World Champion Gukesh knocked out of Paris Freestyle Chess, just like Carlsen predicted

World Champion D Gukesh's disastrous campaign in the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour ended with him failing to reach the knockout stages. In the round-robin stage, Gukesh lost against seven of the other 11 competitors to finish in 11th position.

Gukesh's fans might not like it, but World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen predicted that the Indian star would struggle in the Freestyle Chess event. A week before the event, Carlsen said Gukesh would not advance to the knockout stages, and his prediction has come true.

It wasn't just Gukesh who suffered in the star-studded field headlined by Carlsen. Three of the four Indians in the contest were knocked out, the others being R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi, who finished 9th and 12 respectively.

The only player keeping Indian hopes alive is Arjun Erigaisi, who defeated Gujrathi in the final round and finished fourth with 6.5 points.

Arjun, who is World No. 4 behind Gukesh, scored some other brilliant wins, most notably against Carlsen in round 2. He also defeated Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer. Praggnanandhaa's impressive win over Nodirbek Abdusattorov in round 11 wasn't enough to help him sneak into the top eight.

Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi and World No. 1 Carlsen finished on top with 8.5 points while Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was placed third on 7 points. Abdusattorov (6.5), Hikaru Nakamura (6), Vincent Keymer (5.5) and Caruana (4.5) are the other quarterfinalists. The quarterfinals will take place on April 9 and 10.