India’s 18-year-old world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, has been attempting a comeback at Bucharest this week following his recent suboptimal results, but instead he was trounced by France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 31 moves. He has now dropped two places, from third to fifth, in the Fide world rankings, and is currently tied for last place in the 10-man field.
The Bucharest event is part of the European leg of the Grand Slam organised and sponsored by FT reader Rex Sinquefield, which also includes rapid and blitz events in Poland and Norway, the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, and a Tour Final at São Paulo, Brazil.
Gukesh is the No 1 seed at Bucharest, but was joint last with 2.5/6 after yesterday Sunday’s fourth round (of nine). Monday is a rest day. Play will resume on Tuesday at 2pm GMT, and can be followed live here.
The main interest of Vachier-Lagrave v Gukesh was that the Frenchman advanced his h2 pawn all the way up to h6 at moves 12-14. This is a well-known manoeuvre, but in previous games it was designed to weaken the black king’s defences by h5xg6. However, tests with the chess programme AlphaZero showed that advancing the pawn to h6 could also pose long-term threats to the black game. For example, if a white pawn can attack Black’s h7 pawn.
The Vachier-Lagrave v Gukesh game was initially level, but Vachier-Lagrave felt that he won the opening battle after 6 Be3. Gukesh then overpressed with 12…f5? allowing White’s pawn to advance to h6. White’s 19 Rh4! was strong, preventing Black’s f4, and after 22…c5? (better Rab8) Black is lost, and his position collapsed quickly. At the end after 31…Rae7 32 Rxa5 White just mops up Black’s pawns.
Gukesh had a further escape in Sunday’s sixth round, when he sacrificed unsoundly against Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda and was lucky to come out with a draw by perpetual check.
Gukesh’s poor form will be of concern in India, ahead of the world champion’s forthcoming clash with Magnus Carlsen, who is still ranked world No 1, at Stavanger starting on May 25.
Next month’s Fide World Rapid and Blitz championships at the Novotny Hotel, Hammersmith, reported in last week’s column, has gained further interest with the publication of the final team lists.
Seeded 19th are what is effectively the England international team, euphemistically described as “Malcolm’s Mates” after the ECF international director Malcolm Pein, and led by GM Luke McShane, GM Gawain Maroroa Jones, GM Michael Adams, and GM Nikita Vitiugov, with WGM Elmira Mirzoeva on the women’s board.
Puzzle 2624
Kenneth Hobson v David Fitzsimons, Southend 2025. White to move and win.
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