The miracle of St Louis: How Gukesh turned around losing position for 4th win in row against Fabiano Caruana

Indian Express

10 hours ago

Call it the miracle of St Louis. Or call it the luck that the patron Goddess of chess, Caissa, bestows upon its world champions. In the final round of the rapid section of the St Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, Gukesh Dommaraju pulled off a heist against tournament leader Fabiano Caruana to hand the American grandmaster his only defeat of the event so far before the tournament heads into the fast and furious two-day-long blitz section starting from Thursday.
Caruana had a massively advantageous position early on in the clash against Gukesh. But the world champion not just found a way to extricate himself out of trouble, but also claim another victory, his fourth in a row over Caruana. His ability to keep on battling, no matter how hopeless the situation on the board, before converting it into a win is becoming an increasingly evident trait of Gukesh — one that has been highlighted by Magnus Carlsen as well after that headline-making defeat in Norway Chess.
While Caruana heads into the blitz portion sitting on top of the standings with 14 points, Gukesh is fourth with 10 points.
Gukesh had a forgettable first two days at St Louis, with two losses and two draws besides two wins. On the final day of rapid, before the Miracle of St Louis against Caruana, Gukesh also managed to take down Wesley So.
'Today could have been horrible, but turned out to be good,' said Gukesh. 'The first game was bad, the second was pretty good.'
The third game was a miracle, considering how dreadful his position on board looked at one point.
'For a long time in the game, it was just about surviving,' Gukesh said on the official broadcast later on.
The teenager from Chennai was in trouble early, from the 15th move itself when Caruana played 15…f4. That moment was pivotal, because it was the first time that Caruana gained an edge on the board.
'Once I allowed f4 it was just… I quickly realised it was just too bad,' Gukesh admitted on the broadcast later.
Caruana's pawn sat there on the f4 square like an illegal squatter parked eye-sorishly right in front of Gukesh's castle of three pawns and two knights, behind whom the world champion had parked his king. It was only on the 42nd move, that the pawn which was making life uncomfortable for Gukesh's king was evicted by a knight.
Caruana tightened his grip on the game until finally Gukesh got a free pawn on move 30 (30… Rag8). That was in fact the first time that a piece from Gukesh had ventured into Caruana's half of the board and survived to tell the tale. Meanwhile, two of Caruana's pawns and a rook had made menacing incursions into Gukesh's side of the board.
'I was quite happy to get my rook there because I was just afraid I would not get any piece above the fourth rank. And then I got my rook to the sixth rank. That was a success,' he chuckled.
By the 36th move, the pressure was starting to ease. Gukesh had lost one of his rooks, but he was up two pawns and a bishop. On the 41st move, a blunder from Caruana in pushing his h file pawn ahead (41… h5), finally changed the momentum as Gukesh now held the edge. Unlike his quarry, Gukesh never relinquished his edge, ending the game with two pawns moving up the board on the cusp of promoting and a cavalcade of a rook, a bishop and the king protecting them while Caruana's rook pair tried their best to find a weak moment to ambush them. There was none. The American GM resigned on the 89th move.
Caruana had famously defeated Gukesh in the final game of Norway Chess earlier this year to prevent the Indian teenager from winning the event. After that defeat, Caruana said on his C Squared Podcast: '(These Indians players are) very strong. I think that we'll be competing on more or less equal terms for a while. But I don't find them scary yet. Whatsoever!'
'When I play for example Arjun or Gukesh, I do get this feeling — not just based on this Norway Chess tournament, but on many tournaments — that I can really outplay them very significantly and get a lot of winning chances. I don't think they can outplay me in the same way. Although they will get winning chances and then it's about some other factors,' the measured Caruana had said before clarifying: 'Really this is my honest opinion. It's not me trying to play them down or anything. I'm not doing that. They can definitely outperform me in various ways. But my feeling is that if it's a long match, they're great fighters, but they also give a lot of chances and (for them) it can be very frustrating to play against someone (like me) who doesn't give many chances.'
Since those comments, Gukesh and Caruana have met in four games: three at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia event and now once in St Louis. The Indian teenager has won all four clashes, including the game on Wednesday, when Caruana rose to become the world no 2 in rapid rankings. The results from Croatia also were eye-opening. Gukesh had his strongest rapid tournament performance in Zagreb, beating players like Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Caruana. But in the 18 games of blitz, Gukesh struggled. It's not a time control that suits his style. Even then, he managed to defeat Caruana in both the blitz games.
Gukesh will carry the momentum from his wins over Caruana and Wesley So into the blitz section that will be his harshest test.
'It'll be a great challenge because Zagreb Rapid and Blitz didn't go well. So here it'll be a chance for me to prove myself,' he said before admitting that he was feeling the pressure that comes with being the world champion in the early part of reign.
'Initially, maybe in the first couple of tournaments, I felt this pressure of having to prove something. But then it got better. It's already been like eight months, I have played a few tournaments. I think I've just settled into this new state,' Gukesh said. 'I kind of sense that people are more motivated (to beat me). But it's none of my business. I just play my game.'