In an exciting chess match, Fabio Caruana was surprised when world champion D. Gukesh gave up after only 18 moves in the second quarterfinal of the Freestyle Grand Slam tournament. Caruana, from the United States, admitted he probably wouldn’t have resigned so early. “I didn’t expect him to quit at that moment, but I also didn’t see how he could win from that position,” he said. Caruana won both of his games against Gukesh.
Before the match, Caruana felt calm because he thought he had the advantage with the white pieces. After losing the first game, Gukesh couldn’t stay in the competition against Caruana and finished the game very quickly.
Caruana explained, “The way Gukesh played was too risky. He tried to make big moves too early, which didn’t work out for him.” Now, Gukesh will compete for a chance to reach the semifinals.
The Freestyle chess format features 960 random opening positions, a creative idea from famous chess player Bobby Fischer. With new money supporting this format, it might become the future of chess.
In this match, Gukesh made a mistake early on, losing a pawn. Caruana, who has experience with this style of chess, took just 15 moves to reach a normal chess position and came out ahead by having an extra pawn. Gukesh decided not to play further and shook hands with Caruana, ending the match.
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