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Hikaru Nakamura showers praise on World Champion Gukesh for showing great resilience against Anish Giri

World Champion Gukesh defeated hometown hero Anish Giri in the first round at the Tata Steel chess tournament.

Gukesh managed to win his first match as world champion. The win came despite him only landing in Wijk aan Zee on Saturday morning after the Khel Ratna felicitation on Friday evening in New Delhi. (Screenshot: YouTube/Chess24)

American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura lauded World Champion D Gukesh for his steely resilience against Anish Giri in the first round of the Tata Steel chess tournament.

World Champion Gukesh defeated hometown hero Anish Giri, who 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.

“It’s really really really a heartbreaker for Anish. On the flip side the coin Gukesh did defend very well,” Nakamura said on his Youtube channel.

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“Sure Gukesh blundered with h3, but he did defend resiliently under time pressure. So you have to give him a lot of credit for putting Anish to the test.

“Unfortunately for Anish, he wasn’t up to the test. The world champion gets a win in his first classical game since his epic victory over Ding Liren in Singapore a couple of months ago. Exciting start to the tournament,” he added.

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 was in India to receive one of the highest civilian awards from the government just yesterday and today he flew into the game and arrived three hours ahead of the game being played and let’s jump right into the action,” said Nakamura.

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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.

“Gukesh was probably a little bit tired probably a little bit jetlag. Now for Anish he is somebody who traditionally has done very well in this tournament but at times he has struggled outside of this event.”