Gokesh D draws with Magnus Carlsen in Rd 9 of Tata Steel Masters Wijic
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India’s 16-year-old grandmaster Dommaraju Gokesh, playing with the black pieces, drew five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters at Wijnik on Tuesday.
After defeating Carlson in an online rapid chess game last year, this was the first time the teenager faced Carlson in over-the-board classical chess. And Carlsen, having previously lost in the tournament to reigning leader Nodyrbek Abdulsatrov of Uzbekistan and Dutch GM Anish Giri, is under pressure as he tries to defend his title.
But Gokesh, who was coming off the back of a stunning win over Iran’s Parham Maqsood Low in the previous round, made no mistake in giving Carlsen the lead.
“This game was special for me because it was my first classic game against Carlsen. The result will not matter to me,” he said after the game.
Gakesh had told The Indian Express in December last year that he was waiting for an opportunity to talk to Carlson and pick his brain. And after the match he did exactly that as both players analyzed the match for 50 minutes.
“It was really amazing of him to talk to me for so long even though the game ended in a draw and it was important for him to win. We both agreed that the game for either of us was It was difficult to gain leverage,” said Gokesh.
Another Indian youngster Praganananda also played brilliantly to draw against American GM Fabiano Caruana.
Indeed, it was Caruana who had to struggle to equalize against the 17-year-old Pragnandha who had the initiative and kept the pressure on until they reached a finish where they were finally overtaken by their American rival. Agreed to draw together.
The highlight of the round so far was Gray beating world No. 2 Ding Leren. Ding calls a pawn wrong. Gary switched gears, and took the pawn and Ding had no choice but to resign after a few moves.