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India’s world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, hoped for a comeback at Bucharest this week after his dismal Freestyle performances in North Germany and Paris in the spring. Instead, the top seeded 18-year-old was defeated by France’s pair of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, in 31 moves, and Alireza Firouzja, in 69 moves, before scoring a 44-move win, against USA’s Levon Aronian, in Thursday’s eighth and penultimate round.
Gukesh has dropped from third to fifth in the Fide world rankings, and is currently tied seventh in the 10-man field in Romania with one win, five draws, and two defeats. One round earlier, he was tied last. Only Friday’s ninth and final round, which can be watched (12.30pm BST start) here, remains.
The Bucharest event is part of the European leg of the Grand Slam sponsored by the St Louis billionaire Rex Sinquefield, which also includes rapid and blitz events in Poland and Croatia, the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, and a Tour Final at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Prize money at Bucharest totals $350,000, with $100,000 for the winner.
Garry Kasparov, the 13th world champion, made a ceremonial first move, and spoke fondly of the former days when grandmasters would debate their analysis in chess magazines, an aspect of the game that computers have killed off by showing the correct answer immediately. He added: “There’s no free lunch. We lost some beauty of the game and analysis, but in exchange we got a very nice compensation. We now know the correct evaluation of the position.”
Praggnanandhaa Raameshbabu leads the Bucharest field by half a point with 5/8. Gukesh’s fellow Indian is poised for his second major success of the year following his victory at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in January.
The main interest of Vachier-Lagrave v Gukesh in round four was that the Frenchman advanced his h2 pawn all the way up to h6 at moves 12-14. This manoeuvre is a computer era speciality, which in older games was designed to weaken the black king’s defences by h5xg6. Tests with the program AlphaZero showed that advancing the pawn to h6 can also pose long-term endgame threats to the black position, for example if a white piece can attack Black’s h7 pawn.
Vachier-Lagrave v Gukesh was initially level, but Vachier-Lagrave believed that he won the opening battle after 8 Be3. Gukesh then overpressed with 12…f5? allowing White’s pawn to advance to h6. White’s 19 Rh4! was strong, preventing Black’s f4, while after 22…c5? (better Rab8) Black is lost, and his position collapsed quickly. At the end if 31…Rae7 32 Rxa5 White just mops up Black’s pawns.
Gukesh had a further escape in round five, when he sacrificed unsoundly against Jan-Krzysztof Duda but escaped with a draw by perpetual check when the Pole put his king on the wrong square.
The world champion’s poor run continued in round six, when Firouzja outplayed him in the middle game but wobbled in the endgame. His missed simple win, instead of 30 Qxg4? was 30 Re4! when Qxh4 31 Nf5+ keeps White a pawn up, while Black’s pawn formation remains shattered.
After that, Gukesh should have drawn, but in the position after White’s move 53 with WK g4, WR b4, and WP h5 v BK h6, BB f6, BP f7 the young Indian, who was not in any clock trouble, took just four seconds to play the blunder 53…Bg5?? at the moment when any of Bc3, Be5 or Ba1 gives a cast-iron fortress draw. Black simply keeps his Kh6 and Pf6 where they are, and moves his bishop up and down the long diagonal, while White can do nothing.
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In round seven Gukesh finally scored a full point when loose play by Aronian left the American with a hopeless rook and pawn ending.
Gukesh’s indifferent form will be of concern in India, before the world champion’s forthcoming clash with Magnus Carlsen, who is still ranked world No 1, at Stavanger starting on 25 May. Meanwhile, Carlsen and his wife, Ella Victoria, are expecting their first child.
Perhaps chess fans expect too much from world champions. Of 18 holders of the title, only five – Emanuel Lasker, Alexander Alekhine, Anatoly Karpov, Kasparov, and Carlsen – clearly improved their play during their reign. For several others, the crown was clearly a burden. As matters stand, Gukesh will be perceived by his rivals as a beatable target, like his predecessor, Ding Liren.
Vlastimil Hort, one of the leading grandmasters of the 1970s and 1980s, died on 12 May aged 81. Hort had a memorable 1977 Candidates match against Boris Spassky when, with the scores tied at 6-6. Spassky was hospitalised with appendicitis. He needed a four-game timeout but the regulations only provided for three, so Hort donated one of his own timeouts.
3972: 1 g6! fxg6 2 Rxh5! gxh5 3 Rg1+ Ng6 4 Rxg6+ Kg8 5 Rh6+ Kg8 6 Rh8 mate. Other defences for Black also lose quickly.
