Gukesh ends round robin stage winless, but sneaks into quarters of Freestyle Chess at Weissenhaus
Call it the curse of being a world champion! Gukesh Dommaraju went winless in nine qualifying round robin games at the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Gukesh follows in the footsteps of his predecessor on the world champion’s throne, Ding Liren, who had also endured a winless event last year at Weissenhaus, when the event was just a standalone freestyle event and the Chinese grandmaster was still a world champion.
The 18-year-old world champion from Chennai, in fact, ended the rapid section of the event with a defeat to Magnus Carlsen. Despite playing out seven draws (and being handed two defeats by Alireza Firouzja and Carlsen), Gukesh has qualified for the quarter-finals after ending in eighth spot out of 10 contenders.
Gukesh’s opponent in the next round for no...