Karlsruhe, Germany. It was a pre-match interaction between Carlsen and Nurman that gave rise to the drama which unfolded moments later. Nurman took out her phone before the game and asked Carlsen for a selfie. The World No.1 obliged and even smiled for the picture. Things didn’t stay that cool as Carlsen later stood up from his seat and came in with an arbiter to get Nurman’s phone removed.
A video of the incident is going viral on social media, in which Carlsen can be seen conveying his message to the arbiter, who then asked Nurman for her phone. As she took out the phone, the arbiter took it with him, and the match began after that. The clip is now going viral on social media.
Kazakhstan no.2 Woman Alua Nurman takes a selfie with her opponent Magnus Carlsen before the start of Round 2 at the @GRENKEChess Freestyle Open! Before the start of the round, an Arbiter comes and takes Alua’s phone with him.
Video: @ram_abhyudaya/ ChessBase India pic.twitter.com/3KZ8lc17sh
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) April 3, 2026
What the arbiter did was well within the rules, as players are not allowed to use or keep their phones with them while playing the game.
In December last year, a video of Magnus Carlsen losing his cool after being defeated by Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi at the FIDE World Blitz Championship in Doha also went viral. Carlsen has often been known to not take losses in the right spirit. The superstar chess grandmaster failed to keep control of his emotions after losing to Arjun. The Indian Grandmaster demonstrated strong endgame technique and quick calculation to stun the reigning champion. The loss against Erigaisi was too much for Carlsen to handle as he banged the table after the defeat. The video of the incident soon went viral, and social media users called it Carlsen’s outburst 2.0.
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