Gukesh succumbs to Nakamura; Keymer shocks Carlsen

D Gukesh. Pic/PTI

World Champion D Gukesh's quest for a victory continued as Hikaru Nakamura defeated him in the tie-breaker of the 5-8 place play-off at the Freestyle Chess Grand slam on Wednesday. Gukesh was outsmarted in the second game of the tie-breaker after gaining a good advantage with his white pieces. Gukesh made one tactical error and Nakamura pounced on it to reach the fifth-place play-off with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.

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The Indian will fight it out against Alireza Firouzja of France. In the first game (Classic mode) of the two-game tiebreaker, Gukesh had to defend an inferior position with black. It was only in the endgame that Gukesh managed to find some foothold before agreeing to the inevitable draw. But the day belonged to Vincent Keymer who scripted a brilliant 1.5-0.5 victory over top-rated Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Having won the first game in the tie-break, Keymer was just a draw away from sealing his berth to the finals and he didn't disappoint the local fans either.

Carlsen was put under pressure right from the word go despite having the white pieces and by move nine itself Keymer enjoyed an optical advantage. Carlsen fought back and even seized back the initiative for a short while but Keymer neutralised the position after an unforced error. Carlsen kept the battle on for as long as he could but once the exchange of last few pawns became imminent the result was in no doubt. The game lasted 48 moves leaving Carlsen to vie for the 3-4 place in the tournament. Keymer will now play the final against the winner of the match between American Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan.

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