Singapore. December 12, 2024: D Gukesh could not hold back tears sitting on his chair following the dramatic win in the world championship match against Ding Liren of China. After collecting himself, he got busy with the ritual of rearranging the pieces on the board.
Stavanger. May 27, 2025: Gukesh in tears again. After losing to Arjun Erigaisi in Round 2 of Norway Chess. It was his second successive loss in the event and a fifth setback in 24 classical games this year. By the time he controlled himself, Erigaisi had put most of the pieces back in place.
In the first round, nobody expected Gukesh to beat Magnus Carlsen with black pieces. Yet, the Indian world No. 3 matched the No. 1 step for step for a long time and even planted doubts in the mind of his opponent. The teenager lost under time pressure in the end, but was not disgraced. Against Erigaisi, Gukesh was chasing the game almost throughout.
Erigaisi dominates from start
Most of the commentators started saying after the early exchanges that Gukesh was in trouble. Erigaisi enjoys a 5-0 record against the youngest-ever world champion. Four of their games were drawn. Playing with white, the world No. 4 looked set to make it 6-0, with enough time left on his clock to take precise decisions, only to blunder on the 40th move.
That allowed Gukesh breathing space, as he got the increment of 10 seconds per move from the 41st move. The players were equal on materials, but Erigaisi retained an edge because of his position on the board. His opponent knew this and appeared fidgety. The ending was wild, as the world No. 4 missed another trick to open a window for Gukesh, who erred under pressure and lost the game.
Defeats under normal time control on successive days means Gukesh is the only player in the field of six who is still to open his account. A win in the ‘armageddon’ tie-breaker after a draw fetches 1.5 points and the player losing also collects one. What must hurt Gukesh is the fact that he came close to collecting at least one point on both days but fell short.
Erigaisi is sharing the lead with Hikaru Nakamura of the USA on 4.5 points. The world No. 2 handed Carlsen a rare defeat in the tie-breaker, after playing brilliantly to save a seemingly lost position during normal time control. The Norwegian has four points. Fabiano Caruana of the USA has three and China’s Wei Yi one. Gukesh plays Nakamura in the third round, while Erigaisi faces Caruana.
Also Read: Carlsen’s game shows who’s the boss in clash versus Gukesh
Gukesh timed out again
Gukesh came under time pressure once again. It was towards the end a day earlier. Against Erigaisi, it was almost from the beginning. Gukesh took nearly 15 minutes for the eighth move and 28 minutes for the 10th. Until then, his rival had hardly spent three minutes in total. An hour after the start, Erigaisi had one hour and 57 minutes left on his clock. Gukesh had an hour and four minutes.
Commentating on Chesscom India, Grandmaster Sahaj Grover said at this level, a gap of nearly one hour is seen about five times in 1000 games. “It’s a huge difference. For this to happen, a lot of things have to go against you. It’s impossible not to make mistakes if so many moves have to be made in such little time,” noted Grover. During a break in his game, Nakamura said he was “worried” about Gukesh’s position “as well as the time.”
It’s going to be uphill for Gukesh from here. He began well as the world champion by tying for first in Wijk Aan Zee, although R Praggnanandhaa won the title on tie-breaker. After a series of poor outings in two freestyle events, he won just one game at the Superbet Classic in Romania and finished seventh out of 10 players. He has to play out of his skin now to ensure that it doesn’t get worse.
Humpy and Vaishali lose
Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali suffered contrasting defeats in the women’s section. Humpy lost a long game under normal time control against Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine. Vaishali was beaten in the tie-breaker by China’s Lei Tingjie. Muzychuk has 4.5 points. Humpy and Lei have three each. Vaishali is at the bottom of the table with a solitary point.
For More Chess Related Stories Click Here