Reigning world champion Dommaraju Gukesh didn’t have the best of days to open the Freestyle Chess Grand Tour in Weissenhauss, Germany, as he went through the opening day without a single win. Gukesh ended the day in sixth position with 2 points out of 5, after four draws in five games.
His only loss of the day came against Alireza Firouzja in the second round. The Frenchman had Gukesh under immense pressure in the endgame, when he caved making a blunder which gave Firouzja a mate-in-two, at which point Gukesh resigned.
In the first round, Gukesh drew against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. He had defended the position well enough to reach an end game where the Uzbek pushed as hard as he could with just two knights against Gukesh’s king, but didn’t have enough resources to deliver the checkmating blow, which left him frustrated.
After a largely uneventful draw against Levon Aronian in the third round, Gukesh survived a massive scare against Javokhir Sindarov in the fourth round. Almost right from the first move, Gukesh’s position was worse, and only kept getting inferior as the game went on, but in the endgame, one blunder from Sindarov allowed the Indian teenager back near parity, and from there, he held on for the draw.
In the fifth and final round of the day, Gukesh got out of the opening with a significant advantage against Hikaru Nakamura, but had used up quite a bit of his time for it. With the clock putting pressure on him, he made a series of inaccuracies that handed the initiative back to the American, but in the end, even he couldn’t convert the advantage, and both players agreed on a draw. Like Gukesh, Nakamura too finished the day with four draws and a loss.
Magnus Carlsen is also level with Gukesh and Nakamura (and Vincent Keymer) after a topsy-turvy day for the five-time world champion. He began with a superb win against Nakamura, but then lost to Fabiano Caruana before beating Vincent Keymer in the third round. He then went on to lose to both Vladimir Fedoseev and Sindarov in the fourth and fifth rounds respectively.
At the end of the first day, Caruana and Sindarov are joint-leader with 4.5 points out of 5. Out of the ten players in the round-robin phase, two get eliminated tomorrow, when the remaining four rounds will be played. The top 8 will then play the quarterfinals, where the top four players will be allowed their choice of opponent, with the order of picking going from first to fourth, leaving the fourth-placed player essentially with no choice to make.
D Gukesh’s results on Day 1 of the Freestyle Chess Grand Tour, Weissenhauss
0.5-0.5 vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov
0-1 vs Alireza Firouzja
0.5-0.5 vs Levon Aronian
0.5-0.5 vs Javokhir Sindarov
0.5-0.5 vs Hikaru Nakamura
Freestyle Chess Grand Tour, Weissenhauss – Standings after Round 5
Fabiano Caruana – 4.5
Javokhir Sindarov – 4.5
Alireza Firouzja – 3.5
Nodirbek Abdusattorov – 2.5
Magnus Carlsen – 2
Dommaraju Gukesh – 2
Hikaru Nakamura – 2
Vincent Keymer – 2
Vladimir Fedoseev – 1
Levon Aronian – 1
