D Gukesh turns into World No. 3, Arjun and Praggnanandhaa in top-8; Viswanathan Anand slips to twelfth in chess rankings

He’s now the World No. 3 with a 2791.9 score, and is behind second-placed Hikaru Nakamura (2802) and Magnus Carlsen (2833). In the meantime, Fabiano Caruana is fourth with a 2790.2 score, and is adopted by Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2774), Arjun Erigaisi (2772), Praggnanandhaa (2763.3) and Alireza Firouzja (2759.9). In the meantime, Viswanathan Anand has fallen from tenth to twelfth place. The chess legend is the present FIDE deputy president and barely participates in tournaments now. He was scheduled to participate within the first leg of the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, however withdrew.

On Saturday, Gukesh after a extremely sophisticated endgame and can face Arjun within the remaining spherical on Sunday. If each Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa lose within the remaining, then Abdusattorov has an out of doors shot on the playoffs.

Gukesh’s showdown vs Van Foreest was an epic encounter. The sport reached its climax after the Dutch GM sacrificed the change with 34.Rxc4!?. Then 5 strikes later, he missed the counterexchange sacrifice, performed with three seconds on the clock. Each adopted the successful line till 42…Rb1?, which gave White the benefit however Van Foreest missed that too. Then he took 30 seconds of his 19 minutes to take off the e-pawn and head for a draw.

After his draw, Gukesh was requested if he was following Praggnandhaa and Nodirbek’s video games too. He replied, “A bit, however largely I used to be simply focussed on my sport. It was clear that Abdu had performed one thing improper and Pragg was dominating from the beginning.”

On going through Arjun within the subsequent spherical, he stated, “Fairly good, I’m already blissful right this moment that I managed to flee this sport, however every little thing is ready up for an thrilling end. I’ll simply attempt to take pleasure in.”

After the Tata Metal Masters, Gukesh will journey to Germany for the primary leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, and can face the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Caruana.