In 2000, just over six years before D. Gukesh was born, Alexie Shirov tried in vain to stop Viswanathan Anand from winning his first of the five world titles.
On Tuesday, it was Gukesh’s turn to outplay the 50-year-old Latvian-Spaniard to not only to keep India 2 on the victory path but also to become India’s third highest rated player on the live rating list.
In winning his fifth game on the trot on the top board of the Chess Olympiad, Gukesh punished Shirov for an error of judgement on the 28th move. In fact, the country’s youngest GM produced a rare king-march across the centre of the board that left Shirov helpless.
The victory saw Gukesh overtake Vidit Gujrathi for a career-high 27th spot in world rankings with a live rating of 2714.
With six rounds to go, India 2 and Armenia lead with 10 match-points.
The results (with match-points):
Open (fifth round):
Spain (8) lost to India 2 (10) 1.5-2.5
Chile (6) lost to India 3 (8) 1.5-2.5
England (8) lost to Armenia (10) 1.5-2.5; Israel (8) lost to USA (9) 1.5-2.5; France (8) drew with Poland (8) 2-2; Azerbaijan (7) lost to Cuba (9) 1.5-2.5; Iran (9) bt Turkey (7) 3-1; Uzbekistan (9) bt Slovakia (7) 4-0; Netherlands (8) bt Canada (7) 3.5-0.5; Slovenia (6) lost to Germany (8) 1-3.
