When Gukesh played world’s best chess streamer Gotham Chess, and destroyed him in 9 moves | Chess News

Just how good are world champions in chess? One of the most popular chess streamers, Levy Rozman, who goes the name Gotham Chess, recently found out when he played a three-minute game in the Freestyle Friday tournament against the 18-year-old phenom Gukesh Dommaraju. It must be pointed out that Freestyle Chess is something that Gukesh, who last year became the youngest world champion in chess hory, struggles with.
Gukesh’s identity was only revealed once the game ended. It was a game where Rozman went a pawn up early. But the game ended in just nine moves with Gukesh trapping Rozman’s queen, the most powerful piece on the chessboard. The game happened a few months back.
Here’s how the game went. It was played in the Fischer Random format — or Chess 960 or Freestyle Chess, as it is popularly known where all four bishops were in the corners instead of the rooks, the knights were on c and g files while the rooks were on b and f files. The kings were on the d files while the queens were on the e files at the start of the game.
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WATCH: How Gukesh forced top streamer Gotham Chess to resign in 9 moves

Gukesh started playing 1.e4 and Rozman responded with an 1…f5. “It’s interesting. I can bring my queen out now,” Rozman said on his livestream of the match, because the queen was on the e8 square.
Rather than capture the pawn advanced Rozman, Gukesh pushed his pawn one more square ahead.
On the third move itself, Rozman brought his queen out, looking to attack his opponent.
“Kind of ludicrous position here. But I am going for something,” Rozman said on his stream.Story continues below this ad
On the fifth move, the queen gobbled up defence-less Gukesh’s h pawn and threatened to capture Gukesh’s bishop too, stationed on the h1 square.
What Rozman did not know was that the engine at this point was giving a massive advantage to the teenage world champion.
“I mean I’m up a pawn, bro,” Rozman said on his stream. “It’s not anything to scoff at.”
The Indian teenager pushed his g pawn out, the clear a diagonal for his bishop to move.Story continues below this ad
On the 8th move, Gukesh showed his cards, bringing out his knight on f4 to trap Rozman’s queen. The streamer almost spat out his drink at the move, exclaiming: “What the f***.”
“Holy! That’s crazy! My queen’s just trapped. Oh my God! Well I got slightly destroyed there. I can’t do anything,” he added.
He managed to capture the square with his pawn, only for Gukesh to reclaim it with his remaining knight. Rozman resigned right away.
Later when he learnt who his opponent was, Rozman burst out laughing, saying: “I got destroyed Gukesh!”Story continues below this ad
Here are all the nine moves of the short game: 1. e4 f5 2. e5 g5 3. d4 Qh5+ 4. Nge2 b5 5. Nd3 Qxh2 6. g3 h6 7. Bxa8 Rxa8 8. Nef4 gxf4 9. Nxf4