Carlsen deciphers the Indian prodigy
Gukesh held a white piece, moving quickly in the opening, and Carlsen was not prepared for the variation his opponent chose. However, the number eight player in the world was reversed early in a forced line, causing the game to soon enter the end. Carlsen is highly appreciated in the endgame and he makes good use of this ability to transform the chess from a draw to a win. The Norwegian player stacked his cart to catch White's isolated pawn, then won after 48 moves.
Carlsen will rematch Gukesh in the second game from 6pm today, August 16, Hanoi time, but the 33-year-old player has the advantage of holding the white piece and just needs to draw. And the Indian prodigy was forced to win to bring the match into the tie-break.
After the win on August 15, Carlsen said he had a good mentality before entering the competition. When asked about the secret of the endgame, the number one player said: "It's mainly talent and hard work. When I was young, I wasn't as good as I am now, but I practiced a lot of practical and theoretical consequences." .
Gukesh received his first loss in the Chess World Cup, after 10 games unbeaten. The 17-year-old player fell one place, down to eighth place in the world, but remained at the top of India. He has been on the rise over the past few years, entering the World Top 100 over a year ago, but is now in the Top 10.
The World Cup quarter-finals also had another match on August 15, when Erigaisi Arjun defeated another Indian prodigy, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. "Pragg" still has a chance to continue if it wins against Erigaisi in the second game today.
The Chess World Cup, which takes place every two years, is the largest individual tournament. This year's tournament took place in Baku city, Azerbaijan, from July 30 to August 24, with 206 players in the Open group and 103 players in the Women's group. The players compete in the knockout stage, selecting the top three players in each group to attend the Candidates. But if he wins a spot to Candidates, Carlsen still leaves open the possibility of participating because he is not interested in playing standard chess.
