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Gukesh defeats Carlsen for fifth win in a row in Zagreb
Indian teen Gukesh D defeats Magnus Carlsen again in Zagreb, marking his fifth consecutive win, raising questions about Carlsen's dominance.
Bengaluru: Since he became world champion last year, Indian teen Gukesh D has been persistently questioned – perhaps a touch unfairly – on how he measures up to world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian, who willingly walked away from the throne after winning the world title five times, blundered in a winning position and suffered his first classical loss to Gukesh in round six of Norway Chess last month. Carlsen’s now-immortal, livid table-thumping reaction became social media fodder, and the former world champion spoke of being deeply affected by the loss. On Thursday in Zagreb, both players sat across from each other for the first time since in round 6 of the SuperUnited Croatia rapid and blitz, the third of six legs of the Grand Chess Tour. It was supposed to be a revenge game for Carlsen, but ended with Gukesh slipping into terminator mode in a format that isn’t considered his forte and defeating the world No 1 to bring up his fifth win in a row in the tournament
Gukesh, playing Black, was the first to arrive at the board and stole a few moments of meditative calm. Carlsen chose the English opening and was better after 18…Nh5 19. Bf2!. Gukesh found the path to counterplay with 26…d5 and soon Carlsen was down to under a minute in a razor-sharp position. As his position on the board worsened and time on his clock disappeared, Carlsen grew despondent - with no resources or counterplay at his disposal, he resigned after 49 moves, to finish the day on a winless note.
“Now we can question Magnus’ domination. It’s not just a second loss, it’s a very convincing loss,” former world champion and founder of the Grand Chess Tour Garry Kasparov said.
For someone who is considered primarily as a classical player with Carlsen going as far as to call him “one of the weaker players” in the tournament, Gukesh has shown that he adapt and can whip up wins at will in faster time controls as well. “I’ve learned that when my back is against the wall, I do everything I can,” the reigning world champion, whose time management so far in the event has been impressive, said. It was only against Carlsen in Round 6 on Thursday that Gukesh seemed to slow down, take his time with his moves, and fall behind on the clock early on.
Gukesh began Day 2 of the rapid, taking down Nodirbek Abdusattorov with Black. Contrastingly, Carlsen found himself in hot water against Alireza Firouzja – who the Norwegian considers his closest rival in this tournament – in a rook endgame but managed to squeeze out a draw. In Round 5, Carlsen played out a draw against India’s Praggnanandhaa R in Round 5.
Calling Carlsen’s performance in the tournament so far “shaky”, Kasparov described Gukesh as one of the most resilient players. “His resilience reminds me of computers. With computers you lose your concentration, you’re dead. Gukesh is the kind of player you have to beat many times…Carlsen came here to take revenge for Norway Chess, and that’s not good.”
