Carlsen's endgame mastery takes Gukesh by surprise as black rules the day in QFs
Arjun Erigaisi won the battle of Indian prodigies as Magnus Carlsen's masterly endgame was enough for the world No. 1 to get the better of young D Gukesh in the opening round of their quarterfinals of FIDE chess World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday.
The marathon opening round of the quarterfinal between Vidit Gujarathi and Nijag Abasov from Azerbaijan ended in a draw after six hours and 109 moves.
The much-anticipated contest between Gukesh and Carlsen was a sharp battle of wits. With white pieces, Gukesh opted for the Queen Pawn opening while Carlsen chose the Indian defence.
In the 11th move, Gukesh sacrificed a pawn for an attack but regained the same within six moves after queens of both were off the board. Both Gukesh and Carlsen played out of the book in a game where the position became equal in the 23rd move.
However, Gukesh was critically low on time and got outplayed in the endgame after missing a defensive move on the 35th turn. With advancing pawns, Carlsen took control of the proceedings and 17-year-old Gukesh was left with no option but to resign in the 48th move.
The world No.1 showed his endgame skills after the Indian prodigy misplaced his rook and it was easy for Carlsen to gain the upper hand. Carlsen is now a draw away from making it to the semifinals as Gukesh needs to win with black pieces on Wednesday to force tiebreaks.
The battle between two young Indian stars was won by Erigaisi while defending with black pieces against R Praggnanandhaa. After an equal game of Reti Opening, Arjun found the winning move on the 37th turn when Praggu made a decisive mistake.
Thereafter, Praggu tried to bring parity but Arjun, despite being low on time, continued to play with perfection and posted a crucial win after 53 moves. Arjun is now just a draw away from confirming his berth in the semifinals. In the second round to be played on Wednesday, Arjun will look to make the most of his opening advantage with white pieces.
Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand was following the contest of Indian prodigies and analysed the game. He tweeted, "When Prag made a few careless decisions around move 30, Arjun kept posing him problems. Prag's task was no longer simple and he crumbled under pressure. A crucial win for Arjun and Prag also needs a win with black tomorrow (Wednesday) to remain in the event."
On Gukesh and Carlsen's clash, Anand wrote, "Gukesh and Magnus clearly sought out a sharp battle out of the opening with several provocative choices. However, Magnus took his slight endgame advantage and converted it perfectly!"
On spending his rest day with his opponent Praggu, Arjun, in an interview with FIDE, said, "We were talking about everything but chess. We prepared individually, of course. We just wanted to relax."
In the third quarterfinal, Vidit started with the usual King Pawn opening while Azerbaijan's 2632 Elo Abasov opted for the Rossolimo Variation of Sicilian defence. Vidit kept pushing for a win in a slightly better endgame but the 109-move game ended in a draw. Now, Vidit needs to defend well with black pieces on Wednesday.
The lengthy contest between American GMs, Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez, ended in a draw after 71 moves.
In the women's semifinals, Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Tan Zhongyi with black pieces to take a crucial step towards the final. The second semifinal between Nurgyul Salimova and Anna Muzychuk ended in a draw.
