Chennai Grand Masters 2023, Round 5: Gukesh defeats Sjugirov to become sole leader; Erigaisi, Harikrishna earn draws 

D. Gukesh won with black against Hungary’s Sanan Sjugirov in the fifth round to emerge as the sole leader of the Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship with 3.5 points at The Leela Palace Hotel here on Tuesday.

After the win, Gukesh discussed his game on the commentary: “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.”

The 17-year-old also detailed a key move he made to trick his opponent which forced him to make a hasty move. “Kind of half-bluffing, actually. He was so low on time, and it (the counter line of moves) was still very complex. He was shocked, and he couldn’t react very well,” he explained. 

“I had a lot of time. So, I was just careful to calculate and finish it off. Always nice to win with black!”

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Gukesh also praised compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for his play against USA’s Levon Aronian. Playing with white, Arjun was in a promising position, yet he could only manage to eventually draw.

“Arjun was surely winning. It has to be Aronian’s 1000nth rook end-game save!

“I was really impressed with how easily Arjun outplayed Aronian. I was like, ‘Ok, this opening, I mean Aronian should be able to make it look easy,’ but he got completely outplayed!”

Pentala Harikrishna also drew with Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo, while Serbia’s Alexandr Predke slumped to his third straight loss after two draws in the first two rounds.

Ukraine’s Pavel Eljanov, who Predke lost to, had comforting words for his opponent: “It happens. Nobody can escape from a bad tournament. He’s quite young. Probably, it was also the first tournament of such (highly competitive) level for him. First of all, it’s a huge experience (for him) in general. I don’t think in the long run it really matters. He actually played one bad tournament.”