After an early setback in the first round, the Indian Grand Master Gukesh Dommaraju roared in the remaining rounds on Friday. He defeated the World No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the second round of the Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T Challenge in Hamburg, Germany.
The 17-year-old from Chennai also defeated reigning world champion Ding Liren of China and Levon Aronian of the USA, to sum up a memorable day.
BREAKING:🏆🎉 Gukesh just made history at the Weissenhaus #FreestyleChess G.O.A.T Challenge – Rapid event by defeating not one, but 2 World Champions in a single day!
🌟 He conquered Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, and current World Champion Ding Liren! ✅✅✅
Congrats @DGukesh pic.twitter.com/3iLsojxRE6— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) February 9, 2024
The 2024 Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge features an over-the-board Chess960 format with elite players selected by Carlsen himself. The tournament structure comprises a rapid round-robin phase to determine the top eight contenders, followed by a Classical time control knockout event starting from the Quarterfinals.
In the rapid format, players are allotted 25 minutes each with a 10-second increment, while the classical segment grants 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the remaining game, with a 30-second increment from move one.
Gukesh produces a memorable performance at the Freestyle G.O.A.T Challenge
Gukesh recorded a memorable performance of his career by defeating the World No.1 and the reigning champion on the same day. Gukesh is now placed joint second alongside Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov with three points out of a possible four. Local boy Vincent Keymar is currently the sole leader with 3.5 points in four rounds, while Carlsen stands fifth in the eight-player field.
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