Erigaisi on ‘God-mode’ delivers D Gukesh first defeat since becoming World Champion

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D Gukesh suffered his first defeat since becoming the World Chess Champion in the final round of Tata Steel Masters at Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands on Sunday.
Arjun Erigaisi, a player whose indifferent form since the start of this year saw him abdicate his India No. 1 position in live ratings to Gukesh, delivered the fatal blow on his compatriot.
Gukesh had been unbeaten in 12 games since triumphing over Ding Liren of China in the World Championship in Singapore in mid-December. He had white pieces, too, going into the decisive game with Erigaisi.
A win against Erigaisi would have delivered him the Masters title, a draw would have still kept him in the hunt, waiting until at least another compatriot R Praggnanandhaa had finished his game with German Vincent Keymer. But Gukesh first had to overcome Erigaisi, who went the first 11 rounds without a win and only managed to secure one hardly 24 hours ago, against the red-hot Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

If you think of it from Gukesh's perspective, Erigaisi had rediscovered his form at the worst possible moment. Either player couldn't find a decisive edge in the opening. By move 10, they had castled: Gukesh on the Kingside and Erigaisi across. Then suddenly, there was a tilt in the balance. Erigaisi attacked Gukesh's castled King with aggressive pawn pushes.
By move 18, Erigaisi had a queen and a rook lined up, bearing down an open h-file. The advantage was still minimal, and Erigaisi was required to play optimum moves. Knowing that Gukesh was a fighter who could make his own luck, still had fans believe the champion could find a way out. After all, it was only 51 days ago that his persistence forced Ding to blunder a rook on f2, giving the 18-year-old Gukesh an unexpected win in Game 14 of the World Chess Championship.
But Erigaisi did not blunder. On the contrary, he brought some swagger on the board, like with a cocky King move - Kd8 - to sidestep a check, a move that left commentators Tania Sachdev and David Howell in disbelief. It was a move that snuffed out any hope of recovery that Gukesh might have harboured. Gukesh tried his luck for four more moves, hoping for a miracle.
But Erigaisi showed that he becoming only the second Indian since the great Viswanathan Anand to cross 2800 Elo points, as recent as last December, wasn't a fluke. Some chess fans on social media even claimed Erigaisi was playing on God-mode, which considering his domination in the game, was hard to disprove. God or not, Erigaisi proved that World Champion Gukesh was still a mortal. Gukesh resigned after just 31 moves.