Nakamura hails Gukesh after world champion’s win over Anish in Tata Metal Chess opener: ‘He did defend very effectively’

American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura was all reward for Dommaraju Gukesh following the latter’s win over Anish Giri within the first spherical of the 2025 Tata Metal Chess match in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands on Saturday. Gukesh was enjoying his first sport since profitable the World Chess Championship title in December.

Gukesh had reached Netherlands only a few hours earlier than the sport in opposition to Anish, after {the teenager} was conferred with the Main Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award on Friday. Gukesh was on the backfoot in opposition to Anish within the earlier phases of the sport, however he showcased immense resilience afterward to win the sport,
whilst Anish dedicated a couple of blunders.

Ding Liren had
dedicated an identical blunder within the last sport of the World Chess Championship in December that allowed Gukesh to clinch a historic title. “It’s actually actually actually a heartbreaker for Anish. On the flip aspect the coin Gukesh did defend very effectively,” mentioned Nakamura on his YouTube channel.

“Certain Gukesh blundered with h3, however he did defend resiliently below time strain. So you need to give him a variety of credit score for placing Anish to the check. Nakamura added that Anish wasn’t prepared for the Gukesh problem. “Sadly for Anish, he wasn’t as much as the check. The world champion will get a win in his first classical sport since his epic victory over Ding Liren in Singapore a few months in the past. Thrilling begin to the match.”

‘Gukesh was most likely just a little drained’: Nakamura

Nakamura additionally spoke on the little period of time that Gukesh had between arriving in Netherlands and enjoying his first sport. “Gukesh was in India to obtain one of many highest civilian awards from the federal government simply yesterday and as we speak he flew into the sport and arrived three hours forward of the sport being performed and let’s leap proper into the motion.”

“Gukesh was most likely just a little bit drained most likely just a little bit jetlag. Now for Anish he’s anyone who historically has performed very effectively on this match however at instances he has struggled exterior of this occasion,” said the 37-year-old.