Magnus Carlsen schools D Gukesh in their first meeting since World Championship

D Gukesh's first meeting with Magnus Carlsen since becoming the World Champion ended in a defeat for the young Indian. The dream meeting took place on Saturday, in the decisive final round of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour at Weissenhaus in Germany.

World No. 1 Carlsen outplayed Gukesh in an even rook-knight ending. Gukesh, playing white, had a slight advantage in the opening. Still, Carlsen found a way back into the game and proved, once again, why he is regarded as one of the all-time greats in endgame. It could be said that the Norwegian superstar offered a lesson in finishing close games to his young Indian opponent.

Carlsen made calculated King moves, forcing Gukesh's rook and knight into the defensive. After 46 moves, Gukesh resigned as Carlsen threatened to advance a pawn that had jumped to the sixth rank, just two away from getting promoted to a queen.

Ahead of the event, Carlsen said he was looking forward to playing the 'classical world champion'. Despite the loss, Gukesh qualified for the knockout stages as the eighth and final qualifier. Gukesh became the youngest World Champion at 18 last December when he defeated China's Ding Liren in Singapore. Carlsen last played the classical World Championship in 2021, when he clinched his fifth title. He doesn't play the event anymore, claiming he lacks motivation.  

Vladimir Fedoseev and Levon Aronian were the two players from the 10-player field to crash out after finishing ninth and tenth respectively in the round-robin rapid qualifiers in Freestyle Chess. Alireza Firouzja, Javokhir Sindavor, Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Vincent Keymer, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Gukesh complete the eight-player list in the quarterfinals.

While the qualifiers were played in the Rapid format (10 minutes per player, with 10-second increment per move), the knockout stage of the tournament starting Sunday will feature games in the classical format with a time control of 90 minutes per player with 30-second increment per move.

Gukesh was the only player without a win in nine rounds, as the 18-year-old drew seven games and lost two. That said, Gukesh is stronger in the classical format, which is an event that gave him the World Championship. However, Freestyle Chess is unlike conventional chess because the pieces in the back rank come jumbled, with as many as 960 variants possible, making it a difficult format to prepare beforehand.