Ravindra Mirashi
Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, an inspiration to Indian chess players, first congratulated Gukesh D, saying, “I am personally very proud of the way you played and handled difficult situations on the board. Enjoy this happy moment.”
The Chess Challenger tournament concluded in Toronto, Canada. The tournament was held in a double round robin format among the total eight players who qualified for this tournament. D with 9 points in this match. Gukesh (Gukesh D) won the title. Earning 20 FIDE points in this competition, D. Gukesh jumped up to 10th place in the world rankings. He has now also become India's number one player by achieving the sixth position.
In the 74-year history of the first 'Chess Challenger' tournament in Budapest in 1950, 17-year-old D. Gukesh (Gukesh D) became the youngest challenger. Gukesh also has a chance to become the youngest world chess champion. Which can break the record of world champions Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen.
Although the odds were favorable for victory on the second leg, Caruana was unable to achieve victory against Nepomnia. In an innings that lasted 109 runs, Nepomnia held Caruana to a draw and d. Gukesh's path to becoming the challenger was easy without a tie-break.
In the final 14th round, world number three Hikaru Nakamura favored the 'Queen's Gambit' opening while playing with white pawns. Gukesh responded with 'Queen's Gambit Accepted'. Both the 7th and 8th chalice players preferred to secure the king by castling. When playing with black pawns, Gukesh first focuses on activating all his pawns. In the 20th forty Gukesh captures Nakamura's d-4 house pawn with a wazir. Here Gukesh took hold of the innings. In the 24th chalice, Gukesh was expected to play 'Wazir F-4', rejecting the proposal of Wazira-Waziri. Gukesh was making perfect moves in the middle of the innings. But there was more tendency to tie the innings with a pawn. In the final stages of the innings, Gukesh proved his maturity with various moves on his elephant and camel. Gukesh did not allow Nakamura to get the upper hand for the entire innings. The five-hour round ended in a draw after 71 moves with only kings left for both players.
All eyes now turned to Caruana – Nepomnia's left. This innings, played in the 'Queen's Gambit Declined' style, became very exciting. Playing with white pawns in the middle of the innings, Caruana dominated the innings. Only the first 24 moves saw Karuna moving towards victory. But while the 39th chalice was expected to operate 'Camel C-2', Caruana operated 'Camel H-7'. This would loosen the grip on the innings. As the innings progressed, Caruana's moves needed to be accurate. But the move of the 59th forty elephant turned out to be wrong. In the final stages of the innings, both players managed to convert their pawns into wazirs. Nepomnia deserves special praise in this innings. He put all his experience to the test to keep Karuana level in an innings that lasted 109 runs. However, this result made it easier for Gukesh to challenge world champion Ding Liren (China) without a tie-break.
In an innings played in the 'King's Indian Defence' style, Pragyanand achieved a brilliant victory against Abasov. Whereas Feroza-Vidit conceded a draw by repeating his wazir moves in just 14 moves. Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachi and Karuana had the same eight-and-a-half points.
(The author is a chess scholar)
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