 "Carlsen approves Gukesh's decision to resign in 18 moves against Caruana: 'He made a prudent decision'")
Magnus Carlsen has approved D Gukesh’s decision to resign after just 18 moves against Fabiano Caruana in quarter-finals Game 2 as the Indian Grandmaster bowed out of the title race of the ongoing Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 . Gukesh was in a do-or-die situation after losing Game 1 in the quarter-finals and opted for an aggressive opening against Caruana on Monday, leading to two Pawn sacrifices in the opening moves but multiple blunders forced him into a position where winning became next to impossible.
Instead of opting for a long haul, chess world champion Gukesh resigned after just 18 moves as he dropped out of the title race at the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025.
‘Gukesh was not going to make a comeback’
Carlsen felt Gukesh made the “prudent decision” by resigning even though it came after just 18 moves as the chances of him scripting a comeback were almost nil.
“I think in these mini-matches a lot will hinge on a single game,” Carlsen told Take Take Take. “Yesterday’s game could have gone either way and today of course it was never very likely that Gukesh was going to come back and honestly I think he made a kind of prudent decision just resigning when he realised that he was not going to make a comeback.
Carlsen added that Gukesh had his chances in Game 1 but paid the price for not capitalizing on them.
“Just see it as a bit of a lost event in that sense. He had his chance yesterday, he didn’t take it and then you move on.”
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The world No.1 and co-owner of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour , Carlsen, also reached the semi-finals by beating Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
“I’m feeling really good,” said Carlsen while reflecting on his campaign. “I was a little bit apprehensive going into the game today because I don’t know, I wasn’t feeling as fresh as the other days but honestly playing, it was a lot of fun. Really interesting position from the opening and I just had a very good time today. I felt very calm and it was good to play some classical.”
Carlsen will take on Vincent Keymer in the semi-finals while Javokhir Sindarov, who stunned Hikaru Nakamura, will face Caruana in the last four.
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