World Champion D Gukesh blunders again, suffers hat-trick of defeats

India's World Champion D Gukesh has suffered a hat-trick of defeats in the Grand Swiss 2025 at Samarkand in Uzbekistan. 

In round 7 on Thursday, Gukesh lost to Turkish teenager Ediz Gurel. He had lost rounds 5 and 6 to Abhimanyu Mishra and Nikolas Theodorou respectively. After going unbeaten in the first four rounds with two wins and as many draws, Gukesh has struggled to live up to the expectations.

Against 16-year-old Gurel, Gukesh blundered a bishop in the end game. The 19-year-old had a good chance of drawing until then, even though Gurel's passed pawns seemed better positioned to win the queening race.

Though Gukesh managed to take out two pawns in exchange for his bishop, Gurel used his extra piece to good effect and forced a resignation after 52 moves.

Gukesh had not lost three classical chess games in a row since becoming the youngest World Champion last December, when he defeated China's Ding Liren in a thrilling 14-game match.

The Grand Swiss is a major tournament in the World Championship cycle as it guarantees a spot in the Candidates Tournament for the top two finishers. The Candidates event is held to select the challenger for the World Champion — Gukesh.

Meanwhile, Kerala's 21-year-old GM Nihal Sarin climbed to the joint-first place after seven rounds following a thrilling win over overnight leader Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran. Nihal has 5.5 points from a possible 7.