Gukesh’s stunning comeback seals draw against Firouzja at Weissenhaus Grand slam
D. Gukesh delivered a sensational performance on Thursday, staging an incredible comeback to secure a draw against Alireza Firouzja in their 7th position playoff at the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The match, full of tension, saw Gukesh initially on the brink of defeat. For much of the game, Firouzja held the advantage, with the evaluation bar in his favor. At one point, Firouzja had over 18 minutes left on his clock while Gukesh had just 47 seconds.
Despite a blunder early in the game, Gukesh adopted a defensive strategy. The crucial moment came when Firouzja, a pawn up, chose to exchange rooks. This decision allowed Gukesh to regain ground. The game continued for 92 moves, eventually ending in a draw, giving Gukesh a fighting chance with the white pieces in Friday’s match.
Earlier, Gukesh suffered a defeat in his previous match against Hikaru Nakamura in the rapid tiebreaker. Nakamura later analyzed Gukesh’s performance, highlighting weaknesses in his time management and intuition under pressure. “When he gets low on time, his intuition isn’t great, and he struggles to work through calculations,” Nakamura said. He also questioned Gukesh’s lack of analysis with fellow grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, suggesting it could be a missed opportunity for improvement.
In other matches, Vincent Keymer defeated Fabiano Caruana in their final match, while Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen secured victories. Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, however, suffered losses in their respective games.
