 "Nakamura hails Gukesh after world champion's win over Anish in Tata Steel Chess opener: 'He did defend very well'")
American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura was all praise for Dommaraju Gukesh following the latter’s win over Anish Giri in the first round of the 2025 Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands on Saturday. Gukesh was playing his first game since winning the World Chess Championship title in December.
Gukesh had reached Netherlands just a few hours before the game against Anish, after the teenager was conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award on Friday. Gukesh was on the backfoot against Anish in the earlier stages of the game, but he showcased immense resilience later on to win the game, even as Anish committed a few blunders.
Ding Liren had committed a similar blunder in the final game of the World Chess Championship in December that allowed Gukesh to clinch a historic title. “It’s really really really a heartbreaker for Anish. On the flip side the coin Gukesh did defend very well,” said Nakamura on his YouTube channel.
“Sure Gukesh blundered with h3, but he did defend resiliently under time pressure. So you have to give him a lot of credit for putting Anish to the test. Nakamura added that Anish wasn’t ready for the Gukesh challenge. “Unfortunately for Anish, he wasn’t up to the test. The world champion gets a win in his first classical game since his epic victory over Ding Liren in Singapore a couple of months ago. Exciting start to the tournament."
‘Gukesh was probably a little tired’: Nakamura
Nakamura also spoke on the little amount of time that Gukesh had between arriving in Netherlands and playing his first game. “Gukesh was in India to receive one of the highest civilian awards from the government just yesterday and today he flew into the game and arrived three hours ahead of the game being played and let’s jump right into the action."
“Gukesh was probably a little bit tired probably a little bit jetlag. Now for Anish he is somebody who traditionally has done very well in this tournament but at times he has struggled outside of this event," stated the 37-year-old.
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