Gukesh stages great escape against Erigaisi, moves to 2nd

Stavanger: Reigning world champion D Gukesh continued to turn adversity into opportunity as he wriggled out of a virtually intractable position to beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for the first time ever in a classical game and jump to sole second position after Round 7 of the Norway Chess.

As has been the trend in Gukesh’s campaign in this elite six-payer double round-robin tournament, the teenager, playing with white, showed nerves of steel to secure his second consecutive win, without going through the rigmarole of an Armageddon tie-break, to take sweet revenge for his loss to Erigaisi earlier in Round 2.

The win, which came after a nerve-wracking victory against defending champion and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, saw Gukesh, 19, overtake the 34-year-old Norwegian on the points table with 11.5 points.

This was also Gukesh’s first win in three attempts against Erigaisi, who had beaten the world champion at the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee to spoil his title-winning chances, and then again in Round 2 here.

With three more rounds to go, pole sitter American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, who defeated Wei Yi of China, is on 12.5 points.

Carlsen is third with 11 points following his Armageddon win against another American Grandmaster and world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, who is fourth with 8.5 points.

Erigaisi dropped to fifth position with 7.5 points following the loss, while Wei Yi is placed sixth with 6.5 points.

For the first three-and-a-half hours of the game, Gukesh was on the defensive but finally managed to up his game to earn a win, tying down his opponent in time trouble. Erigaisi faltered that wee bit, which gave Gukesh an opening that he exploited and forced his opponent to resign after some intense play. “Probably I was just losing it at some point. I was just slowly getting outplayed. From the opening nothing went my way but once I got to this position I just had to keep making moves which doesn’t lose on the spot and in the time scrambles things happen,” Gukesh said.