Resilience
Chess is about finding the best move that you can make in any given position. Larsen, in one of his books quotes Dr. Tarrash for having said: 'when you have found a good move, then find a better.'
The first half of the tournament was not very good for the world champion. But then again, also not too bad. After two loses he managed to get a win. As mentioned, his attitude towards playing the very top is humble, but still strategic. He has come to play chess, i.e. see what happens, feel the pressure and then do, what he does best: Find the best move in the position.
In round 6 he got outplayed by Magnus Carlsen:
Position after 15. Ng3
Classical Roy Lopez. It looks like Gukesh has managed to maneuver his pieces to optimal squares, Karpov style, but from here on Carlsen rolls over the young man with his strategic overview: 15. -, cxd4 16. cxd4, bxa4 17. Bxa4, Bb7 18. d5, a5 19. Be3, Bc8! Nowadays ! indicates that the computer evaluates a move to be the only move to sustain status quo. This idea comes from a fault finding culture. Here ! means a good move. the light squared bishop needed to find a diagonal. With this move it activates the rook and black captures the initiative.
Position after 22. - Rb4
White sustains pressure on the pawn on E4. The idea Bxh3 is lurking in the background. From here on, Gukesh plays a few inaccurate moves with his queen, simply because he does not grasp what is going on. Carlsen realizes the potential of the position and ends up with a wining position:
Position after 32. Nf3
The rook on A7 and the bishop on C6 are both off side doing nothing. But from here, the world champion starts making the best moves in the position. Normally, this cannot be saved against Carlsen. Of course. 32. -, hxg3 33. fxg3, Nxh3 34. gxh3, Bxe4 Soon the pawn on D5 will fall and the two pawns march down the board.
Come back kid
Position after 52. -, Ne2 ch ??
Carlsen blunders!! In an interview before the 7th round, the world number one talked about his lack of motivation; mentally he is not where he should be, a very honest Magnus Carlsen told the Norwegian reporter in very clear terms, yet incomprehensible for a non-Scandinavian audience. 53. Rxe2 ch, Kxe2 54. Bxf8, d4 55. Ne6, d3 56. Nc5 and 56. -, d2 is met by 57. Ne4, d1Q 58. Nc3 ch, and the white pawn on H4 will queen after the king blocks the e-pawn.
Final position. Black to move.
The knight captures both pawns. Carlsen expresses frustration, but manages to apologize to his opponent twice before leaving the playing hall. Extreme. The following day, he was not yet balanced and went for a quick draw against Nakamura with the white pieces. Caruana pressed on, playing well and finally got the better of Wei Yi. The world champion got himself into trouble against Arjun Erigaisi, but suddenly managed to wrinkle his pieces out of their binds:
Gukesh gets one chance and never looks back. 43. Ne5 secures white the d3 pawn after 43. -, Re6 44. Rg8 ch , Ke7 45. Rg7 ch , Ke8 Repeating. Gaining time on the clock, using the increment. Then: 46. Rg8 ch , Ke7 47. Rxd8, Kxd8 48. Nxd3, Re2 49. a4, Rd2 50. Rf3 and white is simply two pawns up. Gukesh converts. Impressive resilience. This kid is a learner, but the talent is undisputed.
Standings
Fabiano Caruana in the lead with 12,5 points, followed by Dommaraju Gukesh with 11,5 points, trailed closely by Magnus Carlsen with 11 points. Caruana has to play both his rivals in the last three games and has Arjun Erigaisi in the third. Hikaru Nakamura can still make it from fourth position, but has to start wining. The first step is to beat the world champion with white in round 8. That will be one to watch, but the level of chess being played here is very high, so we will see, what will catch our attention tomorrow.