CHENNAI: It was another forgettable day for D Gukesh as he suffered a defeat at the hands of India No 1 Arjun Erigaisi in the 5th round of the Chennai Grand Masters on Monday.
In a highly tactical and tense game, Arjun Erigaisi, with the black pieces, managed to outplay Gukesh navigating a complex middlegame to secure his second win of the tournament. This win helped the Indian No. 1 to go level on points with Alireza Firouzja (3.5 points with two rounds to go).
For the world champion, it further compounded a difficult start to the tournament as he continues to face immense pressure from a highly competitive field. Firouzja, who drew with Dmitry Andreikin, missed a chance while Nodirbek Abdusattorov got the better of Nihal Sarin to register his first win of the tournament. The win took the Uzbek phenom to within .5 of the leaderboard.
Gukesh began with the English Opening before the game moved into a Queen's Gambit Declined. An ambitious kingside pawn advance produced a complicated position, with both players leaving their kings exposed.
Arjun's decision to capture a pawn with 23.Qxb2 handed Gukesh a winning advantage. The 20-year-old responded with 24.Rh8+ and placed Arjun's king under sustained pressure, but used considerable time in calculating the attack.
The balance changed with 30.Bg7. The move allowed Arjun to escape the immediate danger and equalise, while Gukesh's clock continued to run down. Gukesh later dropped below a minute, with Arjun retaining a sizeable time advantage in a position that remained difficult to navigate.
Both players had further opportunities as the game entered a knight-and-rook ending. The decisive error came with Gukesh's 54.Rf5+, which allowed Arjun's king to become active and support a dangerous passed pawn on the d-file.
Arjun converted the advantage steadily, coordinating his two knights with the advanced pawn. Gukesh resigned after 63.Ne4.
In another interesting match Abdusattorov defeated Nihal in 38 moves with black.
Meanwhile, GM Srinath N, who helped India bag a gold at the last Olympiad, believed the Chennai GM tournament was good preparation for the coming Olympiad for the Indian players.
''Yeah, definitely this tournament is a great preparation, I think for the Olympiad. In a way, it's India versus the world. I think our India players have been playing pretty decently. This tournament is good preparation for the likes of Gukesh and Arjun as the field is strong,'' said Srinath.
''It's been a bit up and down. But the competition is against the highest possible opposition that they will face. And in view of that, we have scored roughly 50% overall as a team, which is pretty decent. They are not going to be teams with all 2750s and 2700s on all four boards, except one or two teams. So, considering that, I think we have done excellently,'' he added.
For Abdusattorov also it will be good preparation as the Olympiad will be held at his home country. "For him (Nodirebek), it will be a good advantage playing in India," Narayanan said. "It's useful for him and it's useful for us as well, it is like a double edged sword. But then it all depends upon how we play on a given day,'' insisted Srinath.
Results (5th Rd; Monday): GM M Pranesh (2) drew with GM Hans Niemann (2); GM D Gukesh (1.5) lost to GM Arjun Erigaisi (3.5); GM Nihal Sarin (2) lost to GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (3); GM Alireza Firouzja (3.5) drew with GM Dmitry Andreikin (2.5).
Matches (Tuesday; Rd 6): Niemann vs Andreikin, Abdusattorov vs Firouzja, Erigaisi vs Sarin, Pranesh vs Gukesh
