Chess Champion Gukesh Falters: Back-to-Back Losses Derail Grand Swiss Hopes

NEW DELHI: “Do you know what the Chigorin Club is?” Nikolas Theodorou, D Gukesh’s Round 6 opponent at the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, was asked on Tuesday.The Greek GM guessed: “People who have beaten a world champion?”Told he had become the third to do so against Gukesh in the classical time control, Theodorou smiled: “Oh, okay, I didn’t know, but it feels good.”For the 19-year-old world champion, though, nothing about the day felt good, as can be gauged from his post-game routine.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!After shaking hands, Gukesh stormed out of the playing hall, exclaiming something a couple of times in frustration, portraying a sorry state for a teenage world champion weighed down by two defeats in two days.Coming off a painful loss to 16-year-old GM Abhimanyu Mishra on Monday, Gukesh played with White pieces against Theodorou.A King’s Pawn opening met Petrov’s Defence, drifting into Marshall and Staunton lines, before Gukesh surprised with an unusual 9.c5.“He surprised me right out of the opening with this weird C5 move, which I think is extremely rare. I had never seen it before in that position, but anyway I tried to react in a principled way,” said Theodorou afterwards.The middle game was tense. Theodorou’s bishop manoeuvres, 22...Bd8, 24...bxc5 and 25...Bf6, kept him afloat, even as both positions remained balanced.“It felt like I messed up badly because I missed that after Bd8, he could retreat with Nf3. But anyway, I kept fighting, and then I think he missed some of my resources, and I have no idea what happened in the Rook endgame,” he admitted.The decisive moment came when Gukesh began checking with his rook from 34.Ra7+.Believing he had forced a threefold repetition, he stood up from his chair and rushed to call the arbiter. However, as the arbiter arrived and checked it on his phone, the claim backfired. It was only a twofold, leaving Theodorou alert to change his king’s path.“I thought it should be a draw, but he lost some time by checking my King, and then I don’t think he had any chances to save it after the time control,” said Theodorou.“It was good that he kept checking me because I was getting closer to the time control by repeating, and then at some point he even made an incorrect claim for a threefold, so I got two extra minutes, which was nice,” he added.From there, the Greek wrapped it up, with Gukesh resigning after 47 moves.“Gukesh not having a good start losing two games in a row. Today, he was playing with the white pieces, I am sure he could’ve pulled the brakes at the certain points. But he was ambitious, he wanted to play for a win, and things didn’t go in his way,” said GM Harshit Raja to ChessBase India.ALSO READ: 'I tried to live as a man but couldn't': First-ever trans chess player to reach WIM, now French women's championAfter six rounds, Gukesh has amassed just three points. Even perfect scores in the last five rounds would take his tally to 8 points, which may not be enough for the title, with Parham Maghsoodloo leading the charge with five points already.With Wednesday being a rest day, the 19-year-old world champion will be hoping to reset, play some enterprising chess, rebuild confidence, and aim for a strong finish on the leaderboard.