Tata Steel Chess: Tale of two draws for world champion D Gukesh as crucial year begins

Gukesh Dommaraju endured a frustrating grind against Javokhir Sindarov, which saw him get so worked up that he shushed the fans at one point before reluctantly accepting a draw after six hours. (Screengrabs via Chess24 and Chessbase India)

There is something about the event at the frigid seaside Dutch town that brings out the most emotive version of Gukesh. The Tata Steel Chess tournament has traditionally seen him suffer some cruel moments. In 2024, he missed out on the title in blitz tiebreaks to Wei Yi after a four-way tie at the top of the standings. Last year, Gukesh’s bid to start his reign as world champion with a title was thwarted by compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, once again in tie-breaks, after they had ended in joint lead.

Back then, Gukesh had jumped out of his chair and leaned back as much as his back would allow in anger after losing the title. The 2025 Tata Steel was the closest Gukesh got to winning a title last year.

On Saturday, Gukesh experienced his first misery at the board in the first round itself, when World Cup winner Sindarov refused to resign in a dead-lost position and earned a draw after six hours of fending off Gukesh’s advances.

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According to the evaluation bar, Gukesh had held the edge from the 38th move, before the world champion cast his queen out for slaughter on move 39 with the kind of move that makes jaws drop. The daring queen sacrifice from Gukesh had seen him go a knight and a rook up but missing a queen, the most powerful piece on the board.

By move 42, the evaluation bar was indicating that Sindarov could wave the white flag of surrender any moment. For much of the game after that, Gukesh’s two rooks chased Sindarov’s king on the board while the Uzbek’s all-powerful queen was marooned at one corner of the board watching haplessly.

But eventually, on move 70, things began to go south for Gukesh as Sindarov found a lucky break and the game ended in a draw eight moves later. It was a result that saw the world champion look shellshocked.

Compared to that, the game against Van Foreest on Sunday had initially seen Gukesh indicate that he was up for a fight when he played 14. Bg5 (bishop to g5) instead of bishop of c3 that would have led to an exchange of knights.

But eventually, realising that Van Foreest had a passed pawn on the ‘a’ file that he would find it difficult to stop, Gukesh opted for pragmatism rather than revert to his standard setting of seeking a fight. He may be winless after two rounds. But at least he’s undefeated.