Making his first competitive return since his victory at the World Championship last year, D Gukesh is currently in action at the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The 18-year-old began his campaign with a comeback win vs Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri, and then followed it up with a draw against Slovenia’s Vladimir Fedoseev in Round 2.
Gukesh, playing with black pieces, started with a slight disadvantage. But he cemented control soon, and then drove the game to a rook-and-pawn endgame, resulting in a draw.
D Gukesh supports Magnus Carlsen, trolls FIDE
Much to the surprise of fans, Gukesh turned up in a casual attire, consisting of a hoodie, for his game against the Slovenian grandmaster. Gukesh is known to always wear a suit, like other Indian grandmasters, for his chess matches. Turning up in casual attire is a first for Gukesh, and it could be an indirect dig at FIDE’s recent treatment of world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen.
At the year-ending World Rapid and Blitz Championships, Carlsen turned up in a pair of jeans. The incident happened during the Rapid tournament, Carlsen was fined and also asked to change to formal trousers, as his attire didn’t adhere to FIDE regulations. Carlsen disagreed, and he was asked to leave, not getting paired for future games on that day. The Norwegian decided not to return the next day, and attacked the FIDE publicly. But after discussions, he returned for the Blitz event.
Gukesh’s attire can be interpreted as an indirect dig at FIDE, and support for Carlsen. Reacting to Gukesh’s attire, grandmaster David Howell, also a good friend of Carlsen, said, “It’s good that the FIDE dress code is not in force!”
The Tata Steel Chess Masters’ dress code is casual, which means participants can turn up in trousers or jeans, a long-sleeve or short-sleeve shirt, a polo or t-shirt and dressy shoes.
Gukesh defeated China’s Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship last year. He also became the youngest-ever world chess champion in history, and India’s second after Viswanathan Anand.
