 "After playing out a draw against D Gukesh in Game 1 of Round 3, Frederik Svane defeated the world champion in the second Classical game to knock him out of the FIDE World Cup. Image credit:
Etery Kublashvili via FIDE")
After an extraordinary run in 2024 which culminated with a historic triumph in the FIDE World Championship, D Gukesh’s performance graph has been continuously going downhill this year. On Saturday, the 19-year-old reigning Classical world champion was dealt another major blow after he lost to German Grandmaster Frederik Svane, which resulted in a third-round exit for him in the ongoing FIDE World Cup in Goa .
Competing in his first home tournament since being crowned the youngest world champion ever last December, Gukesh was the single biggest attraction at Resort Rio in Goa’s Arpora. And even though he has struggled to make an impact this year, with his Classical form also taking a hit in recent months, the Chennai lad was expected to go deep in the biggest chess tournament taking place on Indian soil since the 2022 Olympiad.
That, however, was not to be for Gukesh as he suffered a 0.5-1.5 defeat at the hands of Svane, losing the second Classical game in 55 moves on Saturday after being held to a 34-move draw in Game 1 on the previous day.
‘I’m just so happy to have won this game’
Reacting to his feat of eliminating the world champion from the World Cup, Svane described it as an “unbelievable” achievement.
“It’s so unbelievable for me… I’m just so happy to have won this game in the end and advanced to the next round,” Svane told Chessbase India after his giant-killing act in Goa.
“From the importance, obviously I’ve never been to Round Three and now Round Four. So yeah, obviously a great win. And also I think the highest opponent I have beaten so far,” he added.
When asked to describe what it was like to go toe-to-toe with the reigning world champion, Svane felt he expected a bit more of a surprise from Gukesh on the opening in Game 1.
“Basically I don’t know what to expect from him because he can play anything. But I thought he would try to surprise me some more on the opening. So I was looking at all the sidelines basically. And then, the first game I played, some kind of opening idea, had slight advantage. But in the end, he defended quite well, so it fizzles out to a draw,” continued the 21-year-old, who currently has a rating of 2640.
Svane reveals where the game slipped out of Gukesh’s grasp
As for the second Classical game, the German felt some of Gukesh’s moves with key pieces including his knight (17. Nh2), bishop (18. Be3) and queen (Qxg6+) were “not so ideal”, and described his rook move (39. Re1) later in the game as “insane”.
“Today I was definitely under pressure in the opening, not maybe position-wise, but clockwise. At some point, I somehow play this D5 and it was kind of fine for me. First of all I thought this knight H2, Queen G6 and then this bishop E3 was not so good. I think when he allowed D5 and I could open my position, then I thought I was completely fine again,” Svane continued.
“Afterwards, the critical point is like rook E1, such an insane move in my opinion, because this knight ending is definitely very tough for white. Maybe it was blundered G3, I don’t know what he blundered there.
Despite finding himself in a dominant position, Svane revealed he could not afford to take his foot off the gas pedal and relax until the job was completed, given his opponent’s stature and his ability to stage late comebacks.
“In the end, I was trying not to relax too early because he still has some tricks and these guys are so tenacious. I realised it was winning after I won the G2 pawn and then it’s like completely over,” the 2020 World Online U16 champion added.
Before his stunning victory over Gukesh, Svane had opened his campaign with a 2-0 victory over Barbados’ Orlando Husbands before beating Turkish GM Ediz Gurel 1.5-0.5.
Gurel, like Svane, had also beaten Gukesh recently – at the FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand in September, which led to a hero’s welcome for him at his school .