Bengaluru: Magnus Carlsen triumphed over Gukesh in Round 9 of the Freestyle Chess (Chess 960) Grand Slam Tour held in Weissenhaus, Germany. This encounter marked their first competition since the 18-year-old Indian became the classical world champion in December. The Norwegian, currently ranked world No. 1, managed to secure a victory from what seemed to be a balanced endgame while playing with the Black pieces.

Throughout the nine rounds of rapid play in the round robin phase of the tournament, Gukesh did not achieve a single victory. Nevertheless, he successfully advanced to the top eight, avoiding elimination, thanks to the performances of Vladimir Fedoseev and Levon Aronian, who occupied the last two positions.

For Round 9 of the round robin stage, position 931 was selected randomly, with White having castled long. Chess 960, also referred to as Fischer Random chess, alters the initial arrangement of pieces on the back rank, thereby diminishing the significance of opening theory. The term ‘960’ signifies the total number of potential starting configurations.

Gukesh, playing with the White pieces, arrived at the board early in preparation for his match against the five-time classical world champion. Meanwhile, other competitors divided into two groups based on their piece colors to analyze the starting position. Players are allotted ten minutes prior to each game for discussion.

The upcoming knockout stage will utilize classical time controls, allowing 90 minutes for each player, along with a 30-second increment per move. Alireza Firouzja emerged as the leader after the nine rounds of rapid chess, while Gukesh concluded the round robin in the eighth position among the qualified players.

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