India, Feb. 10 -- D Gukesh faced defeat against Fabiano Caruana in the initial game of their quarter-final matchup at the Weissenhaus leg of the ongoing Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Caruana selected Gukesh as his opponent following the round-robin phase, and the Indian No. 1 suffered his second consecutive loss, having previously been defeated by Magnus Carlsen in the final round of the preliminary stage.

The two players are scheduled to compete again on Monday, with the reigning world champion aiming to recover from this setback.

Gukesh's vulnerabilities in non-classical formats were once again evident, mirroring his earlier loss to Carlsen. The game commenced evenly, but the momentum quickly shifted in favor of Caruana, who clinched victory with a remarkable 40.Rf3!!

The decisive error from Gukesh occurred on the 33rd move, at which point both competitors were down to less than three minutes on their clocks. The match concluded with Gukesh staring intently at the board, realizing that Caruana was poised to deliver checkmate, leaving him with no viable options. Upon this realization, the Indian No. 1 resigned.

Initially, the game unfolded as a fierce contest, reaching a critical point when both players were operating under a 30-second increment for each move, with no additional time granted after move 40.

In a post-game interview, Caruana elaborated on his choice of Gukesh as his quarter-final opponent, despite the Indian Grandmaster's strong form. Speaking to the Take Take Take application, he remarked, "Well, the thing is I have to pick someone. I could flip a coin, right? But they're both super strong players. I mean, maybe Gukesh is around 2790. Maybe Nodirbek is around 2780. I don't know. It's not like there's a huge qualitative difference. Of course, Gukesh has more experience in terms of competing for the World Championship. That's a wealth of experience and winning the World Championship. And he's faced more high-stakes situations compared to Nodirbek. However, Nodirbek has advantages in terms of applying pressure on his opponents. Sometimes it doesn't work out."

Today, I find myself playing somewhat hastily and perhaps without sufficient caution. This approach can be quite perilous at times, creating a degree of uncertainty. In my view, Gukesh presents more unpredictability compared to Nodirbek in certain respects. Our prior encounters have provided us with considerable familiarity. We faced each other in a match here last year, and I had made a decision beforehand. I was confident that Nodirbek would still be in the running, as I believed Sindarov would likely avoid selecting his compatriot. Therefore, I concluded that if the choice were between Nodirbek and Hikaru, I would lean towards Nodirbek. Conversely, if it were a choice between Gukesh and Nodirbek, or Gukesh and Hikaru, I would likely opt for Gukesh in that scenario.

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