D Gukesh outplayed by Jan-Krzysztof Duda, his second in World Championship triumph, 5-1 in blitz series

Indian chess star D Gukesh suffered a 1-5 thrashing at the hands of Jan Krzysztof Duda in a series of exhibition blitz games that took place in Katowice, Poland on Thursday. Duda was Gukesh's second in the latter’s historic triumph over Ding Liren in last year's World Championship. On Thursday, however, it was the Polish Grandmaster who was the boss as he cruised to a dominant victory in front of a home crowd.

This despite the fact that Gukesh took the lead in the six-match series by winning the opening game while playing with white pieces, forcing a resignation in 45 moves with his opponent having two seconds left on the clock. Duda bounced back with a hard-fought victory in Game 2, which lasted 68 moves in which the Indian found himself cornered despite having two bishops on the board.

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Gukesh gets checkmated after blunder

The home favourite, however, did not face as much resistance in any of the remaining games, winning the third game in just 38 moves. Gukesh was fairly level with his opponent in Game 5 until he committed a blunder (45. Kd1) in what proved to be his final move, with Duda checkmating him with two rooks.

Game 6 proved to be the shortest with Duda defeating Gukesh in just 32 moves. The gulf between the two players was evident in their accuracy – Duda’s stood at 96 while Gukesh’s read 84.4.

Chess legend Susan Polgar, for one, felt his blunder in his penultimate game was a worrying sign and might cause him problems when it’s his turn to defend his World Championship title.

“This may potentially be a problem for him in his World Championship title defense. One cannot approach rapid and especially blitz the same way as classical chess. The approach and mindset have to be very different.

“He still has time to fix it but he has to learn to evaluate positions differently in faster time control. This is crucial because the current World Championship format includes rapid and blitz playoff. Complications = burning more valuable time on the clock,” Polgar had written on X.

It’s worth noting however, that Gukesh is the reigning world champion in Classical chess, and that faster time controls are not his forte. While the Chennai lad had shown marked improvement in the rapid format at Superbet United Croatia, where he even triumphed over Magnus Carlsen, blitz remains an area of concern for him.

Gukesh will be traveling to the United States next, where he will be competing at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz followed by the Sinquefield Cup, the latter taking place in his cherished Classical format. Both events are part of the Grand Chess Tour.