Wangels, Germany: India's top-ranked chess player, D. Gukesh, endured a challenging campaign at the Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, finishing in eighth place without securing a single victory. His winless run concluded with a defeat to Alireza Firouzja on Friday, marking a disappointing end to his tournament journey.
Gukesh had previously faced Firouzja in the round-robin stage and was vying for the seventh position in the final standings. After displaying resilience by holding Firouzja to a draw in their previous encounter, he fell short in the rematch. Firouzja clinched his first knockout win, securing seventh place and a $30,000 prize, while Gukesh took home $20,000 for finishing eighth.
Key Results from the Weissenhaus Grand Slam
Vincent Keymer emerged as the champion of the Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, securing the top prize of $200,000 after defeating Fabiano Caruana in the finals. Caruana, finishing as the runner-up, earned $140,000 for his efforts. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen claimed third place, taking home $100,000 after falling short against Keymer in the semi-finals. Javokhir Sindarov secured fourth place with a prize of $60,000, while Hikaru Nakamura finished fifth, earning $50,000. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who placed sixth, won $40,000. Meanwhile, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Fedoseev finished in ninth and tenth place, respectively, receiving $12,500 and $7,500.
Criticism Over Gukesh’s Performance
Gukesh’s underwhelming performance at Weissenhaus has drawn criticism from sections of the chess community. Analysts suggest that his struggles in Chess960 and shorter formats highlight a need for greater adaptability and intuition under time pressure. Despite a stellar performance at Wijk aan Zee in January, where he reached the final before losing to R. Praggnanandhaa in a tie-breaker, his inconsistency in faster formats remains a concern.
Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who previously defeated Gukesh, pointed out a major weakness in the Indian prodigy's game. Speaking to Chess.com, Nakamura remarked:
"I would say probably the biggest weakness Gukesh currently has is that when he gets low on time, his intuition isn’t that great, and he struggles to work through calculations."
Nakamura also questioned Gukesh’s reluctance to analyze games with elite players like Fabiano Caruana, adding:
"I don’t know why Gukesh doesn’t analyze with Fabiano. To me, that’s just insane. Whether I’m analyzing with him or not, I always follow his games and try to learn from them."
The opinions posted here do not belong to 🔰www.indiansdaily.com. The author is solely responsible for the opinions.
As per the IT policy of the Central Government, insults against an individual, community, religion or country, defamatory and inflammatory remarks, obscene and vulgar language are punishable offenses. Legal action will be taken for such expressions of opinion.