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Journalism of Courage
The chess world is witnessing an unprecedented paradigm shift as a new wave of increasingly younger talents emerges, simultaneously impressing and shocking the global audience. Leading this charge are players like Abhimanyu Mishra, Volodar Murzin, Pranav V, Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan, and Fautino Oro. Among them is another Turkish prodigy, 16-year-old Ediz Gurel, who is already an established name on the circuit.
The past few weeks have been particularly special for Gurel, who secured one of the biggest victories of his career by defeating reigning World Champion D. India’s D. Gukesh. At the recently concluded FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand, the two prodigies, separated in age by just three years, played an enthralling seventh-round game where Gurel toppled the Indian star to seize the limelight.
The loss handed Gukesh his third consecutive defeat at the Grand Swiss, as Gurel took a strong step forward in his own title ambitions. A little over a week later, Gurel returned home to a hero’s welcome, surprised by his school, Emine Örnek Eğitim Kurumları. Students gathered, cheering and playing trumpets as he acknowledged their efforts.
He was welcomed with the beats of drums, was handed a flower bouquet in the presence of hundreds of his schoolmates, who were waving Turkish flags. For the 16-year-old, the homecoming was made sweeter by his victory over the World Champion.
Earlier, Gurel beat Gukesh with white pieces in the Grand Swiss and called it a “crazy tough game”.
“It was a crazy tough game,” he said to FIDE in an interview after his win over Gukesh.
Asked about meeting the world champion in a classical clash, Gurel said: “I was pretty happy to see the pairings. It’s always great to play the world champion, whether I lose or not. yeah, he’s not doing so well in this tournament, but I believe he can just pull things through. He’s a great player, a world champion!”
Gukesh held the upper hand after a blunder from Gurel on move 27 and the queens getting exchanged on move 29. But on move 40, right when he crossed the time control threshold, Gukesh made a blunder himself that tipped the scales. Two moves later, Gukesh gave away a bishop in exchange for two pawns, which proved too much of an advantage to defend against in the end game.
“I actually blundered at some point and I got very miserable because I didn’t see a move. I thought my position was very bad but I just thought I had to give my best, maybe he will make a mistake. Luckily, it happened,” he had said.
