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Gukesh salvages draw from lost position against Alireza Firouzja
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Gukesh salvages draw from lost position against Alireza Firouzja

The playing hall burst into applause. Even Gukesh Dommaraju broke into a rare smile after shaking hands with his opponent Alireza Firouzja on Thursday in the first game of their classification match for 7th spot at the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Gukesh had not managed to beat Alireza, but it was a draw that was as good as a win for a player who is still winless at the luxury resort village in Germany. The applause was for the way Gukesh had managed to salvage a draw from a completely losing position. It was one of those games where the eval bar favoured Alireza from the start: in fact, the bar tipped over in the Frenchman’s favour after the first moves from both players. This was because Gukesh, playing with black pieces, had opted to hop the wrong knight. ...
Freestyle Chess: Gukesh loses to Hikaru Nakamura to remain winless at Weissenhaus
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Freestyle Chess: Gukesh loses to Hikaru Nakamura to remain winless at Weissenhaus

Gukesh Dommaraju remains winless at Weissenhaus after losing to Hikaru Nakamura in the 5-8 classification spot match on Wednesday. The Gukesh vs Nakamura battle had to be decided in the rapid tiebreaks after both the classical time control games (first on Tuesday and second one played on Wednesday) ended in draws. In the two-game rapid tiebreak, the first game ended in a draw after 103 moves, but in the second game, Gukesh lost with white pieces after 33 moves. While the first tiebreak game was played in Position No 5, which was one of the more normal positions with not too much insanity on the starting position, the second game was played in position no 328. Besides the Gukesh versus Nakamura game, Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov also tussled in the tiebreak to figure out who would ...
Freestyle chess: Gukesh draws with Hikaru Nakamura as challenging opening position tests the best
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Freestyle chess: Gukesh draws with Hikaru Nakamura as challenging opening position tests the best

Gukesh played out a 59-move draw against the reigning World Fischer Random champion Hikaru Nakamura with black pieces as his quest for a win at the first Freestyle Chess tournament of the year continues. Gukesh has so far lost four games in the Weissenhaus tournament and drawn seven games that he has played in classical and rapid time controls. But the draw with black pieces will be particularly heartening for the youngest world champion in the history of the sport.After being eliminated by Fabiano Caruana in the quarter finals, Gukesh is battling to at least finish fifth in the 10-player standings. His first opponent was Nakamura, who he will play with white pieces tomorrow in the second game of their match. Tuesday’s game — played in position no.360 — was tricky for all players. But the ...
Magnus Carlsen takes another jibe at FIDE: ‘It’s very useful when you have a governing body that doesn’t necessarily have players interest at heart’
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Magnus Carlsen takes another jibe at FIDE: ‘It’s very useful when you have a governing body that doesn’t necessarily have players interest at heart’

It seems like the feud between FIDE, world chess governing body, and five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen, is not ending anytime soon. A couple of days after making a startling revelation that he won’t be playing in the FIDE events anymore and will be focus more on his project Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, Carlsen has taken another jibe at the FIDE. On Sunday evening meeting in Weissenhaus with Freestyle Chess organizer Jan Henric Buettner, 12 Freestyle Chess Players Club members, including Magnus has planned to form their own independent association with a qualified legal team to represent their interests. Story continues below this ad “What I will say is I think it was generally a fruitful discussion,” Carlsen told Take Take Take, when asked about what was discus...
Gukesh’s Freestyle Chess woes continue as world champion loses game 1 of quarters to Fabiano Caruana
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Gukesh’s Freestyle Chess woes continue as world champion loses game 1 of quarters to Fabiano Caruana

Gukesh Dommaraju’s wretched form at the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour continued as the world champion lost the first game of the quarter-final to Fabiano Caruana with white pieces on Sunday. Gukesh will have a chance to level on Monday when the two players play the second game of the quarter-final with colours reversed. Gukesh played nine games in the rapid time control before Sunday — one game each against all the other players in the field — but did not manage to win a single game. Gukesh had just about snuck into the quarter-finals of the Weissenhaus event after finishing ahead of Vladimir Fedoseev and Levon Aronian in the standings. Only eight players out of the 10 made it to the knockout stages after the rapid portion. Story continues below this ad ...
Gukesh ends round robin stage winless, but sneaks into quarters of Freestyle Chess at Weissenhaus
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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...
Magnus Carlsen says he’s looking forward to playing Gukesh in Freestyle Chess
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Magnus Carlsen says he’s looking forward to playing Gukesh in Freestyle Chess

After spending the past two months battling against the world governing body of chess, FIDE, Magnus Carlsen said he was looking forward to facing off against the current world champion Gukesh in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, when the Weissenhaus leg starts today at the luxury nature resort. When Carlsen was asked by ChessBase India who he was looking forward to playing at the first event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, he said: “I’m very much looking forward to playing the classical world champion, Gukesh. Obviously, I look forward to playing everybody, but getting a chance to play Hikaru Nakamura here… last year there was a bit of a generational battle. I’ll be trying a little bit harder to beat the youngsters.” The first event of the Freestyle Tour at Weissenhaus will se...
Freestyle organisers drop ‘world champion’ from regulations ahead of Weissenhaus event
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Freestyle organisers drop ‘world champion’ from regulations ahead of Weissenhaus event

There was a temporary truce in the world of chess after FIDE announced that organisers of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour had removed the phrase ‘world championship’ from their regulations. This means that the winner of the Freestyle Chess Tour will not be officially called a Freestyle World Champion, as the organisers had initially intended. “Today, the organisers of the ‘Freestyle Chess Tour’ fully deleted from its regulations the reference to the ‘World Championship’ title. Following this change in the regulations, players wishing to participate in the 2025 ‘Freestyle Chess Tour’ are no longer required to sign the waiver note,” FIDE posted on their social media handles. The intent of Freestyle Tour’s organisers to crown the winner of their event as a ‘world champion’ had been the sticki...
Freestyle organisers drop ‘world champion’ from regulations ahead of Weissenhaus event
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Arkady Dvorkovich responds to personal texts being leaked: ‘Cannot deal with a partner who has such business culture’

FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich has accused organisers of Freestyle Chess of leaking personal texts sent by him during the terse negotiations over the past few months. Dvorkovich told The Indian Express in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that messages that he had sent Jan Henric Buettner, the man behind the freestyle chess tour, were being shared with players ‘within seconds’ during the negotiations. FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich speaks at an event during the FIDE World Chess Championship in Singapore last year.(PHOTO: FIDE/Maria Emilianova) After talks between FIDE and organisers of Freestyle Chess collapsed on Monday, Buettner posted a long open letter addressed to the FIDE president where he also made public personal messages sent to him by Dvorkovich. Soon, this was followed ...
As FIDE vs Freestyle Chess war intensifies, Magnus Carlsen, trainer share private text messages from FIDE president, CEO
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As FIDE vs Freestyle Chess war intensifies, Magnus Carlsen, trainer share private text messages from FIDE president, CEO

The FIDE versus Freestyle Chess war intensified late on Monday after peace talks collapsed between the two parties. In the immediate aftermath of the feud reigniting, there were open letters from both sides with fresh allegations. Members from the Freestyle Chess camp also aired private messages from FIDE officials like president Arkady Dvorkovich and CEO Emil Sutovsky. World No 1 Magnus Carlsen posted a couple of texts that Dvorkovich had sent to his father Henrik Carlsen on his X handle before asking the Russian to resign. Story continues below this ad Carlsen posted on X: “Coercion of players, misuse of power and broken promises. FIDE President Dvorkovich, to convince me to play the Rapid & Blitz in New York, you wrote Dec 19th to my father: ‘Just want to pass a mes...
FIDE vs Freestyle Chess dispute continues as ‘intensive negotiations’ lead nowhere
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FIDE vs Freestyle Chess dispute continues as ‘intensive negotiations’ lead nowhere

The global governing body of chess, FIDE, has announced that talks with the organisers of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour have not yielded much as the impasse continues in chess. “Despite intensive negotiations, the FIDE Council states that there is currently no agreement regarding the Freestyle Tour. This is due to the other party’s refusal to acknowledge FIDE’s status as the sole regulator of World Chess Championships and its authority to award a World Championship title,” FIDE posted on their X handle on Monday afternoon. It went on to add that it would be releasing a “full statement” on the matter later on Monday. Story continues below this ad FIDE and organizers of the upcoming Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour have been at loggerheads for over two months now. This fe...
‘Most stressful day’: Praggnanandhaa jokes he’ll buy Arjun Erigaisi something after winning Tata Steel chess title ahead of Gukesh
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‘Most stressful day’: Praggnanandhaa jokes he’ll buy Arjun Erigaisi something after winning Tata Steel chess title ahead of Gukesh

Praggnanandhaa defeated world champion Gukesh in a tense tiebreak that went into sudden death to emerge as the champion of the Tata Steel chess tournament 2025. It was a moment he called the highlight and the most stressful day of his career. After defeating Gukesh in the tiebreak, Praggnanandhaa was asked by commentator Fiona Steil-Antoni if winning the Tata Steel title was the “highlight of his young career”. “Yeah, for sure. When I came here, I wanted to win the event. But the field was very strong. I didn’t really think about it much until yesterday. Can’t really express… I’m really happy,” said Praggnanandhaa. Story continues below this ad Praggnanandhaa, asked if this was the most intense day of chess in his career, compared Sunday’s action with the sudden death batt...
Exclusive: FIDE and freestyle chess organisers close to amicable agreement after 2-month-long dispute
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Exclusive: FIDE and freestyle chess organisers close to amicable agreement after 2-month-long dispute

The prospect of ‘war’ looming over the world of chess seems to be easing up after the organisers of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and FIDE are close to an amicable agreement, The Indian Express can reveal. After two months of uncertainty in the sport punctuated by open letters and allegations against each other, a ceasefire appears likely. In fact, over the past three days there have been three one-on-one phone calls between German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner, the brains and financial muscle behind the ambitious freestyle tour, and FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich to smoothen out matters. “I already had two phone calls with Arkady yesterday and the day before, and we’re going to have another one today. I can tell you that we are pretty close to reaching an amicable agreement that w...
Gukesh ends round robin stage winless, but sneaks into quarters of Freestyle Chess at Weissenhaus
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Gukesh era: Youngest world champion unbeaten in 10 games, closes in on Tata Steel chess title and Mount 2800

If history is any indication, D Gukesh’s reign as world champion could have gone one of two ways. He could have found the crown incredibly heavy to wear, like his predecessor Ding Liren did. After becoming world champion in 2023, the Chinese Grandmaster went on a stretch of 304 days without a classical win leading into the 2024 world championship. Or, Gukesh could have felt bulletproof as the occupier of the coveted throne, like Magnus Carlsen did ever since he became the world champion for the first time in 2013. The 10 games at Tata Steel chess tournament have shown that the Gukesh era of chess is firmly following the path once charted by Carlsen. The 18-year-old, who became the youngest world champion in history last month, maintained his grip on the top of the standings at the Tata Ste...
Tata Steel Chess: Gukesh beats Leon Luke Mendonca to secure lead with four rounds to go
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Tata Steel Chess: Gukesh beats Leon Luke Mendonca to secure lead with four rounds to go

With just four rounds remaining at the Tata Steel chess tournament, the reigning world champion Gukesh D has ensured that he is in pole position to win the event known as the Wimbledon of Chess. The 18-year-old Gukesh defeated his contemporary Leon Luke Mendonca in Round 9 at the season-starting chess event in the quaint Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee in a battle lasting just 43 moves. This is the first event Gukesh is competing in after becoming the youngest world champion in history of chess by defeating Ding Liren in Singapore last month. So far after nine games, Gukesh is yet to lose, winning four games and drawing the others. This is in sharp contrast to the fate of Arjun Erigaisi, who came into the event rated 2801, but has not won a single game at the event. Tuesday’s win ensures that...
Gukesh vs Praggnanandhaa ends in draw at Tata Steel Chess after some mind games
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Gukesh vs Praggnanandhaa ends in draw at Tata Steel Chess after some mind games

D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa played out a bloodless draw in round 8 at the Tata Steel chess tournament that ended in 33 moves on Sunday in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. In what was a battle royale of two of India’s top grandmasters, there was very little to separate the duo with Pragg having white pieces. Both players had started the game as joint leaders in the standings in the masters section — a spot which they shared with Uzbek star Nodirbek Abdusattarov. All three players are still in joint lead after 8 rounds with Nodirbek holding off the event’s giant-killer Vladimir Fedoseev to a draw. The Gukesh vs Praggnanandhaa contest started with a bit of a mind game from Pragg, who waited almost one full minute before playing 1.e4, which is the most common opening move in the book. The first fi...
Arjun Erigaisi stays winless at Tata Steel after blunders vs Fedoseev
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Arjun Erigaisi stays winless at Tata Steel after blunders vs Fedoseev

Arjun Erigaisi’s luck at the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee just refuses to turn. The top-ranked Indian player slumped to another defeat in Round 4 of the Tata Steel chess tournament, this time after surrendering a hefty advantage on the board in two back-to-back moves against Vladimir Fedoseev. Meanwhile, veteran Indian grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna defeated Dutchman Max Warmerdam to claim his second win at the event. He had earlier defeated Arjun Erigaisi while losing to R Praggnanandhaa. The defeat against Fedoseev means Arjun Erigaisi has not won a single game at the prestigious Tata Steel chess event since winning the Challengers section in 2022. At that edition, he had won the event with a round to spare, scoring a jaw-dropping 10.5 out of 13. That win had secured Erigaisi a spot in th...
Arjun Erigaisi loses to Praggnanandhaa to stay winless at Wijk aan Zee since 2022
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Arjun Erigaisi loses to Praggnanandhaa to stay winless at Wijk aan Zee since 2022

Arjun Erigaisi was handed defeat in the third round of the Tata Steel chess tournament by good friend Praggnanandhaa in 60 moves. While Pragg held the upper hand in most of the game, the end came with checkmate being inevitable with Arjun Erigaisi’s king standing in the middle of the board without any protection while Praggnanandhaa’s pieces surrounded it. The defeat means that Arjun Erigaisi has not won a single game at the Tata Steel event since winning the Challengers section in 2022 with a jaw-dropping score of 10.5 out of 13. He had in fact won the event that year with a round to spare. That win had secured Arjun Erigaisi a spot in the Tata Steel Masters section the next year. But he went through the 2023 edition without a single victory and has continued that streak in 2025. He di...
R Vaishali claims bronze at World Blitz Championship to cap stellar year for Indian women in chess
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R Vaishali claims bronze at World Blitz Championship to cap stellar year for Indian women in chess

R Vaishali ended 2024 in style, claiming a bronze medal at the World Blitz Championship after reaching the semi-finals at the year-end event at New York’s Wall Street. Ju Wenjun clinched the women’s blitz crown by defeating Lei Tingjie in the final. Vaishali had lost to Wenjun in the semis and finished behind the two Chinese women. In the men’s section, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi agreed to share the title after both players won two games each in the final and three tie-break games were drawn. After the Swiss section of the World Blitz Championship (from where the eight quarter-finalists were selected), Vaishali had told the official YouTube handle of FIDE how she did not think she was a good blitz player. This despite the fact that she was a full point ahead of the pack at that ...
Title Gambit Accepted: Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi make history after agreeing to share world blitz title
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Title Gambit Accepted: Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi make history after agreeing to share world blitz title

Magnus Carlsen and Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi opted to share World Blitz Championship title after three sudden-death games failed to produce a winner. Magnus Carlsen won the first two games in the final against Ian Nepomniachtchi and needed just a draw in the third game to seal another World Blitz title. But Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi made a comeback by winning two games, thus levelling the score at 2-2. The final would thus have to be decided in a tiebreak. When three sudden-death games, neither player managed to secure a win, with all three games ending in draws. Magnus Carlsen then suggested sharing the title with his opponent. Why did Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi agree to share the title? “People should, of course, understand that we are both tired and nervous. Some people ...
FIDE Circuit standings: Arjun Erigaisi trails leader Fabiano Caruana by six points with final event left
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FIDE Circuit standings: Arjun Erigaisi trails leader Fabiano Caruana by six points with final event left

In a few days, the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz chess tournament will be held in New York’s Wall Street. The event will not just decide the world champions in rapid and blitz format. It will also end up deciding which player gets the FIDE Circuit spot for the prestigious Candidates tournament. The path to Candidates tournament has one spot designated to the 2024 FIDE Circuit. There are two players in the race to win the spot: India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Fabiano Caruana. The American GM leads Arjun Erigaisi by a mere six points with the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz chess tournament being the final tournament of 2024 to award Circuit points. Caruana raced to the lead in the 2024 FIDE Circuit race after emerging victorious at the Saint Louis Masters. The win helped him get 16.39 points which helpe...
Norway Chess 2025 will see Gukesh face Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi in elite field
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Norway Chess 2025 will see Gukesh face Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi in elite field

Gukesh Dommaraju, who became the youngest ever world champion in the history of chess last week, will play at the Norway Chess tournament next year, the tournament organisers confirmed on Monday afternoon. The elite Norway Chess 2025 event, which is set to take place in Stavanger from May 26 to June 6, will see Gukesh take on former world champion Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi. The rest of the field will be announced soon. China’s Wei Yi has also confirmed his participation at the event. Gukesh was not part of last year’s event, which had Indian players like Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Koneru Humpy competing. Former world champion Ding Liren, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana were also at Stavanger to compete in the vent last year. The young world champion said he w...
Viswanathan Anand on his bond with Gukesh: ‘He’s a fun guy, laughs a lot…  we often sit and discuss chess’
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Viswanathan Anand on his bond with Gukesh: ‘He’s a fun guy, laughs a lot… we often sit and discuss chess’

Occasionally, even Viswanathan Anand gets shocked. The five-time world champion has seen all kinds of hell break loose on the chess board. But there is a certain rumbling in the air when the storm clouds start to gather over the chessboard.Thursday was not shaping up to be one of those days. That’s why Anand was at his home keeping only half an eye on game 14 of the World Chess Championship battle between Gukesh and Ding Liren when the world of chess changed in the blink of an eye. In a single move of his rook, Ding had opened the door for Gukesh to become the 18th world champion of the sport. “Sometimes history walks in when you are not expecting it to. Like on Thursday. I was kind of just sitting around, not watching the 14th World Championship game live in the end game. I was expecting...
Susan Polgar on Gukesh’s mentor Viswanathan Anand: ‘Your place in chess history is now etched in stone’
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Susan Polgar on Gukesh’s mentor Viswanathan Anand: ‘Your place in chess history is now etched in stone’

Chess legend Susan Polgar hailed Gukesh’s mentor Viswanathan Anand for hos contribution to the chess after the 18-year-old become the youngest world champion in the history of the sport. “To my friend @vishy64theking, your vision and passion for chess have come full circle! Your place in chess history, on and off the chess board, is now etched in stone! Congratulations,” she wrote on X. Indian teenager Gukesh D became the youngest chess world champion Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. The moment so many have dreamed about but only 18 on the entire planet in the history of chess have experienced it! And this 18 year old, the youngest ever, the undisputed champion of the world, just had his name engraved to t...
World Chess Championship: Gukesh vs Ding Liren battle breaking viewership records on online streaming, other content
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World Chess Championship: Gukesh vs Ding Liren battle breaking viewership records on online streaming, other content

Within minutes of D Gukesh throwing in the towel in Game 12 of the World Chess Championship, Hikaru Nakamura is live on a stream offering his post mortem of a body that is yet to get cold.Ranked No.3 in the world, Nakamura finished second at the Candidates tournament, just missing out on being in Gukesh’s chair as the challenger to world champion Ding Liren. Now, as the 18-year-old Indian fights against the Chinese grandmaster for a chance to become the youngest-ever world champion, the American grandmaster — who likes to say that his main profession is streaming rather than playing chess — is at hand to offer insights into the contest in Singapore. Occasionally, like when Gukesh rejected a draw offer from Ding and the game continued longer than anticipated, Nakamura was streaming even whi...
Gukesh succumbs to Ding Liren in 12th game of World Chess Championship, players locked at 6 points | Chess News – Times of India
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Gukesh succumbs to Ding Liren in 12th game of World Chess Championship, players locked at 6 points | Chess News – Times of India

D Gukesh and Ding Liren (PTI Photo) In a turn of events at the World Chess Championship, challenger D Gukesh of India suffered a setback against defending champion Ding Liren of China. Liren's victory in the 12th game levelled the match score on Monday.Gukesh, the 18-year-old prodigy, had held a one-point lead after securing his second win of the match on Sunday, breaking a streak of seven consecutive draws. However, Liren's win the following day brought the match back to an even keel.With two games remaining in the 14-round classical time control format, both players are now tied at 6 points each. They are still 1.5 points away from clinching the title.The final two games are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, following a rest day on Tuesday.Regardless of the outcome of Wednesday's gam...