Candidates Chess 2024 Live Updates: What did Gukesh say after his Round 13 win?
After Gukesh defeated Alireza Firouzja in Round 13, he analysed the game.
Two moves later, Gukesh’s rook did a little sidestep to shift to d1 looking to spring a trap on Firouzja’s rook.
In essence he had thrown his queen in front of Gukesh’s queen, offering a trade.
“That queen to g6 move from him gave away any hope (he had of winning).
Candidates Chess 2024 Live Updates: What did Gukesh say after his Round 13 win?
After Gukesh defeated Alireza Firouzja in Round 13, he analysed the game. Gukesh felt that the Frenchman was getting over ambitious early on, so he bid his time.
“After he played 17…Re8 (rook to e8 by Firouzja) I felt that the position was getting a bit messy,” Gukesh said at the press conference. “After 22. Bb3 (bishop to b3 by Gukesh), I think he got over-optimistic and started pushing for more. Although my pieces looked passive, strategically, I knew if I consolidated, I would be better.”
As the game crossed the 30-move marker, time on the clock started to wear thin for both players. So the two players played out a little passive-aggressive dance of the rooks. With just 2:31 seconds on the clock to make five more moves, Firouzja shifted his rook to g6 on an open file that gave the rook a clear view deep into Gukesh’s territory. Two moves later, Gukesh’s rook did a little sidestep to shift to d1 looking to spring a trap on Firouzja’s rook. The Frenchman’s rook replied with a sidestep of its own to take cover. Gukesh responded by moving his rook on the freshly vacated g file only to see Firouzja’s rook jump in front of it. Now, it was Gukesh’s rook’s turn to take cover. To the spectators watching, it was a signal that the players were playing for a draw by threefold repetition.
But Gukesh later admitted it was just a ploy to get past the 40-move mark which gets players an additional 30 minutes (plus increments for every move made).
When someone pointed out that the engine thought the position at that stage was equal, Gukesh was surprised. “That’s news to me. I thought I was clearly better. So I was just playing those moves to cross time control,” he said at the press conference.
Once both players’ clocks were infused with a fresh gulp of time, Firouzja erred on the 45th move: moving his queen to g6. In essence he had thrown his queen in front of Gukesh’s queen, offering a trade. That was the start of the end of the Frenchman. In 17 more moves, he was defeated.
“That queen to g6 move from him gave away any hope (he had of winning). I was very happy to see that,” Gukesh admitted.
