How Gukesh won 1st game as chess world champion after finding lucky escape route vs Anish Giri

In one hasty move of the wrist, Anish Giri had handed his 18-year-old opponent a get-out-of-jail-free card. Gukesh, who won the world championship last month on a similar blunder from his opponent Ding Liren, is not one to refuse gifts across the board.

The 18-year-old from Chennai only landed in the Dutch city of Wijk aan Zee for the tournament on Saturday morning after receiving the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award from President Droupadi Murmu on Friday evening.

Gukesh spent a lot of the middle game of the match scrambling for time and trying to get out of trouble as Anish kept building up his advantage on the board. By Gukesh’s 35th move (35.Kg1), the evaluation bar was almost on the floor, indicating a win for black.

But an ill-advised queen withdrawal on move 35 (35…Qb6) meant that Anish Giri was now the one trying to evade defeat as Gukesh’s pawn would march towards promotion unhindered.

INTERACTIVE: How Gukesh D beat Anish Giri

Eventually, just after both players had heaved themselves past the time control, Anish resigned as Gukesh’s advantage was too overwhelming. This was Gukesh’s first game as world champion.

Pragg offered great escape

There was plenty of pain to go around in the first round of the Tata Steel Chess event in the Masters section as one-move blunders in multiple games dramatically altered the course of results.

India’s Praggnanandhaa R, playing with white pieces against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the first round, was in deep trouble simultaneously on the board and on the clock, when he was handed a reprieve by the Uzbek grandmaster.

The game eventually ended in a draw. Abdusattorov would be kicking himself for allowing the Indian teenager to escape. When he made his ill-fated move, he had almost 27 minutes on the clock while Pragg was down to his last 45 seconds.

With the troops on the board preparing for the final assault and impending checkmate on Pragg’s king, Abdusattorov’s error was shifting his rook sideways (38…Rec8) which instantly changed the complexion of the game and allowed Pragg to defend his way out.

Mendonca shows promise

Elsewhere, the 18-year-old from Goa, Leon Luke Mendonca, had Vincent Keymer in a deeply uncomfortable position for much of the game. There were many occasions where the Indian found himself two pawns up on the board.

Things had started to curdle pretty early on the board for the German grandmaster, who had recently helped Gukesh become the youngest world chess champion in history.

Mendonca, who earned a spot in the elite field after winning the Challengers event at Tata Steel last year, almost took down Keymer before playing a series of moves that flipped his winning advantage into a position where he had no option but to resign.