 "Gurel offers support to Gukesh after struggling world champion’s hat-trick of losses: 'He can pull things through'")
D Gukesh is going through what surely is his worst run in a long time, with the reigning Classical world champion suffering a third consecutive defeat in the ongoing FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand on Thursday. The latest of those defeats came at the hands of 16-year-old Turkish Grandmaster Ediz Gurel, who defeated the Indian GM in 52 moves while playing as white in the seventh round on Thursday.
Speaking to FIDE after his victory over the struggling world champion, Gurel revealed that how he was in trouble after committing a blunder at one point, but manager to recover nevertheless and went on to register a hard-fought victory.
“It was a crazy tough game. I actually blundered at some point and I got very miserable. I didn’t see a move, and then I thought my position was very bad. But I just thought I have to give my best, maybe make some mistake and I just pulled things through, and luckily it happened,” Gurel said in an interview on the official broadcast for the tournament.
Gurel offers support to struggling Gukesh
Gurel, however, offered support to his beleaguered opponent, whose has suffered a massive dip in form after being crowned world champion last December and finishing runner-up at the Tata Steel Chess the following month.
“I was pretty happy to see the pairings. Like it’s great to play the world champion, whether I lose or not. Yeah he’s not doing too well this tournament, but I believe he can just pull things through, bounce back and so on. He’s a very great player and world champion,” the Turkish GM added on facing Gukesh, who is just three years older than him.
Also Read | Heavy lies the crown: Gukesh's reign as world champion begins to mirror Ding Liren’s struggles
Gukesh had begun the tournament on a promising note with two victories and a draw. The teenager’s fortunes in the world’s strongest Swiss-style tournament, however, has witnessed a free-fall after his hat-trick of defeats, with the world champion having lost to American GM Abhimanyu Mishra and Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou before his loss to Gurel.
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