As if beating Magnus Carlsen twice in one month wasn’t enough, D Gukesh made the occasion memorable by making his first serious mark in the shorter versions of chess. Finishing on top after the rapid segment of the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz meet in Zagreb means the job is half done when it comes to winning the title. But in terms of making a statement, he made a big one.
According to presenters on the official YouTube channel, this prompted Garry Kasparov to wonder whether the empire is crumbling. The Russian legend, who was Carlsen’s mentor during his first World Championship win against Viswanathan Anand in 2013, had apparently stated that this appears to be the end of an era and the beginning of a new one to be dominated by Gukesh.
The shy guy from Chennai played it down, although his 19-year-old eyes lit up when he said what it meant to him. “That’s really nice to hear, but I prefer not to think in those terms,” said Gukesh. “I still think of myself as a player who is working hard to improve every day… Just taking it one game at a time, one tournament at a time. I’m really glad Garry said that, but I still have a long way to go.”
Carlsen had downplayed Gukesh’s abilities in Rapid and Blitz before this event and the numbers backed his claims. The youngest-ever classical world champion is not the same force in speed chess. World No. 5 in the longest format, he is No. 42 in Rapid and 93 in Blitz. The undisputed No. 1 in all three formats said he wanted to see something special from the Indian to be convinced about his prowess.
Gukesh gave the Norwegian a glimpse of that in the sixth round by defeating him with black pieces. He was under pressure after the opening, but fought back and forced errors out of arguably the strongest speed demon ever. Those who had pointed out that his win over Carlsen in classical at Norway Chess in early June was a fortuitous one, were of the view that this was well-earned.
To put his performance in the Croatian capital in perspective, Gukesh was the ninth seed in the 10-player field in rapid. Ahead of him were the World No. 1, 3, 5, 8, 15, 21, 27, and 28. He logged seven points with six wins, two draws and one defeat. The player with maximum points after rapid and blitz will win the title. Gukesh’s World Championship second Jan-Krzystov Duda of Poland has 5.5 points. Carlsen is third on five, followed by R Praggnanandhaa on 4.5.
“It was a good result,” said Gukesh on finishing on top of the Rapid table. About the Blitz part, he said: “So far I have been playing good chess. So the strategy would be to just continue doing that, with good time management. Hopefully, things will work out.” Whatever be the outcome, Gukesh has signalled that he has started mastering the craft of dwarfing the giants of speed chess.
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