Gukesh on Brink of Elimination After Quarterfinal Loss to Caruana

World champion Dommaraju Gukesh’s struggles continued in the Freestyle Chess Grand Tour as he lost the first game of the quarterfinals to Fabiano Caruana. Gukesh had narrowly qualified for the knockout stage, finishing eighth in the preliminary round. Caruana, as the higher seed, chose to face Gukesh in the quarterfinals.

The match was closely contested, with both players making errors under time pressure. However, Caruana ultimately prevailed in the endgame, capitalizing on Gukesh’s inaccuracies. The world champion now faces a must-win situation in game 2 with the black pieces to force a tiebreak. A draw would result in Gukesh’s elimination from title contention.

In other quarterfinal matches, Magnus Carlsen defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov convincingly, while Vincent Keymer upset Alireza Firouzja. Javokhir Sindarov and Hikaru Nakamura drew their encounter.

Gukesh, along with Firouzja and Abdusattorov, must win their second games to remain in the competition. The pressure is on for these top players to avoid early exits from the prestigious Freestyle Chess Grand Tour event.

Quarterfinal Results (Game 1):

• D. Gukesh 0-1 F. Caruana
• M. Carlsen 1-0 N. Abdusattorov
• A. Firouzja 0-1 V. Keymer
• J. Sindarov ½-½ H. Nakamura