Bengaluru: It was a rather unique sight. Magnus Carlsen – known for messing with his opponents’ heads and making them doubt their moves – was the one dithering, anguish visibly spreading across his face as his clock ticked down to its dying seconds.
In the Zagreb studio of the SuperUnited rapid and blitz event, his former coach and one of the game’s greats, Garry Kasparov, bluntly placed his bet in favour of the Indian teenager sitting across from Carlsen. It was supposed to be a grudge game for Carlsen in a format where he’s considered vastly stronger than the guy he was playing – reigning world champion, Gukesh D. But there he was, hesitating, floundering and being outplayed by Gukesh whom he had written off earlier as “one of the weaker players” of the tournament.
To be fair, Gukesh – a beast in classical chess – hadn’t had eye-popping results in the faster time controls. It was considered a chink in his armour, until he arrived in Zagreb and left everyone slack-jawed with his results – topping the rapid section in a stacked field on Friday.
In nine rounds of rapid games, Gukesh won six, drew two and lost one to hold on to sole lead with 14 points. He seems to have turned up for this tournament with some solid preparation, often getting his opponents to burn through their clock early on. His winning streak was halted on Friday by Anish Giri in Round 7, with both players agreeing to a draw. Luckily for Gukesh, his Croatian opponent Ivan Saric settled for a draw by repetition in a clearly better position in the following round. Gukesh wrapped up the rapid action with a win against Wesley So, that assured him the top spot. Over Saturday and Sunday, 18 rounds of blitz will be played – where he will face Carlsen twice.
{{/usCountry}}In nine rounds of rapid games, Gukesh won six, drew two and lost one to hold on to sole lead with 14 points. He seems to have turned up for this tournament with some solid preparation, often getting his opponents to burn through their clock early on. His winning streak was halted on Friday by Anish Giri in Round 7, with both players agreeing to a draw. Luckily for Gukesh, his Croatian opponent Ivan Saric settled for a draw by repetition in a clearly better position in the following round. Gukesh wrapped up the rapid action with a win against Wesley So, that assured him the top spot. Over Saturday and Sunday, 18 rounds of blitz will be played – where he will face Carlsen twice.
{{/usCountry}}Gukesh’s success and unruffled approach can often make those around him forget his age — he’s 19. It’s a massive asset, allowing him to adapt to formats, iron out weaknesses, and make quick progress. Carlsen was struck by it like a ton of bricks in Round 6.
“I’ve played kind of poorly the whole tournament but this time I got soundly punished,” he told Take Take Take app after his second loss in a row to the Indian. “All credit to Gukesh. He’s doing incredibly well…Honestly, I’m not enjoying playing chess at all right now. I don’t feel any flow at all when I’m playing. I’m constantly hesitating and it’s just really poor right now.”
The manner of Gukesh’s wins against Carlsen – both in Norway Chess last month and in Zagreb – speaks of his resilience. The kind of resilience where he’s battling through worse positions – like he was out of the opening against Carlsen in their rapid game on Thursday – which had doubts creeping into the five-time world champion, leading to mistakes and eventual resignation. The loss to Gukesh in Norway was a knife to the gut for Carlsen, so much so that he spoke of losing motivation to play the tournament. He went on to win the whole thing anyway.
Zagreb was supposed to be the perfect setting for Carlsen to avenge his harrowing Norway Chess loss. What it instead perhaps revealed was the kind of effect Gukesh has come to have on Carlsen mentally, of late. “Magnus came to this tournament with full rage…He came for revenge…Even if he doesn’t say it, this is a big emotional moment for him,” Kasparov said.
For Gukesh – whose world champion status, earned in November last year, has carried an invisible asterisk since it didn’t involve defeating a certain world No 1, Carlsen – a dominant performance against the best in a format long seen as his weak spot is a pretty impressive statement.