All posts tagged: world chess champion

Gukesh suffers another defeat to long-time nemesis Nodirbek Abdusattorov at Prague chess event | Chess News

Gukesh suffers another defeat to long-time nemesis Nodirbek Abdusattorov at Prague chess event | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readMar 2, 2026 08:00 AM IST A punch-drunk game in the fifth round of the Prague International Chess Festival between two familiar foes—India’s D Gukesh and Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov—ended in defeat for the world champion after yet another uncharacteristic blunder from the Indian. A boy who was an unstoppable attacking force just two years ago—winning the Candidates and the World Championship in the first time of asking, besides inspiring the national Olympiad team to an unprecedented gold medal—now finds himself collecting as many defeats as victories in tournaments in 2026. Sunday’s game saw Gukesh get an edge out of the opening, then Abdusattorov claw his way out of trouble, then Gukesh gaining the upper hand again, then blunder his edge away, then Abdusattorov holding a significant advantage, before the waters became tranquil again. Just when it looked like the game was going to taper off into a draw, a blunder on move 67 from Gukesh suddenly tilted the scale in Abdusattorov’s favour. One move later, with time running out and the game clearly …

‘I wanted to teach him some lessons’: Gukesh jokes after beating 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Ergodmus in Wijk aan Zee thriller | Chess News

‘I wanted to teach him some lessons’: Gukesh jokes after beating 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Ergodmus in Wijk aan Zee thriller | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readUpdated: Jan 29, 2026 01:22 AM IST World champion Gukesh Dommaraju reduced Yagiz Kaan Ergodmus to tears on the way to defeating the 14-year-old prodigy in Round 10 of the Tata Steel Chess tournament. Before Wednesday, Erdogmus was having the tournament of his life at Wijk aan Zee, beating the likes of Arjun Erigaisi, Jorden Van Foreest and Thai Dai Van Nguyen besides holding some of the strongest stars of the current generation like Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Aravindh Chithambaram, Hans Niemann, Vincent Keymer and Praggnanandhaa R to draws. Gukesh, on the other hand, had accumulated three defeats in nine rounds coming into Wednesday’s game. The world champion had experienced suffering at Wijk over nine rounds: he had Javokhir Sindarov on the ropes before letting him escape with a draw in round 1; he made a jaw-dropping, game-ending blunder against Abdusattorov in round 6 that he had plenty of difficulty moving on from, and then lost two more games to Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum. Unlike his usual calm self, he was even so irked …

Magnus Carlsen beats D Gukesh twice at Clutch Chess; world champion at bottom of standings, world no 1 at top | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen beats D Gukesh twice at Clutch Chess; world champion at bottom of standings, world no 1 at top | Chess News

Published by Webster

World no 1 Magnus Carlsen defeated world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in both their games on day 2 of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown exhibition event before defeating Hikaru Nakamura twice and losing his games to Fabiano Caruana to surge into top spot in the four-player event. Gukesh, who was on top of the standings after day 1, slumped to last spot after winning no games on day 2. The format of the three-day tournament means that players earned one point for a win on day 1, two points for wins on day 2 and will earn three points for any victory on the final day, which means that the door is still open for Gukesh to win the whole event with a decent performance on the final day. Gukesh had three draws and three defeats on the second day of the event. Story continues below this ad “It was better than yesterday, but I mean I would like to have a little bit more control in my games than I did today, but you know, …

Magnus Carlsen’s brutal self-assessment: ‘My mind was not working at all today… got two more points than I should have’ | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen’s brutal self-assessment: ‘My mind was not working at all today… got two more points than I should have’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

Magnus Carlsen started his campaign at the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown exhibition event with a victory over Gukesh Dommaraju, but ended the day in second spot behind the world champion from India. Out of the six rapid games Carlsen played against Gukesh, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana (two games against each opponent), Carlsen managed just two wins while losing once. Carlsen is playing in an over-the-board event after becoming a father recently. Asked about his assessment about his form, a candid Carlsen said: “It was terrible, but I’m feeling like really not good at all. I will say that I scored about two more points than than I should have probably today and I’m happy with that. But my mind was not working at all today. So, yeah, hopefully I can feel a bit better the next few days. Today my level of play was extremely poor.” After the first day of games in the three-day event, Gukesh is the sole leader in the four-player tournament, with Carlsen second, Hikaru Nakamura third and Fabiano Caruana …

Gukesh D loses first game to Magnus Carlsen, still leads at end of Day 1 in Clutch Chess with wins over Nakamura, Caruana | Chess News

Gukesh D loses first game to Magnus Carlsen, still leads at end of Day 1 in Clutch Chess with wins over Nakamura, Caruana | Chess News

Published by Webster

Reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju lost his opening game of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown exhibition event to Magnus Carlsen but then bounced back to rack up three wins and two draws in his remaining games to end the first day of the event as the tournament leader. The even also features players like Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. After the first day of the event ended, Gukesh has four points out of a possible six. Gukesh ended the day pocketing a cool $3000 as bonus for his three wins. After the first defeat against Carlsen, he held the world no 1 from Norway to a draw in game two. Then, he defeated Nakamura in their first game, before another draw. Against Caruana, Gukesh claimed two back-to-back victories to end the day on top of the four-player standings. “It started with the loss, but I was still happy with the game,” Gukesh told the St Louis Chess Club in an interview after the end of the day. Story continues below this ad ALSO READ | …

What makes Ju Wenjun, who claimed her fifth Women’s World Championship crown, special

What makes Ju Wenjun, who claimed her fifth Women’s World Championship crown, special

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When Ju Wenjun claimed a draw by threefold repetition in Game 9 against Tan Zhongyi — a rook endgame already destined for a peaceful outcome— her actions were characteristically methodical. She shook hands, rose from the board, took a sip of water, signed the scoresheet, and headed to the commentary room. A routine conclusion to yet another win. But this was no ordinary moment — it marked Ju’s record-equalling fifth Women’s World Championship crown and her fourth consecutive successful title defence. Ju means business. A consummate professional, she understands one thing above all else: how to win. What others might see as mundane routines are, in fact, the impressions of her dominance. At 33, the Chinese grandmaster has reigned supreme in women’s chess for the last eight years, leaving no room for rivals to come near her throne. In Chongqing on Wednesday, all Ju needed was a draw to win the championship and unlike her fiery character on board, she played a rather peaceful draw to win the event 6.5-2.5 with three games remaining. Pentala …

Rich tributes, mourning in chess world as 10th world champion, passes away

Rich tributes, mourning in chess world as 10th world champion, passes away

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Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion of chess, has passed away, FIDE announced on Friday. He was 88. He became the world champion after defeating Tigran Petrosian and then famously lost in the Match of the Century against Bobby Fischer in 1972 at Iceland’s Reykjavík. Spassky was a chess prodigy who went on to become a Grandmaster at the age of 18 and was known as one of the most talented players of his generation. He lost his first world championship battle against Petrosian at Moscow 1966. But in the next world championship, he overcame Petrosian to earn the crown. He was a player known for his universal playing style. What was remarkable about him was that he played for France in his latter years. Spassky played seven times at the Chess Olympiad for the Soviet team (between 1962 to 1978). Then in 1976, Spassky immigrated to France and became a French citizen two years later. Then, he competed for France in three Olympiads (1984–1988). He became a Russian citizen again in 2013. Story continues …

Gukesh beats Leon Luke Mendonca to secure lead with 4 rounds to go

Gukesh beats Leon Luke Mendonca to secure lead with 4 rounds to go

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With just four rounds remaining at the Tata Steel chess tournament, the reigning world champion Gukesh D has ensured that he is in pole position to win the event known as the Wimbledon of Chess. The 18-year-old Gukesh defeated his contemporary Leon Luke Mendonca in Round 9 at the season-starting chess event in the quaint Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee in a battle lasting just 43 moves. This is the first event Gukesh is competing in after becoming the youngest world champion in history of chess by defeating Ding Liren in Singapore last month. So far after nine games, Gukesh is yet to lose, winning four games and drawing the others. This is in sharp contrast to the fate of Arjun Erigaisi, who came into the event rated 2801, but has not won a single game at the event. Tuesday’s win ensures that he will go into tomorrow Round 10 as the leader of the masters section standings. Praggnanandhaa, the other Indian who was leading the standings coming into round 9, is currently locked …

Gukesh becomes joint leader after defeating World Championship second P Harikrishna

Gukesh becomes joint leader after defeating World Championship second P Harikrishna

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Gukesh defeated compatriot Pentala Harikrishna in 46 moves in round 7 to surge into joint lead at the Tata Steel chess tournament. Harikrishna was part of Team Gukesh as the 18-year-old from Chennai defeated Ding Liren in Singapore in November-December to become the youngest world champion in chess history. Harikrishna and Gukesh were also teammates in the gold medal winning Indian team at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest last year. Harikrishna is, in fact, the second member of Team Gukesh that the teenager had defeated at the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Gukesh has also defeated German GM Vincent Keymer earlier in the tournament. Gukesh has now drawn four games while winning three. Gukesh currently shares lead with compatriot Praggnanandhaa and Uzbek arch-rival Nodirbek Abdusattarov, who he had defied in round 6 to salvage a draw from an inferior position. All three players have five points each after seven games with six more rounds remaining. Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa will clash in Round 8. Talking about facing Pragg, Gukesh said: “It’ll be a …

Gukesh beats Vincent Keymer, who helped him become world champion last month

Gukesh beats Vincent Keymer, who helped him become world champion last month

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After an almighty grind of over six hours, Gukesh defeated Vincent Keymer in the fifth round of the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee on Wednesday. The win makes Gukesh the new India no 1 (and the world no 4) in the live ratings, which are updated in real-time. Keymer was part of Team Gukesh last month as the Indian became the youngest world champion in the history of chess by defeating Ding Liren. At the World Championship in Singapore, Gukesh’s strategy was to tire out his opponent Ding by extending matches as long as possible. That seemed to be the strategy employed by Keymer in the game on Wednesday against Gukesh. The German grandmaster was in an inferior position on the board from the middle game itself, with Gukesh a pawn up, but rather than resigning, he kept playing on until the 72nd move, where Gukesh’s victory was inevitable. When the resignation did come, Keymer’s clock was whittled down to mere seconds and he was pawn up but Gukesh had an additional …