D Gukesh, the reigning world chess champion, is going through a rough patch as he endured his third straight defeat at the ongoing FIDE Grand Swiss on Thursday. The 19-year-old fell to 16-year-old Turkish grandmaster Ediz Gurel in the seventh round. This loss followed earlier defeats to Abhimanyu Mishra in Round 5 and Nikolas Theodorou in Round 6.
Reflecting on his victory over the world champion, Gurel said, "It was a crazy tough game."
"I was pretty happy to see the pairings. It’s always great to play the world champion, whether I lose or not. yeah, he’s not doing so well in this tournament, but I believe he can just pull things through. He’s a great player, a world champion!" he added.
The game was intense and dramatic. Gurel made an error on move 27, and both players traded queens on move 29. However, on move 40, Gukesh blundered, and just two moves later he sacrificed a bishop for two pawns, giving Gurel a decisive edge. Gurel admitted, "I actually blundered at some point and I got very miserable because I didn’t see a move. I thought my position was very bad but I just thought I had to give my best, maybe he will make a mistake. Luckily, it happened."
As the loss sank in, Gukesh appeared stunned—he held his head in disbelief before lowering it in dejection, visibly shattered in confidence, as he resigned and shook hands with Gurel.
In Round 8 on Friday, Gukesh will go up against Divya Deshmukh, the reigning FIDE Women's World Cup winner. Gukesh had started the tournament with two wins and two draws, but his momentum has faltered with three back-to-back losses.
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Divya, meanwhile, has experienced mixed results so far. She has suffered two defeats, drawn three games, and scored two wins—including victories over higher-rated opponents—amassing 3.5 points, which puts her ahead of Gukesh before their much-anticipated clash.
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