CHENNAI: Chess players seldom 'celebrate' victories on the board. If they win, they shake hands, discuss some moves, rearrange the pieces, adjust the chair and walk away. Not on Wednesday. Not when there was an opportunity to send an early message. Not when you are D Gukesh, battling indifferent form and questions over his mind six months out from a title clash. Not when it came against your opponent in that clash.
At the Grand Chess Tour's first event of the year — the Rapid and Blitz section in Warsaw — the Indian teen fist-pumped after Javokhir Sindarov resigned with the white pieces in a hopelessly lost endgame. The win is very significant for the Classical world champion even if it came in Rapid. He has faced endless questions over his form and this, their first match since Sindarov won the Candidates last month, win will do him a world of good.
The position was drawish out of the opening, and well into the middlegame, the match was headed to a draw with accurate play. But Sindarov, maybe because of a lapse in concentration, hung his knight. It was a major miscalculation on the Uzbek's part and the Indian picked it up. While he had a winning advantage, he still had to do some precise play to turn it into a win. Both players traded some inaccuracies but after 35. Qg4+, the engines gave the Indian a healthy -2.7. Sindarov had his queen and rook looking at Gukesh's king but the Indian's pieces were in better cor-ordination and he was also up a knight as well as a pawn in the ensuing endgame.
Post that win, he played out a draw against Wesley So in the next round. He has had a mixed start to the Rapid section as he lost to Hans Niemann after drawing with Alireza Firouzja in his first match. He is in fifth position with six points after as many rounds.