D Gukesh crashed to a defeat against Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the fifth round of the Prague International Chess Festival. It was an action-packed showdown that saw the Indian GM gain an early advantage in the opening. But then Abdusattorov fought back to get the advantage, and then Gukesh came back to get the edge, and then blundered it away.
Then the game settled into a cautious template, but just when it looked like it was heading to a draw, Gukesh made a huge blunder on move 67, which saw the Uzbek GM get the advantage. One move later, and with time running out, Gukesh resigned.
This is Gukesh’s second classical tournament of the year, and he has yet to win a game. He has lost twice and drawn the other three. In Wijk aan Zee this year, he won three games and lost as many. One of those defeats was against Abdusattorov. In that game, Gukesh blundered away a pawn and a rook with one decision, and then resigned shortly afterwards.
In a video posted by ChessBase India on social media, Gukesh is seen with a look of shock as he leaves the playing room. Meanwhile, Abdusattorov had a smile on his face. There were also fans waiting for the Indian GM’s autograph, but he simply rushed by them.
Watch – D Gukesh resigns after late blunder against Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Speaking after the game, Abdusattorov told ChessBase India, “It was a completely crazy game. In his opening, he was well prepared. I knew that this line exists…the more I thought about my position, the more I didn’t like it.”
“But at some point, he started to misplay it. I felt like there was something for White to get an advantage more than what I could manage…Then I started to outplay him closer to time control and obviously, when we passed time control, I thought my position should be winning…at the end, he was low on time and he panicked.”
