Incorrect draw claim, too many checks: How Gukesh actually helped Nikolas Theodorou escape and then lost to him

The fatal mistake from Gukesh Dommaraju in the game against Nikolas Theodorou of Greece at the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament. (PHOTO: Lichess)

Here’s how:

Under tournament regulations, both players have 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. Once they make the 40th move, they get an additional 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and so on. The critical error from Gukesh, who was a pawn up in the middle game, came on move 34. At this stage, Theodorou had just over six minutes on his clock, which means he would have had to make six more moves in about six minutes (+30 seconds for each move made) until he got extra time. But over the next few moves, Gukesh gave 10 checks to the king with his rook. A check on the king severely restricts any player’s choices, he must move the king out of the check, or move another piece to block the check. But it also requires less thinking, since the decision on which piece to focus on is already decided.

WATCH: Theodorou explains how Gukesh helped him win

“It was good that he kept checking me because I was getting closer to crossing the time control by repeating,” the Greek GM said to FIDE in an interview after the victory. “I kept fighting. I think he missed some of my resources. I have no idea what happened in the rook endgame. I thought it should be a draw, but he lost some tempi by checking my king. Then I don’t think he had any chances to save it after the time control.”

Gukesh was clearly going for a threefold repetition here which is why he kept giving checks. At one stage, Gukesh even got up from his seat to find the arbiter to claim a draw by threefold repetition.

WATCH: How Gukesh wrongly claimed a draw

But this turned out to be a wrong claim, as Theodorou explained: “He made an incorrect claim for a threefold repetition. So, I got the two extra minutes, which was nice. Essentially my king was on d7 the first time he checked me but then the other two times it was on e7, so it was a bit different. But it really helped being able to shuffle and gain some extra time.”

The fatal mistake from Gukesh Dommaraju in the game against Nikolas Theodorou of Greece at the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament. (PHOTO: Lichess)

Move 34 from Gukesh also turned out to be a fatal error. He opted for a check with his rook (34. Ra7+). But the only move that he needed to play in that position was moving his king (34.Kf2!) closer to the Greek GM’s advancing pawns on c and d file that were threatening to run away to the end. After Gukesh opted to play 34.Ra7+?? black’s pawns were unstoppable. Gukesh’s rook and Theodorou’s king danced around for a while before the game broke open and the both players raced their own pawns to the other end of the board to promote. But before that race could end, Gukesh resigned.

INTERACTIVE: How Gukesh Dommaraju lost to Nikolas Theodorou

All the moves from Gukesh’s defeat to Nikolas Theodorou

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 c6 9. c5 Bc7 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. Ng5 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Qf6 13. g4 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Qg6 15. Qxg6 hxg6 16. Re1 Na6 17. Rb1 b6 18. Rb3 Rfe8 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. Ra3 Re1+ 21. Kg2 Rxc1 22. Rxa6 Bd8 23. Nf3 Kf8 24. Rxa7 bxc5 25. Ne5 Bf6 26. Rxf7+ Ke8 27. Ra7 Rxc3 28. Ra8+ Ke7 29. Nxc6+ Kd7 30. Ne5+ Bxe5 31. dxe5 d4 32. f4 d3 33. Ra6 c4 34. Ra7+ Ke8 35. Ra8+ Ke7 36. Ra7+ Ke8 37. Ra8+ Ke7 38. Ra7+ Kd8 39. Ra8+ Kd7 40. Ra7+ Kd8 41. Ra8+ Kc7 42. Ra7+ Kc6 43. Ra6+ Kc5 44. Rd6 Rc2+ 45. Kf3 d2 46. Rd8 c3 47. e6 Rc1

Theodorou said that he has not played too many elite players in competitions. So at the Grand Swiss, he was just hoping “not to lose too badly out the opening”.

“I haven’t had too many chances to play against the top players and it’s my first time playing against a world champion in classical. So, it definitely felt special, but I tried to not think too much about all the people watching,” he added.