D Gukesh and Divya Deshmukh, once children’s miracles, faced for the first time in a classic chess format on Fide Grand Swiss. After 103 movements they played a draw. New Delhi: In 2018, when Gukesh Dommaraja and Divya Deshmukh barely 13, they shared more than just a chessboard.In the now viral clip from the first days, wondo will ask Gukesh: “How many Hindi do you know?” The boy Wonder throws a dead answer: “Zero!”Although Divy’s immediate reaction is that they ridicule their eyes, it would soon slip into the role of a translator, transformed Gukesh’s English analysis into Hindi for the Hindi chess platform channel and won millions on social media.
Abhimanyu Puranik Exclusive: Chess Journey, helps Divya Deshmukh at the World Cup, Grand Swiss and more
After seven years, the settings could not be more different. In the middle of the architectural splendor of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, two miracles met on Friday, now in their late adolescents (GMS) in their late adolescents – except that they ended up between them for several hours.
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This time, however, at Fide Grand Swiss, Gukesh, rated 2767, was the ruling world champion and Wonder, rated 2478, winner of the Women’s World Cup. It was their very first clash in the classic format and also a reminder of how far Indian chess came and how the blurry boundaries between “male” and “female” records began to look.
D Gukesh and Divya Deshmukh (Figure: Fide)
“The eighth game between Gukesh and Divya Deshmukh in Fide Grand Swiss ended after 103 movements in a hard battle,” GM Pravin Thipsay said in the analysis of the game.“Wonder chose a very unusual sequel in her fourth move (4 … Be7). Gukesh apparently didn’t know this line because he took 17 minutes in his fifth move.”“Although he has lost a lot of time, the introductory choice of Divya does not really look very healthy and White has a very good technical edge. It was very dangerous to play such a position against Gukesh. In fact, I would never mean it.Yet the youngest world champion, who this time underwent a bad form in a large Swiss, let his chances slip.“Gukesh chose a completely different plan to play Kingside, as 15.bxf4 opened the game on the other side. As a result, all his advantage was away and we had roughly the same position,” Thipsay explained.“Later the wondo’s decision to exchange the queen with moving 19. It did not seem very good to be, and Gukesh had the upper hand.“Gukeshov’s location of the knight and the tower after 28 movements turned out to be really bad and unproductive. And Wonder first gained the advantage of pulling 30. It was a slight tangible advantage in the end game, probably not enough to win, but it was better.”“Repetition could have taken place with 40, but Gukesh refrained the repetition of movements and sacrificed the pawn. The rest of the game became a dead position, trying to set the traps. Wonder gave up the knight for the last pawn and got into the apparent character and compared to the commission.
World champion D Gukesh suffered three consecutive defeats on Fide Grand Swiss. (Figure: Fide)
For Thipsay, Gukesh has his “worst phase” after a bad results, including three defeats, in Grand Swiss.“The whole year was quite bad. Hardly no event has passed where he has not lost the rating. So we can say that this is probably the worst phase in Gukesh’s life since 2021.”It is a perennial rating for the youngest world champion. As soon as Gukesh was considered unstoppable, he now sits outside the TOP 10 in living rating, his 2748.2 brand dropped to 12.For Divy Deshmukh, however, a draw was more than half a point.“Women players rarely get a consistent chance against 2600+ opposition,” Thipsay planted. “For her, tournaments, such as these, relate to exposition, practice and prove herself. She played with a great spirit, and this result will give her confidence.”Gukesh, on the other hand, never played for qualifications. He was already holding the crown of the World Championship, he had no candidates slot. “He only plays for practice and exposes himself to elite players,” Thipsay said.But practice or not, every surrender of half of the point has its costs.When the players shook their hands after six and a half hours, there was no winner, but no lack of drama. When there are three rounds left, the tournament can still swing in two way, “bad to worse” for Gukesh or “good to better” for Wonder.Meanwhile, the title is written: the world champion is from the top 10. And the hand that attracted him belongs to an old friend who once teased him about Hindi.
