After hailing his winning banner for long, Gukesh Dommaraju has succumbed to a crushing defeat to Abhimanyu Mishra in the fifth round of the ongoing FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand. Abhimanyu, the Indian-origin American chess GM, has become the youngest in history to defeat a reigning world champion in classical chess after he long possessed a record as the youngest player to become a grandmaster in chess history.
However, even after crushing the reigning World Chess Champion, the American Chess GM didn’t find it satisfactory. He ruefully stated to FIDE that, “Even though I won, it doesn’t feel as pleasing as my previous games in the tournament. It wasn’t a very clean game.”
“But the tournament is going better than I could have possibly imagined. If I keep up this form, I have a very real chance of winning the tournament. Yesterday too, I made some errors against Pragg. But I never felt like I was inferior to these players (Gukesh and Pragg). I think I am at par with them.”
By the 20th move, it looked as if Gukesh might script another of his trademark escapes — the kind of Houdini act he has made a habit of in the past year. But Abhimanyu refused to let go, and by move 37, Gukesh was once again staring down the barrel. He fought, clawed, and resisted till the 61st move, but this time there was no miracle. The young Indian was finally forced to resign, ending a gripping contest that had the chess world glued to his every move.
The clash between D. Gukesh and Abhimanyu Mishra had such magnetic pull that no fewer than 16 grandmasters — from Ergodmus to Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vasyl Ivanchuk to Kateryna Lagno — were seen pausing their own battles just to watch the drama unfold on this board.
Mishra’s win over D. Gukesh came barely a day after his win against another jewel of India’s golden generation. He had held his banner against Praggnanandhaa.In that game, even with a pawn deficit, Mishra steered the battle calmly toward a hard-earned draw. Now, as fate would have it, Tuesday could pit him against the third star of this remarkable Indian trio — Arjun Erigaisi.
The new generation of chess has emerged as a new standard. Where the young prodigies are continuously on the way to becoming the elite players at younger ages with every passing year. Players like Mishra are a clear example of these prodigies becoming elite.
