d gukesh
Indian grandmaster D Gukesh has faced defeat in the World Chess Championship. He was defeated by reigning champion Ding Liren of China in a very stressful first match. Playing with the black pieces, Liren took an early lead in the 14-game match. These competitions will continue until mid-December. Gukesh said after the first match that this happens. It’s a long game. I expected a similar performance from Liren. We have a lot to play for ahead of us and it’s going to be very exciting.
Gukesh had made a mistake from the beginning.
By winning by playing with black pieces, Liren not only earned all the points, but also gained a psychological advantage in the competition for the $2.5 million prize money. The first player to reach 7.5 points will be the winner. The world champion’s youngest challenger, 18-year-old Gukesh, made an early mistake by moving the king’s front pawn two houses. Such a play conveys an aggressive attitude and Liren responded with the ‘French Defense’. Gukesh said I was nervous but I felt comfortable after the game started but then I lost my rhythm.
Gukesh adopted Vishwanathan’s plan
Gukesh adopted the same strategy that Viswanathan Anand had adopted when he won his first World Championship title against Alexey Shirov of Spain in 2001. Gukesh had a half-hour lead until the 12th move, but after eight moves, Liren got extra minutes that showed that he had overcome his initial problem. After this he had a brilliant performance and won in 42 moves. Liren said in the post-match press conference that it has been a long time since I won an individual classic match, but today I managed to win. I was lucky because I failed twice. He said that in the first match he was nervous at the beginning, so I did something different that I hadn’t done in a long time and this strategy worked.
(Entry: PTI)
