Published on: Oct 30, 2025 01:09 pm IST
D Gukesh had an inconsistent showing at the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown exhibition event, and will next be in action at the World Cup.
D Gukesh ended bottom of the standings at the recently held Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown despite topping the leaderboard on Day 1. Magnus Carlsen won the exhibition event and also defeated Gukesh in five out of six games. One game ended in a draw.
The event saw Fabiano Caruana come second, and Hikaru Nakamura finished in third position. Speaking on his performance at the event, Gukesh said, “Obviously not great. The first day was quite promising. I started off quite well, but the second and third days were just completely off. At some point, it was very tough to start getting wins, and when it’s like that against this opposition, it usually goes downhill quite fast.”
D Gukesh ready for Chess World Cup
Gukesh will be the top seed at the upcoming FIDE Chess World Cup, which begins on November 1. Carlsen, Caruana, and Nakamura won’t be in action as they have decided to skip the event.
“But overall, great experience, especially before the FIDE World Cup. I mean, there are no better training partners than these three (Carlsen, Nakamura and Caruana). So the good thing is these three won’t be there in the World Cup. So, I had a better training than what I’ll be facing. So, I hope it helps,” he added.
For Gukesh, the World Cup will be the perfect preparation for next year, when he will defend his world c’ship crown. The top three finishers at the World Cup will also qualify for the Candidates 2026 tournament. The World Cup will be an eight-round knockout tournament, with the top 50 seeds given a bye into the second round. Meanwhile, the losing teams of the two semifinals will face each other for a third-placed finish.
