–Jonathan Manley
‘I am shaken from that game … Time scrambles can get out of control.’ So said a relieved World Champion Gukesh, trying to make sense of a game he had long given up as lost. The clock and cool calculation had gifted him a most unlikely victory, his first classical win over the World No.1.
The confessional booth has been one of the greatest innovations in chess coverage. At any time during the game, a player can relay his/her thoughts to the viewing audience. As if the viewer is peering into the player’s mind.
Carlsen’s feelings just out of the opening:
’I know Gukesh is an ambitious player … I don’t know what his concept is here. I have counterplay on the b-file and chances on the kingside. It’s easier to play for Black. We’ll see what he comes up with.’
Carlsen was surprised to have achieved such a comfortable position. What followed was a positional masterclass from the World No.1, stifling his opponent’s counterplay. Carlsen could sacrifice a piece for attack with 22…Bxh3, but he left the threat dangling over Gukesh’s head, preferring positional domination to a calculating contest.
As his position drifted from bad to worse to hopeless, Gukesh tried desperately to find the complications Carlsen had steadfastly denied him. Having so many winning options cost Carlsen precious minutes; Gukesh was finding the only moves to keep the game going.
Carlsen drifted. Gukesh offered an exchange sacrifice to send his pawns racing; Carlsen refused, sacrificing a knight to fling his own pawns home. A fatal miscalculation. Gukesh sent his knight to the rescue in the nick of time.
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