D Gukesh (Image credit: FIDE)
World champion D Gukesh marked his 19th birthday by defeating World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in Norway Chess on Thursday, securing three points and getting his campaign back on track after two consecutive losses in earlier rounds.The victory came against one of the best Rapid and Blitz players in a 42-move game, where Gukesh managed to put Nakamura under time pressure.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!This win was particularly significant as it followed Gukesh's losses to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway and fellow Indian player Arjun Erigaisi in the first two rounds of the six-player double round-robin tournament."I feel quite good. I think my time management was much better today than before.
He had some drawing chances, but I guess, overall, it was good," Gukesh said after the match.
When questioned about potential Armageddon tie-breaks in the tournament, Gukesh, whose strength lies in Classical chess, responded: "Yeah, I mean at some point it will come for sure. But right now, I'm just happy with this."The reigning world champion, who claimed his title by defeating Ding Liren of China last December, reflected on his previous losses.
"Obviously, the last two games were kind of tough. But today I just tried to play it as a fresh tournament. Glad I played," he said.Gukesh acknowledged his previous time management issues in the tournament had been problematic."Glad my time management and my game were pretty good," he said, admitting that his clock handling in the previous two games was "clearly horrible."
English (US) ·