Norway Chess: Nakamura halts Gukesh’s run; Humpy wins

IMAGE: Former champion Hikaru Nakamura comprehensively beat world champion D Gukesh in Round 8 of Norway Chess on Tuesday and avenged his defeat in the third round. Photograph: Norway Chess

American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura broke world champion D Gukesh’s run of classical wins by comprehensively beating the Indian to earn three full points even as Arjun Erigaisi roared back to contention with victory over Fabiano Caruana in Norway Chess at Stavanger. 

India’s Erigaisi trapped his opponent Caruana in a time scramble in the eighth round of the prestigious tournament.

World No. 2 and former Norway Chess champion Nakamura pressed home the early advantage he got with the white pieces to dominate his 19-year-old opponent and score a “very smooth” victory and take revenge for his Round 3 loss to the Indian.

Gukesh, who had regained his mojo after a disappointing start to the tournament when he beat World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and Erigaisi in Round 6 and 7 respectively, was cornered by Nakamura, who did not give his opponent an inch during the course of the nearly four-hour-long contest.

With two more rounds to go, Gukesh was tied for third place with Nakamura on 11.5 points, while American GM Caruana, despite the loss to Erigaisi, was in the lead with 12.5 points.

IMAGE: Arjun Erigaisi defeated Fabiano Caruana to put his campaign back on track. Photograph: Norway Chess

Carlsen, who lost to China’s Wei Yi in the Armageddon tie-break, was second with 12 points, while Erigaisi was fifth with 10.5 points.

“It was a very smooth game, I’m very happy with it. It looks very good,” said Nakamura after the win.

The 37-year-old Nakamura, winner of the 2023 edition of Norway Chess in which Gukesh finished third, said that the reigning world champion was uncomfortable with the pawn structure, which probably resulted in him coming under time pressure and giving an easy win to the American.

“I’m not sure what happened, whether Gukesh just didn’t know this bishop g6 move, or what exactly it was, but it was very clear to me that, based on the long think, he didn’t like the pawn structure at all,” said Nakamura, who at 15 years of age had become the youngest American GM.

Nakamura added that his loss to Gukesh in Round 3 was more on account of him “slackening” a bit.

“Just when I had equalised, I completely relaxed. I just fell asleep for like one to two moves, and immediately, I was in a lot of trouble, and I couldn’t recover,” he added.

IMAGE: Magnus Carlsen lost to China’s Wei Yi in Round 8 and is currently in second position with 12 points. Photograph: Norway Chess

Nakamura expressed surprise over Gukesh’s strategies in the tournament so far, saying he was lucky to have survived Carlsen and Erigaisi in Round 6 and 7 respectively.

“It’s a very strange term, because his result is very good, but if we’re being objective about chess, I think he’s played horribly. He should have lost to Magnus… he was completely lost against Arjun (Erigaisi).

“Other than the first game against me, and maybe the game against Wei Yi, at some point, he was losing; even Fabiano (Caruana), he (Gukesh) was also losing in that game,” said Nakamura.

“So, it’s very, very hard to judge what his play is, but when I look at his game, one of the big things that he has, that I would say Arjun and R. Praggnanandhaa don’t have, is he’s mentally very strong.

“He’s a lot less emotional than the other two players, and that has served him very well, especially in this tournament, so it’s a mixed bag.”

Nakamura added, “I think his defensive skills are very good, like in this game, I thought there were probably three or four moments when I was winning, and then I had to still find more moves to convert, so he’s definitely showing very strong defensive skills.”

Nakamura gave a strong indication that this could be his last appearance in Norway Chess, and that he had probably played his final classical game against Carlsen. He also averred that “the future of chess is in India.”

“India is basically the new Soviet Union as far as chess goes. You have Gukesh, you have Arjun, you have Praggnanandhaa, I think Aravindh (Chithambaram) just broke into the top-10, if I’m not mistaken.

“If I look forward to the next 5-10 years, Indians are going to dominate chess, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.

Humpy regains sole lead

IMAGE: India’s Koneru Humpy, with 13.5 points, has a single-point lead over China’s Ju Wenjun. Photograph: Norway Chess

Two-time world rapid champion, India’s Koneru Humpy wrested back the lead with two rounds to go, beating Spanish International Master Sara Khadem in the day’s only classical win.

Humpy, on 13.5 points, was one point ahead of reigning world champion China’s Ju Wenjun.

Ju’s six-match winning streak was broken by R. Vaishali — who is fifth on 9.5 points — in the Armageddon tie-break.

Results (Round 8):
(Open) Arjun Erigaisi (Ind – 10.5 points) bt Fabiano Caruana (USA – 12.5); Hikaru Nakamura (USA – 11.5) bt D Gukesh (Ind – 11.5); Wei Yi (Chn – 8) bt Magnus Carlsen (Nor – 12) in Armageddon tie-break.

(Women) Sara Khadem (Esp – 6) lost to Koneru Humpy (Ind – 13.5); R. Vaishali (Ind – 9.5) bt Ju Wenjun (Chn – 12.5) in Armageddon tie-break; Anna Muzychuk (Ukr – 12.5) bt Lei Tingjie (Chn – 10) in Armageddon tie-break.