Gukesh faces tough title defense against a rising Sindarov

Spectators at the 2018 Moscow Open-A, a moderately strong nine-round Swiss event, may not have realized it, but they were witnessing some history being made.

The final round featured a pairing of two promising junior players — an 11-year-old Indian IM named Dommaraju Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov, a 12-year-old rising star from Uzbekistan.

Within a year, both would earn their grandmaster stripes and now, just eight years later, Gukesh will be making his first world championship title defense against Sindarov when the two sit down for a 14-game classical title match in Geneva starting Nov. 24.

Gukesh has had some indifferent results since becoming the youngest world champion in history when he dethroned Chinese GM Ding Liren in a tight match two years ago. He has fallen to 26th in the FIDE world rankings list — Sindarov has shot up to fourth in the past year — and has scored no major tournament wins since becoming champ.

Sindarov, by contrast, has been the best player in the world in 2026, dominating the Candidates Tournament in April to earn his title shot, helping Uzbekistan win its second gold medal at the Olympiad in September, and just last month taking the Clutch Champions Showdown in St. Louis over top American stars GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. Former world champ GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, still the No. 1-ranked player on the planet, is among many predicting the Uzbek challenger will capture the crown.

It’s hard to project how that first meeting in Moscow will factor in the Geneva match — Bobby Fischer famously never beat Boris Spassky in any of their five games before the epic 1972 Reykjavik title match — but it’s still fun to watch two transcendent talents go at each other from back in the day.

The young Gukesh as White looks to grab some space early in this Schmid Benoni, but his impatience to break open the position before his queenside is developed is severely punished by Sindarov: 13. f4 Rad8 14. e5? (premature, as it is Black’s pieces that will spring to life after an inspired positional sacrifice) dxe5 15. fxe5 (see diagram; White’s central pawns look imposing, but Sindarov has a surprise in store) Nxd5! (Black is even OK on 15…Ne8 16. c3 bxc3 17. bxc3 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Bxe5 19. Qc2 Bg7, but the sacrifice is far stronger) 16. Bxd5 Nxe5, when 17. Nxe5 Rxd5 18. Nef3 Rfd8 puts tremendous pressure on White’s game.

After 17. Ne3 c4 (good, but 17…Qa7! may be even stronger) 18. Qe2 e6 19. Bxc4 (Be4 c3 20. Qxa6 cxd2 21. Bxd2 Rxd2 22. Kh1 Qd8, with an extra pawn and a huge positional edge) Nxc4 20. Ndxc4 Rc8, White is bedeviled by pins and cannot save the knight on c4. White’s vague hopes of a kingside counterattack are easily turned aside as Black cashes in.

Thus: 23. Ne3 Ba6 24. Ng2 (giving up the c-pawn, but 24…Bd4 was threatened) Qxc2 25. Qxc2 Rxc2 26. Rxe6 (Black’s material edge is just a pawn, but the White queenside remains parked at home and Sindarov’s bishops are unstoppable) Bb7 27. Ne3 Bd4 (with the brutal threat of 28…f4!) 28. Kh1 Rxh2, and White could honorably resign here. In the end, Gukesh concedes after 31. Ke1 Bxe3, as mate is on the offing after 32. Bxe3 Re8 33. Kd1 Rxe3.

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The first chessboard clashes between famous players are always interesting, even if not appreciated at the time.

Russian world champs Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov forged perhaps the greatest rivalry in the history of the game, including five pitched-battle title matches between 1984 and 1990. But their first head-to-head game came a decade earlier, when Kasparov was one of eight junior Soviet masters selected to take on the newly crowned world champ Karpov at a 1975 simultaneous exhibition in St. Petersburg. The 12-year-old candidate master from Baku gave Karpov a good fight before succumbing to the more experienced grandmaster.

The young Kasparov shows no signs of being intimidated on the Black side of this Najdorf Sicilian, even claiming a slight advantage in space after 15. Rf2 b4. Black is still holding his own when the center finally opens up on 26. Nc6 Nxc6 27. dxc6, but misses the stronger 27…Bb5!, when White dare not try 28. Rxd6?? Ra1 29. Qd2 Qa7 and wins.

The fight goes after the game’s 27…Re8!? 28. Bd5!? (White could already claim a slight edge with 28. Rxd6 Rxe4 29. Rxf6 Bb5 30. Qd6 Qxd6 31. Rxd6 Re7 32. h3, but Karpov may have thought that line too drawish; now Black’s bishops come to life again) Bc3 29. Rf2 Re1 30 Qf3, and Kasparov later claimed Black could have saved his game here with 30…Re7!, and it’s hard to see how either side makes further progress.

Instead, White secures an enduring edge after 30…Bd4?! 31. Bxf7+ Kg7 32. Bc4! (with the threat of 33. Qf8 mate) Rxg1+ (Bxf2? wins material but leaves Black worse after 33. Qxf2 Bxc4 [Ra1? 34. Qd4+] 34. Qxe1] 33. Kxg1 Bxf2+ 34. Kxf2 Bxc4 35. bxc4 Qa7+. Queen-and-pawn endings are notoriously tricky and White’s tripled, isolated c-pawns would appear to be a liability, but Karpov, always a great endgame player, is up to the task.

Key is 37. Qd5 Qf6 38. Qe4! and the magnificently centralized queen guards four of White’s five pawns while providing cover for the White king to enter the game. Black’s 38…b3 39. cxb3 Qb2+ is a desperate bid for counterplay, but White keeps a firm grip on the situation. After 44. Qe7+ Kh6 45. Qf8+, Black resigns as the d6-pawn will fall and there’s no salvation in lines such as 45…Kh5 46. Qxd6 Qxb3 47. Qe5+ Kh6 48. Qf4+ Kg7 49. h4 Qd1+ 50. Kh2 Qd8 51. c7 Qc8 52. Qd4+ Kf7 53. Qd8 and wins.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Gukesh-Sindarov, Moscow Open-A, Moscow, January 2018

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. d4 c5 4. d5 Nf6 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O b5 7. a4 b4 8. Re1 O-O 9. e4 Nbd7 10. Nbd2 a5 11. Nc4 Ba6 12. Nfd2 Qc7 13. f4 Rad8 14. e5 dxe5 15. fxe5 Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Nxe5 17. Ne3 c4 18. Qe2 e6 19. Bxc4 Nxc4 20. Ndxc4 Rc8 21. Qf2 Bxc4 22. Ng4 f5 23. Ne3 Ba6 24. Ng2 Qxc2 25. Qxc2 Rxc2 26. Rxe6 Bb7 27. Ne3 Bd4 28. Kf1 Rxh2 29. Rd6 Bc5 30. Rd7 Ba6+ 31. Ke1 Bxe3 White resigns.

Karpov-Kasparov, Simultaneous exhibition, St. Petersburg, 1975

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5 Be6 9. f4 exf4 10. Bxf4 Nc6 11. O-O O-O 12. Kh1 b5 13. Bf3 Ne5 14. Nd4 Bc4 15. Rf2 b4 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 Bf6 18. Rd2 Qb6 19. Be3 Qc7 20. Be4 Rfe8 21. Bg1 g6 22. a3 a5 23. axb4 axb4 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. b3 Ba6 26. Nc6 Nxc6 27. dxc6 Re8 28. Bd5 Bc3 29. Rf2 Re1 30. Qf3 Bd4 31. Bxf7+ Kg7 32. Bc4 Rxg1+ 33. Kxg1 Bxf2+ 34. Kxf2 Bxc4 35. bxc4 Qa7+ 36. Ke2 Qd4 37. Qd5 Qf6 38. Qe4 b3 39. cxb3 Qb2+ 40. Kf1 Qc1+ 41. Qe1 Qf4+ 42. Kg1 Qd4+ 43. Kh1 Qb6 44. Qe7+ Kh6 45. Qf8+ Black resigns.

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