D Gukesh beats leader Fabiano Caruana at Norway Chess tournament
India’s young stalwart Grandmaster D Gukesh continued his great run of form in the 7th round of the 2023 Norway Chess tournament, beating sole leader Fabiano Caruana in the Armageddon on Tuesday.
17-year-old Gukesh was solid in the Classical game to play out a draw. In the Armageddon, though he was lost in the queen endgame, he was in luck as Caruana ran out of time and lost the game.
Time trouble is something that Caruana has been finding difficult all through this tournament. Though he won his Classical game on Monday against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, he could’ve easily lost the match for taking too long.
🇮🇳 GM Gukesh D continues his fine run as he put up a solid game as Black in the classical segment and drew against GM Fabiano Caruana! #NorwayChess
In the armageddon, @DGukesh won on time and is currently tied for fourth with 10.5/21. @norwaychess pic.twitter.com/ErHayFF6YL
— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) June 7, 2023
“The time control is such that once you get into time trouble you never get out and when it’s very complicated basically you just are out of control. And I was fully out of control, but somehow it worked out”, he said after the game on Monday.
The loss to Gukesh didn’t affect the American’s position as sole leader with 14.5/21 followed Hikaru Nakamura 12.5/21. Nakamura defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a thrilling Armageddon in a back and forth game.
With the victory, Gukesh now moved to fifth position on the leaderboard with a score of 10/21. Gukesh has had some strong performances at this tournament, even beating Dutch GM and winner of this year Tata Steel Chess Anish Giri in the earlier round. He plays Aryan Tari on Thursday, with Wednesday being a rest day.
The talk of the tournament has been five-time World Champion Magus Carlsen’s struggle to win a Classical game at this event. That winless streak continued on Tuesday as he drew the game with Alireza Firouzja. Carlsen, who chose not to compete at this year’s World Championships, was too good for Firouzja in Armageddon though. He’s currently languishing in seventh position with a score of 9/21.
So leapfrogs to third place
Nodirbek Abdusattorov suffered his second consecutive loss, third overall in Classical games at this event. This win allowed Wesley So to jump to the third spot in the standings 10.5/21.
