Gukesh's Best Wins In 2022

Introduction

I recently started a series on my YouTube channel called 'Gukesh's Best Wins'.

In this post, I will share the first three videos in this series, where Gukesh triumphed over three world-class Grandmasters, a testament to his exceptional skills.

Game 1 - Vs. Sargissian (2022 Chennai Olympiad)

Our first game comes from the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, where the India B team (headed by Gukesh) was playing against Armenia (who went on to win the silver medal). Their Board 1, GM Gabriel Sargissian, is well known for performing exceedingly well at the Olympiads, and this year was no exception - despite the loss to Gukesh, he was the fourth-best performer on Board 4 with a 2796 performance, finishing only behind Gukesh, Abdusattorov and Carlsen.

Here's my analysis of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnsZQgxNTzE

As you can see from the video, it was a 5.Qa4 Ragozin, where Gukesh reached an interesting attacking position by voluntarily doubling his g-pawns (opening the g-file for his rook to attack Black's king). Black could still defend with exact play, but he made some natural moves that weren't the best in the game. Gukesh exploited these subtle errors with 'power play' to win a compelling game.

Game 2 - Vs. Caruana (2022 Chennai Olympiad)

This next game was arguably even more impressive, outplaying Caruana with the Black pieces to start the Olympiad with an 8/8 score and raise his live FIDE rating to 2730+ at 16 - a precursor for his historic 2024 Candidates victory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB7v9tEHlZQ

Gukesh showed remarkable resilience and resourcefulness in this game, defending precisely from a worse position and turning the game in his favour with a strong counterattack as White started to get into time pressure.

This game also knocked Caruana out of the top 10 live ratings (although he rebounded with 2.5/3 in the last three rounds to stay in the top 10). It may not be a popular viewpoint, but this loss was Caruana's 'wake-up call' that led him to have a fantastic 2023 and re-establish himself as the world's 2nd best classical chess player.

Game 3 - Vs. Carlsen (2022 Speed Chess Challenge)

Carlsen is the best blitz player in the world, and he demonstrated it in this match, defeating Gukesh by a very emphatic margin.

However, Gukesh had flashes of brilliance. I was particularly impressed with this game, where Gukesh outplayed Carlsen from a quiet position as if it were nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhfXko9cUL8

You wouldn't normally consider the Nc3 'Pianissimo' Italian critical, but this game proves that Black has to be precise and can't rely on 'natural' moves to equalise the chances.

A Small Favour

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