New Delhi: Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh’s underwhelming run continued at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Weissenhaus, Germany on Sunday as he suffered a defeat in Game 1 of his quarter-final clash against world no.3 Fabiano Caruana. It was Gukesh’s third defeat in the tournament as the reigning world champion remained winless in Weissenhaus.
However, Gukesh has not been ousted from the tournament yet as he will take on Caruana in Game 2 of their quarter-final on Monday, February 10 and will have a chance to force a tie-breaker. Gukesh will be in a must-win situation against the world no.3 in the second game.
Gukesh qualified for the quarter-finals on Saturday despite going down against world no.1 Magnus Carlsen in the final 9th round of the round-robin stage. Carlsen, the best-rated player in the world, handed Gukesh his 2nd defeat in the tournament in their first meeting after the 18-year-old Indian was crowned world champion in December last year.
However, Gukesh managed to make it to the quarter-finals having secured 7 draws in nine matches in the round-robin stage. The Indian Grandmaster finished 8th with just 3.5 points from available 9. Caruana chose Gukesh in the quarters after finishing third with 6 points. The rules in the experimentative tournament allowed those finishing in the top 3 to select their opponents in the quarter-final.
More to follow…
World no.2 Fabio Caruana defeated D Gukesh in Game 1 of the quarter-final clash between the duo in the ongoing Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour on Sunday. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
