World No 1 Magnus Carlsen was less than impressed with reigning world champions D Gukesh’s strategy in his sixth-round clash against Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, with the battle between the two finishing with a 66-move stalemate that lasted over six hours.
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World No 1 Magnus Carlsen wasn’t impressed with reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju’s performance in Round 6 of the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, describing his strategy as a “spectacular failure”. After collecting his second victory of the tournament by defeating Vincent Keymer,
Gukesh collected a hard-fought draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov on Friday, splitting the point with the Uzbekistani GM after trailing him for a majority of the game.
Abdusattorov, playing with white pieces, seized the advantage early in the highly-anticipated game with a series of sharp moves after his King’s pawn opening later developing into a Giuoco Piano Game. The balance of the game kept tilting in Abdusattorov’s favour as the game rolled on, but a resilient Gukesh kept fighting until a draw was achieved via repetition, with the battle lasting over six hours for 66 moves.
Carlsen, who has been critical of Gukesh ever since he defeated China’s Ding Liren to be crowned the youngest chess world champion of all time, was on on commentary for Chess24 and was less than impressed with the 18-year-old Indian GM’s strategy.
Carlsen on the plan with 11…h6, 12…Nh7, 13…Ng5: “Gukesh’s strategy has been a spectacular failure!” #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/dmJ8UbOiin
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 24, 2025
“Gukesh’s strategy has been a spectacular failure,” said five-time world champion Carlsen, who is also the most successful player in Tata Steel Chess history.
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The Norwegian GM however, praised Abdusattorov, who remains in the joint-lead with India’s R Praggnanandhaa, for his “ruthless” approach.
“As soon as he gets his chance, he’s ruthless. He calculates perfectly, he feels the momentum, and mentally he’s right there. It’s been very, very impressive!” Carlsen said.
Gukesh remains unbeaten as World Champion after finding a fantastic escape against Abdusattorov! #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/uaMpnN8snT
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 24, 2025
Interestingly, the game began with Abdusattorov giving his opponent a glare. The Uzbek, after all, has history with Gukesh, having defeated him in the 2022 Chess Olympiad to dash India’s hopes of winning gold.
Gukesh, who had recently dethroned Arjun Erigaisi as the top-ranked Indian (world No 4) halfway into the tournament, currently sits at the third spot with 4 points, trailing Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov (4.5 points out of 5) by half a point.