Gukesh conjures win from losing position, powers India past Germany

Bengaluru: For much of Friday, D Gukesh looked headed for defeat. Then the world champion turned the game and India’s fortunes on their head, powering them to a 2.5-1.5 win over Germany in Round 9 of the Fide Chess Olympiad in Samarkand.

Defending champions India are now just a point behind leaders Uzbekistan at 15 points. The two other teams on the same points as India are Uzbekistan 2 and Armenia. Two rounds remain.

“For a long time, I felt I should be slightly better but I couldn’t find a breakthrough,” Gukesh, who had Black against Alexander Donchenko on Board 4, told Fide. “Towards time control I just completely lost track, White should be winning and I was just trying to hang in there – my knights were bad and my King was weak.”

Gukesh had his hopes pinned on 45.h3. Donchenko walked right into the trap, greedily grabbing Black’s h3 pawn with his rook and allowed Black the counterplay it was looking for. Black was a pawn down but his pieces had suddenly been activated. Gukesh found the killer 51. Nf4 tactic sending White’s king scurrying into the corner. Donchenko was in disbelief, hands over face and resigned within the next four moves.

Gukesh needed the win as much as his team did. It was a cortisone shot of self-belief.

“Somehow all the tricks worked for me,” he said, beaming. Once Gukesh had the win in the bag, teammates R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi who had been pressing hard and taking risks on their respective boards, shut their games down and took the draw.

On a day when Gukesh won in brilliant fashion, his World Championship challenger suffered a loss against USA’s Wesley So, but it wasn’t enough as the top-seeded Americans lost to Uzbekistan.

In the women’s section, India defeated Uzbekistan 3-1, with Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal finding wins. Koneru Humpy and India’s win-machine Savitha Shri drew their games. India, at 15 points, alongside Kazakhstan and Mongolia, are two points behind table toppers China.