Bengaluru: It’s been little over four months since Gukesh D turned world champion and the 18-year-old Indian is on the hunt for a classical tournament win.
He’s had forgettable runs at two Fischer Random (Freestyle) events since and finished second at the Tata Steel Chess in Wijk Aan Zee, losing to fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa in a thrilling tie-break.
On Wednesday, the two Indians again sat across each other in a classical face-off of the Superbet Chess Classic in Romania. Their Round 1 game went from Gukesh having chances to press for a win to the position turning complicated and eventually ending in a draw through perpetual checks after 35 moves.
Playing Black, Praggnanandhaa appeared to have his preparation in place and blitzed out moves at the start. Gukesh retreated to a somewhat lengthy contemplation early on after Praggnanandhaa sprung 3.c5.
The world champion later admitted that though he was “surprised” by c5, he wasn’t completely unaware of the position. Gukesh steadily outplayed his compatriot, set up a great position and seemed to hold an objective edge.
A tempting option before Gukesh, one that engines seemed to particularly love was going Qe7 which appeared to paralyse Black’s options. Instead, Gukesh chose to capture Black’s queen which was objectively a relief for Praggnanandhaa and after the world champion’s 26.g5, the evaluation dropped to equal and it was anyone’s game thereafter.
“I spotted Qe7 a which seems to be the best move but I was worried about g6 and did not see a follow up,” said Gukesh. “I think I underestimated his chances. Overall, it was a good game, I was calculating well. Obviously, there were a couple of chances but okay, it wasn’t that easy.”
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand made the first ceremonial move – 1.Nf3 – in the Gukesh-Praggnanandhaa game. Gukesh moved the knight back and instead chose the Queen’s Pawn opening with 1.d4.
Apart from the two Indians the other players in the nine-round classical tournament are Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Alireza Firouzja, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So and Bogdan-Daniel Deac.
For Praggnanandhaa, who won the Tata Steel Chess title in Wijk aan Zee in January, this tournament is a chance to gain crucial Fide Circuit points. The 19-year-old Indian currently leads the Fide Circuit standings with 44.50 points. At the end of the year, the player with the highest points qualifies for next year’s Candidates tournament – the eight-player event which will act as a qualifier for the World Championship.
Vaishali begins with wins
Vaishali Rameshbabu started the sixth and final leg of the Fide Women’s Grand Prix in Grossblobming, Austria with wins over Nurgyul Salimova and Lela Javakhishvili. The Indian Grandmaster, playing White, kept up her unbeaten classical streak against Salimova. The queens were off the board before move 20 and Vaishali, who appeared to have a slim edge, soon took over. The tournament will decide the top two players who will qualify for the 2026 women’s Candidates. Aleksandra Goryachkina is in the lead with 308.34 points. The Russian is not playing in this final stage and the two other players who have a chance to stake a claim for a Candidates spot through this route are China’s Zhu Jiner and Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk.