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Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Blunder, zugzwang, resignation: How one move from Gukesh forced him to lose from a drawn position vs Alireza Firoujza
Of all the words in the chess vocabulary, zugzwang is probably the one that chess players find the most irritating (Or the most pleasing). The word is a gift to the sport from the Germans, and refers to a situation in a chess battle where you get arm-twisted into making a bad move — because no good ones are possible. It's one of those excruciating moments in chess where you wish you could be allowed to pass on a move because the only moves you can make significantly weaken your chances. Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju lost his round 6 clash against Alireza Firoujza at the Superbet Chess Classic 2025 in Bucharest late on Tuesday after a blunder on move 53 with his dark-squared bishop, which allowed the French-Iranian grandmaster to arm-twist him into a zugzwang which then led to a resignation with checkmate unavoidable. Defeat to Alireza in round 6 means that Gukesh is still without a win in the entire tournament in Bucharest. The world champion has lost twice now at the event, and is currently 10th in the 10-player standings. Since he became the youngest world champion in the history of the sport at the age of 18 last year, Gukesh has had limited success on the chess board. He did almost win the title at Tata Steel Chess in Wijk aan Zee at the start of the year. He was denied there after losing the final game to Arjun Erigaisi, and then losing to Pragg in a tie-break. Since then, he's played in two Freestyle Chess events where there has been little reason to celebrate. But those were freestyle chess events — a variant of the sport that players have called a completely different sport altogether. Just before Gukesh made the fateful move — 53… Bg5 — the game was ambling towards a peaceful draw. In fact, on the live broadcast of the game on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube page, grandmaster Peter Svidler who was analysing games, had declared, 'This is not going to go anywhere for a while'. He had just signalled to the broadcast team behind the scenes to switch the graphics to the game between Fabiano Caruana and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. And then, Gukesh shifted his bishop to g5, and changed the contours of the game. 'Sir, what are you doing, sir?' said a stunned Svidler, who has been working as a trainer for another member of India's golden generation, Praggnanandhaa, since last year. 'Why would you (do that), why would you remove it from the long diagonal? Why isn't the bishop on the long diagonal? I do not understand,' he shrugged. Another veteran grandmaster, GM Yasser Seirawan, who was also on the commentary panel, was equally baffled. 'That bishop to g5 is a move we will question for the ages,' said Seirawan. 'The bishop was on a magnificent square. This is the world champion we are talking about, walking into an obvious zugzwang. Bishop to g5 was totally uncalled for. That's it! That blunders the pawn!' READ MORE: Why Vishy Anand prescribes a 'take it easy policy' for teenage world beaters like Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun Erigaisi What Seirawan meant was, as soon as Gukesh had shifted his bishop to g5 rather than putting it on e5, or even c3, it allowed Alireza to plant his rook on b7, threatening Gukesh's only remaining pawn on f7. Gukesh moved his pawn forward by a square, which allowed his rival to slide his rook behind the pawn. Now, Gukesh had no option but to move his bishop away from protecting his pawn, and as soon as he did, Alireza rook gobbled it up while also delivering a check on Gukesh's king. After some desperate dodging, Gukesh surrendered 13 moves later. READ MORE | Garry Kasparov: 'I beat strongest player to become world champion, Gukesh is in different situation because Magnus Carlsen is there' Before that error from Gukesh, he and Alireza had played out a rollercoaster middlegame that saw the Frenchman, playing with white pieces, hold an edge as early as the 18th move after the world champion opted not to castle his king to safety and tuck it away behind a column of two doubled pawns. But Gukesh had managed to maneuver his way out of trouble as his opponent had courted time trouble by the 23rd move and then squander his edge right around the 30th move, when Gukesh spent his time well to find moves that kept him alive. Gukesh will now face the three Americans in his final three games — Wesley So, Levon Aronian and Caruana.
The Hindu
13-05-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Gukesh in different position as world champ because Magnus Carlsen is there: Kasparov
Russian chess icon Garry Kasparov, whose record of being the youngest world champion was bettered by D Gukesh, feels that the Indian is in a "different situation" compared to him as Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is considered, "by all metrics", a better player than the Chennai teenager. Gukesh was 17 when he defeated China's reigning world champion Ding Liren in a 14-game showdown to claim the coveted title last year. Kasparov was 22 when he clinched the world crown back in 1985, beating compatriot Anatoly Karpov. 'It's a phenomenal accomplishment [Gukesh' world championship win]. But I beat the strongest player in the world. Gukesh is in a different situation because Magnus is there.' "So yeah Gukesh is official world champion, there is no doubt about it, but there is somebody else who is widely considered, by all metrics, as a better player," Kasparov told the YouTube channel of Saint Louis Chess Club during the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania. This is not the first time that a comparison has been made between Gukesh and Carlsen, who is the current world number one and pursuing the ambition of a freestyle chess tour, putting him at loggerheads with the world governing body FIDE. The FIDE has made it clear that it would not allow the tour to have a world championship match as that would remain solely its domain. Kasparov has been effusive in his praise of India's current crop of chess players, including Gukesh, and described them as "Vishy's children", an ode to his contemporary and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand. "He [Gukesh] has plenty of room and plenty of time to improve. That's a challenge that I am sure he is dealing with," Kasparov said. The Russian great felt that the 32-year-old Liren, who battled psychological issues in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and even stopped playing for a while, was not at his best during the mega-event in Singapore. "Ding at his best against Magnus… that would be a match! But then COVID ruined him. Ding after COVID was just a different player, still very tenacious, just tons of resilience. "Gukesh was just rising after he won the Candidates. Everything can happen in a world championship match because it's a long match. But Gukesh was always ahead. Ding fought heroically, he nearly saved the match. But I think it's a result that is justified. Gukesh was a better player," Kasparov conceded.
NDTV
13-05-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
"D Gukesh World Champion But Magnus Carlsen Considered Better": Chess Great Garry Kasparov
Russian chess icon Garry Kasparov, whose record of being the youngest world champion was bettered by D Gukesh, feels that the Indian is in a "different situation" compared to him as Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is considered, "by all metrics", a better player than the Chennai teenager. Gukesh was 17 when he defeated China's reigning world champion Ding Liren in a 14-game showdown to claim the coveted title last year. Kasparov was 22 when he clinched the world crown back in 1985, beating compatriot Anatoly Karpov. "It's a phenomenal accomplishment (Gukesh' world championship win). But I beat the strongest player in the world. Gukesh is in a different situation because Magnus is there. "So yeah Gukesh is official world champion, there is no doubt about it, but there is somebody else who is widely considered, by all metrics, as a better player," Kasparov told the YouTube channel of Saint Louis Chess Club during the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania. This is not the first time that a comparison has been made between Gukesh and Carlsen, who is the current world number one and pursuing the ambition of a freestyle chess tour, putting him at loggerheads with the world governing body FIDE. The FIDE has made it clear that it would not allow the tour to have a world championship match as that would remain solely its domain. Kasparov has been effusive in his praise of India's current crop of chess players, including Gukesh, and described them as "Vishy's children", an ode to his contemporary and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand. "He (Gukesh) has plenty of room and plenty of time to improve. That's a challenge that I am sure he is dealing with," Kasparov said. The Russian great felt that the 32-year-old Liren, who battled psychological issues in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and even stopped playing for a while, was not at his best during the mega-event in Singapore. "Ding at his best against Magnus… that would be a match! But then COVID ruined him. Ding after COVID was just a different player, still very tenacious, just tons of resilience. "Gukesh was just rising after he won the Candidates. Everything can happen in a world championship match because it's a long match. But Gukesh was always ahead. Ding fought heroically, he nearly saved the match. But I think it's a result that is justified. Gukesh was a better player," Kasparov conceded. PTI PM PM ATK ATK Listen to the latest songs, only on
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Gukesh in different position as world champ because Magnus Carlsen is there: Kasparov
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Russian chess icon Garry Kasparov , whose record of being the youngest world champion was bettered by D Gukesh , feels that the Indian is in a "different situation" compared to him as Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is considered, "by all metrics", a better player than the Chennai teenager. Gukesh was 17 when he defeated China's reigning world champion Ding Liren in a 14-game showdown to claim the coveted title last year. Kasparov was 22 when he clinched the world crown back in 1985, beating compatriot Anatoly Karpov."It's a phenomenal accomplishment (Gukesh' world championship win). But I beat the strongest player in the world. Gukesh is in a different situation because Magnus is there."So yeah Gukesh is official world champion, there is no doubt about it, but there is somebody else who is widely considered, by all metrics, as a better player," Kasparov told the YouTube channel of Saint Louis Chess Club during the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, is not the first time that a comparison has been made between Gukesh and Carlsen, who is the current world number one and pursuing the ambition of a freestyle chess tour, putting him at loggerheads with the world governing body FIDE (International Chess Federation).The FIDE has made it clear that it would not allow the tour to have a world championship match as that would remain solely its has been effusive in his praise of India's current crop of chess players, including Gukesh, and described them as "Vishy's children", an ode to his contemporary and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand "He (Gukesh) has plenty of room and plenty of time to improve. That's a challenge that I am sure he is dealing with," Kasparov Russian great felt that the 32-year-old Liren, who battled psychological issues in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and even stopped playing for a while, was not at his best during the mega-event in Singapore."Ding at his best against Magnus... that would be a match! But then COVID ruined him. Ding after COVID was just a different player, still very tenacious, just tons of resilience."Gukesh was just rising after he won the Candidates. Everything can happen in a world championship match because it's a long match. But Gukesh was always ahead. Ding fought heroically, he nearly saved the match. But I think it's a result that is justified. Gukesh was a better player," Kasparov conceded.
Indian Express
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Garry Kasparov: ‘Gukesh in different situation than me, I beat strongest player in world to become world champion'
Former world champion Garry Kasparov has said that India's Gukesh Dommaraju was the 'better player than Ding Liren' at last year's World Chess Championship, but added that world no 1 Magnus Carlsen is 'widely considered, by all metrics, as a better player' than the reigning world champion from India. At the age of 18, Gukesh became the youngest world champion in the history of the sport in Singapore in December 2024, beating the record previously held by Kasparov. But the former Russian chess wizard pointed out that the situations of both of them becoming world champions was drastically different. 'Gukesh was, in my view, a favorite (at the world chess championship) because Ding was the pale shadow of what Ding was before COVID. I remember Ding's performance in one of the events in St Louis (in 2019 against Magnus Carlsen). Absolutely phenomenal! Just absolutely phenomenal,' Kasparov told the YouTube handle of the Saint Louis Chess Club. He went on to admit: 'I was not one who thought that Ding would be a natural challenger. Ding at his best against Magnus… that would be a match! But then COVID ruined him. Ding after COVID was just a different player, still very tenacious, just tons of resilience. Solid. Some interesting ideas even in match against Nepo (Ian Nepomniachtchi), there were a couple of moments of his brilliance, but not the same player. While Gukesh was just rising after he won the Candidates. Everything can happen in a world championship match because it's a long match. But Gukesh was always ahead. Ding fought heroically: he nearly saved the match. But I think it's a result that is justified. Gukesh was a better player.' But when asked to compare the Indian teenager becoming youngest world champion to his own ascent to the throne as the youngest back in his time, Kasparov said: '(What Gukesh managed) is a phenomenal accomplishment. But I beat the strongest player in the world. Gukesh is in a different situation because Magnus is there. So Gukesh is official world champion, there's no doubt about it, but there's somebody else who is widely considered, by all metrics, as a better player. So he has plenty of room and plenty of time to improve. That's a challenge that I'm sure he's dealing with.' The Indian teenager is currently competing at the Grand Chess Tour's event in Bucharest where he is yet to win a game, having drawn four games and lost one at the halfway mark. He drew against Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattarov, Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who was one of his seconds when he became the world champion. Gukesh was also stunned by Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
