How a blunder price D Gukesh his dream showdown in opposition to Magnus Carlsen in Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour

Gukesh Dommaraju had lastly
fulfilled his dream of turning into the youngest world champion in chess historical past after defeating Chinese language Grandmaster Ding Liren within the FIDE World Championship in Singapore in December. And even earlier than he might fly again residence for the month-long celebrations that will observe, he had already set his sights on his subsequent goal – testing himself in opposition to the most effective on the planet, Magnus Carlsen to be extra particular.

On Saturday, the 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster lastly received the chance to face the world No 1 for the primary time since he pulled off probably the most extraordinary feats in chess historical past, albeit in a special format.

Gukesh, the one Indian competing on the opening occasion of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Weissenhaus, Germany after Viswanathan Anand’s abrupt withdrawal, had an underwhelming run within the Spherical Robin stage on Friday and Saturday.

Seven of the eight video games that he had performed earlier than the showdown in opposition to Carlsen had led to a draw, six of them on the trot. And he had suffered solely his third defeat since being topped world champion
by the hands of Iranian-French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja, in simply 27 strikes at that.

None of that, nonetheless, would have mattered for Gukesh if he was in a position to beat Carlsen on the format that he has been making an attempt to champion in current months, even on the expense of world governing physique FIDE.

Similarities with Ding’s blunder in Singapore

It was a blunder by Ding in Transfer 55 within the
14th and last Classical recreation that price him the world championship and sealed Gukesh’s historic triumph on 12 December. Realising he had boxed himself right into a nook by shifting his rook two squares down the ‘F’ file to the second rank, the 32-year-old resigned after the following three strikes.

There have been some fascinating parallels between that contest and the
Gukesh-Carlsen showdown on Saturday. Like his opponent in Singapore, Gukesh was taking part in with white items. Each video games witnessed bold selections being made early within the recreation, with the Indian initiating a bishop change by shifting his piece from one finish of the board (a1) to the opposite (h8) within the fourth transfer. And in each instances, the sport was largely in a balanced state for a majority of its length, till the dramatic twist that got here within the type of a blunder in the direction of the top.

In Singapore, Gukesh was doing all the things in his energy to battle on even when Ding made repeated gives for a draw, realizing the Chinese language GM would have the higher hand within the tie-breaker that will have been performed within the shorter fast and blitz codecs. And it was that never-say-die perspective that led to a lapse in focus on his opponent’s half.

On the Weissenhaus Non-public Nature Luxurious Resort although, Gukesh was up in opposition to a participant who is taken into account among the many finest to have ever performed the sport, with Carlsen beginning to get his mojo again after an underwhelming Day 1 by accumulating two wins and a draw. Issues appeared pretty in management for Gukesh till he determined to maneuver his knight to d5 whereas trying to put a entice round Carlsen’s king.

It was a task reversal for Gukesh on Saturday as this time he was the one elevating the white flag simply 4 strikes after committing an enormous mistake. Carlsen’s not the type of participant who will enable his opponent to wriggle his approach out his grasp in such a state of affairs, and was in a position to seal issues off in type with a scientific endgame.

Thankfully for Gukesh, the loss in opposition to Carlsen didn’t translate to an early exit from the Weissenhaus match as he managed to
scrape by to the knockouts by ending among the many high eight – on the very backside of the qualification zone although.

Which suggests he is not going to have the posh of selecting his opponent for the quarter-finals, the place the time management will broaden from the ten minutes that had been set for the Spherical Robin stage to the Classical 90+30, one thing that Gukesh is much more conversant in.

That mentioned, he might discover himself seated reverse the Norwegian five-time world champion later this week, presumably as early as Sunday when the quarter-finals get underway. Having learnt a beneficial lesson on Saturday, Gukesh will hope to come back again lots stronger this time, particularly with much more time in hand.