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IMAGE: D Gukesh hangs tough as Rapid Championship heats up. Photograph: Lennart Ootes for FIDE
India’s chess ace D Gukesh had said ahead of the FIDE World Rapid Championships that he didn’t have a lot of expectations from the season-ending event in Doha. But two days into the competition, the classical world champion proved himself wrong as he remained among the frontrunners after nine rounds of the the showpiece competition on Sunday.
The teenager was joint seventh on 6.5 points with 12 others, while Russian Grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev, on 7.5 points, emerged as the joint leader with Hans Niemann after inflicting a rare defeat on world No 1 and five-time world rapid champion Magnus Carlsen (seven points), who slipped to joint third with three others.
On Saturday, Gukesh’s fighting spirit stood out as he, along with Arjun Erigaisi (6.5 points), remained just one point adrift of the leaders even as R Praggnanandhaa dropped to joint 20th along with young Nihal Sarin (both six points).
Gukesh, playing black in the sixth round — the day’s first — warded off a strong challenge from Anish Giri to split the point after the Dutch Grandmaster seemed to have cornered the Indian’s king with a superior rook formation. Gukesh, however, managed a draw in 57 moves.
The Indian was then involved in a stalemate with former European champion Alexey Sarana, before going on to earn a full point against Spaniard David Anton in the penultimate round of the day.
However, the Indian ace suffered his only defeat so far in the competition when he blundered on the 34th move with white to go down to former world rapid champion from Uzbekistan, Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
IMAGE: Russian Grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev achieved a rare victory over Magnus Carlsen. Photograph: Anna Shtourman for FIDE
On a day when giant-killer Artemiev was on the rampage, the 27-year-old defeated Erigaisi in the opening round, with the Indian a pawn and a bishop down.
Artemiev then achieved a rare victory over Carlsen — the Norwegian’s only defeat in the nine rounds so far — as he went top of the table.
The last four rounds in the 13-round ‘Open’ section will take place on Sunday.
In the women’s section, defending champion Koneru Humpy jumped to the top spot with six points after seven rounds. With one more round to go on Sunday in the 11-round competition for women, things could change drastically.
Harika Dronavalli and this year’s women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh were joint second on 5.5 points each in a cluster of 12 players, while R Vaishali, following a second loss in the tournament, was joint 22nd with 4.5 points.
