D. Gukesh won with black against Hungary’s Sanan Sjugirov in the fifth round and emerged the sole leader of the Chennai Grand Masters chess championship with 3.5 points here on Tuesday.
After the win, Gukesh discussed his game: “I thought his (Sjugirov’s) opening was a bit timid, actually. I didn’t think he played the most critical way. So, I was looking for more than equality already.
“And he was taking a lot of time. I had a huge time advantage. So, I wanted to make the most out of it.”
He spoke of a key move he made to trick his opponent. He said he had also envisioned the counter line (of moves) Sjugirov could take to gain advantage, but said he was betting on his opponent, who was running low on time, making a hasty move.
“I had a lot of time. So, I was just careful to calculate and finish it off. Always nice to win with black!”
Gukesh also praised compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for his game against USA’s Levon Aronian.
Playing with white, Arjun was in a promising position, yet he could only manage to eventually draw.
The results (fifth round): Sanan Sjugirov (Hun, 2) lost to D. Gukesh (3.5); P. Harikrishna (3) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (Irn, 2.5); Arjun Erigaisi (2.5) drew with Levon Aronian (USA, 2.5); Alexandr Predke (Srb, 1) lost to Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 3).
