New Delhi: World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh finished his dismal run in Hamburg with a loss to Alireza Firouzja in the second match of the seventh-place playoff at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournament held at the Weissenhaus resort.
With 11 draws and six defeats, Gukesh couldn’t find a moment to celebrate in the innovative style of the game, and thus, has finished eighth in a winless campaign in Germany.
Gukesh’s disappointing performance in Hamburg
Just a day after making a strong comeback in a match where he was on the verge of losing to enforce a draw, Gukesh couldn’t capitalise on the psychological advantage. Starting with the white pieces, Gukesh was not able to withstand the relentless attack from the Iranian-French Grandmaster.
Firouzja deployed all the big pieces in Gukesh’s den with the knight, bishop and the two rooks complementing the queen and that made Gukesh’s defense look feeble. In an attempt to attack back, Gukesh used his queen against the black king in the 22nd move, as reported by The Indian Express, only to lose the ace piece, though he managed to account for the two opposite rooks.
It didn’t help to the cause that Gukesh was lacking in defense and the teenager eventually resigned after the completion of the 30th move to finish one of the most challenging tournament of his career.
Germany’s Vincent Keymer went on to win the first edition of the tournament, though he was touted as a rookie player. The 20-year-old defeated some of the decorated players in the world of chess, who have been acclimated in the freestyle format as well. He knocked out World No.1 Magnus Carlsen out of the title race before winning the final against American champion Fabiano Caruana by 1.5-0.5 margin to claim the cup.
Hikaru finishes in fifth, while Alireza comes in seventh!
Gukesh finishes the week in eighth place without a win the entire event, as did Ding Liren a year ago.
#FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/ghs9Gaek5Z
— chess24 (@chess24com) February 14, 2025
For Gukesh, he emulated the step of his predecessor Ding Liren, whom he defeated in the World Championship in Singapore last year. Liren also ended in the last spot in a winless campaign in the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T Challenge.
Dommaraju Gukesh concluded the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournament in Hamburg with an eighth-place finish, a winless campaign marked by eleven draws and six defeats. His final match saw a loss to Alireza Firouzja in the seventh-place playoff. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
