World Champion D Gukesh once again crashed to a defeat against Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the fifth round of the ongoing Prague International Chess Festival. The match turned out to be a thrilling encounter as it kept the fans on the edge of their seats.
D Gukesh’s Heartbreaking Defeat in Prague International Chess Festival
The Indian Grand Master started strong and had a commanding position in the game, but he couldn’t hold on. Playing with the black pieces, Gukesh came up with a strategic plan that immediately put pressure on his opponent’s king.
D Gukesh seemed to have everything under control and was heading for his first win in the Masters section. But as the clock ran down, he made mistakes just before the first time control, letting Abdusattorov escape. Even when Abdusattorov almost slipped, Gukesh couldn’t take the chance and faltered again, letting his opponent push a winning pawn and claim victory.
It has to be noted that this was the second time in a month that Abdusattorov has beaten Gukesh after the Indian star lost from a winning position. The previous encounter was at the Tata Steel Masters. This latest defeat drops Gukesh to world number 17 with a rating of 2734.5, while Abdusattorov climbs to 2778.3.
“It was a completely crazy game…” — Abdusattorov After Defeating Gukesh
Speaking after the game, Abdusattorov told ChessBase India, “It was a completely crazy game. In his opening, he was well prepared. I knew that this line exists…the more I thought about my position, the more I didn’t like it.”
“But at some point, he started to misplay it. I felt like there was something for White to get an advantage more than what I could manage…Then I started to outplay him closer to time control and obviously, when we passed time control, I thought my position should be winning…at the end, he was low on time and he panicked.”
Round four saw decisive results in all five games. Defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram faced his third loss, this time to Spain’s David Anton Guijarro. Navara thrilled the home crowd by outplaying Nodirbek Yakubboev in what many called the best game of the day.
Gukesh, along with Aravindh and Niemann, remains stuck on 1.5 points at the bottom of the standings. With the tournament’s single rest day now here, Gukesh has a tough challenge ahead to turn his campaign around.
Prague Chess Results Round 4
Masters Section
- David Navara (Cze, 3.5) beat Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 2)
- Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4) beat Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 1.5)
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3.5) beat D Gukesh (Ind, 1.5)
- Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 1.5) lost to David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 3)
- Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 2.5) beat Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2)
Challengers Section
- Jiner Zhu (Chn, 1.5) drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun, 2)
- Joans Buhl Bjerre (Den, 2.5) drew with Jachym Nemec (Cze, 3)
- Thomas Beerdsen (Ned, 3) drew with Stepn Hrbek (Cze, 3)
- Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind, 1) lost to Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 2.5)
- Finek Vanclav (Cze, 4) beat Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 1.5)
