Currently in action at the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour at Weissenhaus Resort in Wangels, Germany, D Gukesh began his campaign on a strong note despite failing to bag a win. Paired against Uzbek GM and arch-rival Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Gukesh, who is the reigning World Chess Champion, was at a weak position towards the end, but managed to stage a draw, with Nodirbek having two Knights and a King remaining. Meanwhile, Gukesh only had a King left. The India No. 1 was down to the last minute on the clock while Nodirbek had nearly four minutes in his time balance, and both players had played out 50 moves so far midway through the game.
Also Read: FIDE CEO Sutovsky clears the air on D Gukesh, Freestyle Chess controversy; clarifies on Viswanathan Anand's withdrawal
It ended up being a hard-fought 96-move draw for Gukesh.
Here is the video of D Gukesh leaving his opponent shocked:
But he failed to replicate similar success in the next round, as he crashed to a defeat to Alireza Firouzja in only 27 moves. Firouzja responded well to Gukesh’s Rd8+ in move 20 by taking his Knight between the white Rook and his King along with eight rank. Then seven moves afterwards, he secured the win by shifting his Queen to d1 after Gukesh went for Qe3.
{{/usCountry}}But he failed to replicate similar success in the next round, as he crashed to a defeat to Alireza Firouzja in only 27 moves. Firouzja responded well to Gukesh’s Rd8+ in move 20 by taking his Knight between the white Rook and his King along with eight rank. Then seven moves afterwards, he secured the win by shifting his Queen to d1 after Gukesh went for Qe3.
{{/usCountry}}Gukesh’s presence at the Chess960 tournament also comes with controversy. The FIDE recently released a statement where it denied official recognition to a Freestyle Chess World Championship, in a huge setback to FCPC. The controversy was further fuelled by the sudden withdrawal of Viswanathan Anand, who had initially accepted a wildcard. Anand’s withdrawal came amid the controversy and after Magnus Carlsen’s criticism of the India legend.
Despite participating in the tournament, Gukesh has already made his feelings known about classical and freestyle chess. Speaking to ChessBase India, he said, “I think 960 is nice as an experiment, but I don't see it taking over classical chess. The Classical World Chess Championship cycle will be much more important than 960, so I am glad to experiment with the 960.”