World champion Gukesh Dommaraju was checkmated on the board in a bullet game by world no 2 Hikaru Nakamura in the exhibition game called Checkmate: USA vs India where the Indian team were swept by the Americans by a 5-0 margin. Gukesh had managed to play out draws in the 10-minute and the five-minute games before the match descended into a one-minute bullet game with a one second increment per more.
In the bullet game, Gukesh was checkmated on the back rank by Nakamura’s queen with another bishop cutting off the escape square. In the one-minute clash, Gukesh had an healthy advantage on the clock at one time with the evaluation bar also showing that Gukesh had the upper-hand. But against a player of Nakamura’s calibre in the faster time controls, that initial edge proved to be inconsequential as the American soon surged ahead on the clock and put Gukesh under significant pressure on the clock before delivering a checkmate.
The start of the Gukesh vs Hikaru Nakamura match at the Checkmate: USA vs India clash in Arlington, Texas. (Screengrab via ChessBase India YouTube)Nakamura leapt out of his chair after defeating Gukesh to celebrate.
Previously, Arjun Erigaisi lost to Fabiano Caruana, newly-minted GM Divya Deshmukh lost to IM Carissa Yip, Chessbase India’s Sagar Shah lost to popular streamer Levy Rozman (Gotham Chess) and 13-year-old International Master Ethan Vaz lost to 14-year-old Tanitoluwa Adewumi.
WATCH: India take on USA in Checkmate: USA vs INDIA
The tournament was played in front of live audiences who were allowed to shout during games, in complete contrast to regular chess games where a library-esque silence prevails during games.
Since the matches were played in Arlington, Texas, the USA team, with Nakamura as the captain, was deemed to be the hosts and thus all players of Team USA were given white pieces in the match. There is going to be a reverse fixture in India soon, where the Indian team will be given white pieces.
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