Gukesh on win spree 2 years after Chennai heartbreak
Eyebrows shot up, heads were cocked and frowns made appearances as some of the world’s top players, including former and current world champions like Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Ding Liren caught a glimpse of Gukesh’s battle against Azerbaijan’s Aydin Suleymanli, which the teenager from India ended up winning in 38 moves. There’s something about Gukesh and Olympiads. Two years back, at the Chess Olympiad hosted in his hometown of Chennai, a 16-year-old Gukesh had given one of the first indicators that he was going to be a problem for the rest of the world. Playing on the top board of the India B team at the Chess Olympiad in 2022, Gukesh (back then ranked World No 20) had gone on a rampage, smiting away at anyone who sat in front of him, even the world’s best players like Fabiano Caruana. But all of his work had been undone in a sense as he had lost against Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the 10th round, which meant that the team lost the tie. What had stung …