In the first round of the ongoing Tata Steel Masters, world champion D Gukesh was fortunate to overcome Anish Giri of Holland after being in a difficult situation. Gukesh arrived here just hours before the first round began. After receiving his Khel Ratna on Friday and flying to Amsterdam. The young Indian was likely affected by that, yet he stepped up when it counted most.
When Gukesh discovered moves that left Anish Giri with some tough decisions. The Dutchman discovered all but the final winning move, the game appeared to be lost. Three crucial games made up the exciting first round, and P Harikrishna made the most of his white pieces. As he broke through the defenses of fellow countryman and world number four Arjun Erigaisi. Leon R Praggnanandhaa put up a strong fight against Nodirbek Abdusattorov to ultimately tie.
Luke Mendonca let a nearly won position slip away due to a series of mistakes that handed German Vincent Keymer a winning start. Gukesh began as white in the Catalan opening. He immediately sought to create trouble in the middle game by giving up a knight for two pawns. To gain the upper hand, Giri had to figure out some proper movements and parted with his rook for another minor piece.
Anish Giri Falls to Gukesh
Because D Gukesh had less than a minute on his clock to complete 14 moves with a 30-second increment after each move, Giri’s situation could not have been better. The first round’s other matches likewise ended in draws. Max Warmerdam of Holland shared the point with Alexey Sarana of Serbia. Jorden van Foreest of the Netherlands drew with Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia.
Defending champion Wei Yi of China played out a draw with top seed Fabiano Caruana of the United States. R Vaishali started the challengers’ section with a victory over Oro Faustino of Argentina, the youngest international master in the world, while Divya Deshmukh lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan, who was ranked higher. On three separate occasions, Gukesh had only a few seconds remaining on his clock, yet he persisted.
