The final day of the Rapid section at the Grand Chess Tour event in Saint Louis saw D Gukesh climb from sixth to fourth position, as he managed to end it on a positive note.
On Wednesday, in the final three rounds, Gukesh faced three Americans and began with a defeat to Leinier Dominguez. Then he staged a comeback, beating Wesley So and also the leader, Fabiano Caruana.
The reigning World Champion now has 10 points, and trails Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (11 points), Levon Aronian (13 points) and Caruana (14).
Meanwhile, Dominguez, So, and Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov have nine points and share the fifth position. They are two points ahead of Vietnam’s Liem Le Quang. American GM Sam Shankland is ninth with five points, and Grigoriy Oparin is last with three.
Gukesh’s win against Caruana also saw the American GM fall to his only defeat in the event so far. Caruana had the advantage early in their final round face-off, but Gukesh managed to find a way out and also got his fourth win in a row over his opponent.
‘Today could have been horrible…’: D Gukesh
The opening two days at St. Louis was disappointing for Gukesh, as he had two defeats, two draws, managing two wins too. “Today could have been horrible, but turned out to be good,” Gukesh said, after beating Caruana.
“For a long time in the game, it was just about surviving,” he added.
Commenting on Caruana’s early advantage, he remarked, “Once I allowed f4 it was just… I quickly realised it was just too bad.”
Speaking about his game, he said, “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.”
The Indian GM will look to continue his momentum into the Blitz section, a format where he will want to put in a strong performance. “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.