Gukesh Dommaraju takes down arch-rival Nodirbek Abdusattorov after ‘worst game' against Praggnanandhaa

Indian Express

11 hours ago

Gukesh Dommaraju defeated arch-rival Nodirbek Abdusattorov with white pieces in a 50-move game to bounce back after his defeat to compatriot Praggnanandhaa in the first round of the Sinquefield Cup at St Louis.
The world champion branded the defeat to Praggnanandhaa as 'one of the worst games' he has played.
Asked if beating Nodirbek was important for his campaign, the youngest world champion in chess history, Gukesh said: 'Yeah, especially after yesterday, which was probably one of the worst games that I have played. It was nice to bounce back like this. And you know, like when I think about it, if I would prefer to make two draws or like a loss and a win, I prefer a loss and a win. So, I mean, I wouldn't prefer a win and a loss.'
The Indian teenager held the edge over Nodirbek from the 17th move after the Uzbek grandmaster played an inaccuracy with his knight (17… Nc4), even though Gukesh was a pawn down. It was a topsy-turvy game where both players had their chances.
By the 21st move from the teenage world champion, the eval bar was in the centre again as the Indian played 21. Ndf3. The position was more or less equal from this point on, until Nodirbek played 37… h4 which gave a heavy edge to Gukesh. 13 moves later, Gukesh had forced a resignation out of Nodirbek, the player who had ruined Gukesh's near-perfect Chess Olympiad run in 2022.
Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa played out a draw against the USA's Fabiano Caruana.
'I kind of surprised him in the opening and then I think I misplayed it a bit, so I was a bit concerned. That's why I decided to sac (sacrifice) a pawn… but it was still a relatively comfortable draw,' Caruana said after the game against Pragg.
Elsewhere, France's Alireza Firouzja took down Jan-Krzysztof Duda (who had helped Gukesh become a world champion last year) in a marathon clash that lasted 100 moves.
Firouzja thus joined Praggnanandhaa and Levon Aronian in the tournament lead.
Gukesh is coming into the Sinquefield Cup classical tournament after ending tied sixth in the St Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament last week.
Since becoming world champion, the Chennai boy had come perilously close to winning a couple of classical tournaments like the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee earlier this year, where he was denied by Pragg.