The Chennai Banger in Canada | Pragg vs Gukesh | FIDE Candidates 2024

it's a banger we have on our hands gukesh makes his way to the playing Hall at the second round of the candidates 2024 he has the black pieces against his City mate prananda they both stay just 1 kilometer apart from each other so they could very well have played this game in their City itself but of course they both made it to the candidates the two youngest participants gukesh has arrived early prag will join in soon gukesh is just 17 years old while prag is 18 it feels to me that gukesh has a slight upper hand when playing against prag at Wan he was completely winning but prag managed to claim a three-fold repetition in Prague it was actually prag who was winning but then gkes managed to hold a draw in that amazing Rook end game but in general in classical chess gukesh has had a slight upper hand what will happen today remains to be seen has the white pieces you can see gkes adjusting all his pieces in his inevitable style uh this is how he he does it always calmly he tries to actually you know uh he holds a piece and holds it on that position for a while as if giving them the strength saying that today you have to fight and all of gk's pieces on the board always have to fight there's never a game where GES set settles for an early draw and there you have prananda making his way with a banana and a Lin chocolate this is how prag uh likes it uh it's a dark chocolate by the way you you know that these players are very careful about their sugar intake because it spikes the energy very quickly but then also brings it down very quickly so dark chocolate generally keeps a sustained amount of energy and there's all uh deep study about all these things that these players do well the game are about to begin prananda adjusts all his pieces with white he will be looking to strike here he's been working here with Peter swidler as has been revealed while gukesh has been working with gski for now quite some time both of them Drew their first round so this is actually a very important clash and as the organizers have made it clear the Indian players have to play against each other in the initial rounds and this is that's why they are being paired against each other in round number two and a shake of hands and off we go now what is Pug's first move going to be prug generally takes his time before starting off the game he likes to uh think a bit and he opens the game with one D4 it's always difficult to guess what PR's first move would be because he can equally play E4 and D4 both gukesh responds back with D5 super solid C4 it's amazing how different openings sort of connect Generations I can very well imagine capablanca and botwinik playing the queen Gambit declined um more than 100 years ago and now we have gukesh and prag playing here E6 played yes this is the Queen's Gambit Decline and prag now has an option to respond with Knight C3 or Knight F3 both have their pros and cons prag goes Knight to F3 and a normal move here is to get your knight out as well to F6 and get moving yes gukesh brings his Knight out as well Knight comes to F6 both players have two hours on the clock without any increment to reach 40 moves and after move 40 they have 30 second increment and PR goes for G3 the Catalan he doesn't play this opening so often but today he wants to try it out a check and now the main move by far is here so let's say if there are 100% games that have reached this position then 90% of the games go Bishop D2 but prag goes Knight C3 and this must come as a small surprise to gkes because this is not very common the Knight coming there gkes now quickly chops off the pawn on C 4 and tells prag how are you going to regain it because Queen A4 check is met with Knight C6 prag says I'm not interested in regaining it for the moment I'll just continue with my development he plays Bishop to G2 black castles it out here and now very likely that white will also Castle it out this is actually a pure Pawn sacrifice variation that has been played here uh in fact this is somewhat like how dubo plays uh in the Catalan he always gives up the pawn on C4 and then tries to capture the center Knight comes out puts pressure here uh for now the D4 Pawn is well covered you can't really play E4 you would love to but then there is Bishop takes Pawn takes and you lose this Pawn that's the reason why prag asks a question to gkes if he goes back then white can play four but if he takes takes white has the bishop pair then well gkes says I'm not interested to give up my bishop and he goes back to E7 does that mean that PR can now expand in the center yes he does E4 is on the board now the engines do not like this this position so much for white but BR has made a practical decision and I think it's a very very interesting one because gkes loves such complex positions and prag is going into them uh which is interesting because prag could also go into some technical positions which are his strength but he's taking on gkes uh in the phase of the game where gkes is strong Bishop E3 played and now gkes cements his C4 Pawn he's a pawn up he's a clear Pawn up but look at White's development beautiful meanwhile black hasn't developed his Bishop yet and prag moves his Queen to E2 is a subtle move the idea is to bring the Rook to the center and then break in the center Bishop comes out to B7 on the long diagonal Here and Now The Rook will most like yes Rook comes into the center of the board and you want to break through with D5 the game heats up now where does this Knight go very cool move by gkes making use of this slightly weakened B3 Square as a Outpost the Knight can can be misplaced there but it can also be pretty strong prag is blitzing out his moves he pushes his Pawn to D5 and this is a bit scary because on one hand he's well prepared he's blitzing out while gkes is thinking you know he's close to an hour down on the clock slowly moving there Pawn takes Pawn taken and yes if you take back with the pawn black would be very happy to blockade it with Bishop D6 but br's idea is to push forward he's pushed it forward and now this Knight cannot go to G4 maybe because Bishop F4 and then I kick your knight away so he has to go a little bit passive with Knight E8 and gukesh is now two pawns up not just one Pawn up BR goes E6 and he's giving up another pawn it seems if you take F E6 then you are three pawns up actually Knight D4 is what prag may want to do Gish this time thinks hard and plays F5 and now I think he has brought prag out of theory so prag is started to think and this is not great news for gkes because he didn't play the best move otherwise prug would have been prepared Knight E5 played the idea is to go Knight D7 to trap The Rook on f8 and so gkes brings his Knight to F6 controlling that square now D5 is weak but for the time being it's protected E6 Pawn is weak but also a strength we'll have to wait and watch queen C2 I really like this move by prag because if G6 to support F5 Bishop H6 and the dark Square start to get weak uh the engine likes to give up an exchange but gkes says I'll play C6 and what he does he gives up this Pawn but bolsters this some kind of a diamond like structure on the queen side um I think prag happily goes in and chops off the F5 Pawn interesting moment of the game now what will gkes do is the question he has to think about his Knight his Bishop is a is slightly awkward there the pawn on E6 is gaining momentum but the f file has opened up he goes Queen E8 and I like this move overall it controls C6 so that later the bishop can move Queen May pop out here on H5 if needed and also comes out of this pin here Knight F7 played by prag that Knight is slightly weirdly positioned there but I think the main point is of course to keep the Knight hanging around here there could be some checks D6 square is controlled how does gkes continue he goes Bishop C8 and he tells prag this is a weak Pawn here by the way gukesh could have also sacrificed an exchange and gone here which was pretty good compensation but Bishop C8 played and prug brings his last piece into the game Rook F to E1 I feel that a sack on D5 is imminent like somehow you sack a rook a knight a bishop I don't know what do you sack he goes Knight B7 and I think the idea for gkes is to put his Knight on D6 that is what he wants to do uh prag goes Bishop G5 logical because what prag wants to do he wants to take take and then take take and just open up the entire Center where black pieces are completely undeveloped that is what he wants to do he wants to just blast open that Center Rook A7 what a move by gkes this Rook is going to be useful on the seventh rank how does he even come up with such ideas insane move Rook A7 prug says well I'm not impressed I'm taking on F6 twice and I think it's now time for him to sack on D5 maybe with the bishop more more uh accurate because then you can get your knight to D5 yes he takes it wo wow now Bishop takes C3 is possible but he first takes in the center cd5 I think it's time for the Knight to jump in prag sacrifice has been very good takes and now gukesh has to worry about this also his Rook can get be hanging in certain lines you can see there GES trying to focus both the players giving it their all Bishop E7 now Knight at 6 check is an amazing move if you take I give a check if King here check and you lose the Rook but look at this line if you go Bishop G5 H4 Knight C5 take and Rook swings in that is why Rook A7 was such a brilliant move PR goes Queen G4 and this is a mistake it gives gkes a chance to come back and Knight d8 fantastic move played by gkes because now if Knight at6 played by PR King h8 is completely fine and with time running low for prananda he takes on D he takes it but it seems like this is not going to help PR's chances because he's a piece down gukesh is simplifying he's deciding what to take with taking with the queen is risky because the Rook is opposite here he takes with the bishop there is no E7 because the queen is hanging and prug instantly responds with Queen D4 attacking The Rook on A7 where will the Rook move well gkes says I'm not impressed prag I'm going here brog moves The Rook up rook E4 what is his idea where does he want to go maybe to G4 to attack G7 and threaten some attacks there no Bishop F6 played by gkes I think he understands that he's completely in control here because of this two-hour rule with no increment players of course under tremendous stress not to lose on time prag now he plays his Queen to E3 he moves his Queen back but has many many moves at his disposal he just comes back and blocks this Pawn this is a fantastic move now all that he has to do is activate the bishop then the queen H4 played by prug you can see his pieces are all beautifully active but one of them is missing he's a piece down and gkes is activating himself Queen C6 played and this Rook is proving to be such a valuable asset on the seventh rank defending the bishop PR pushes his Pawn even further H5 but now gkes you can see how he just tries to focus and finds the best move Bishop C5 attacking the queen queen moves F2 is hanging and now the queen has to go away where does it go he goes Queen G5 Now isn't F2 hanging even E6 is hanging many many pawns and pieces are hanging here it's just that gukesh has to be careful about the time pressure here both players very low on time Bishop takes E6 played gkes says to PR I don't see any tactics coming up here I don't see how you're going to take advantage of the fact that my pieces are a bit hanging uh your knight is being attacked what are you going to do well H6 played by PR but this Rook what a rook it's not letting prag do anything there at6 and now gkes can chop off the F2 Pawn with his Bishop with his Rook anything his fine you can see prananda knows the writing is on the wall meanwhile gkes I love how he's so focused and calm in winning position something for all of us to learn from when we are winning not to relax not to relax there because that is when you're opponent is at the most dangerous phase in the game and gkes has spotted the move he wants to make it but finally checking you know not to make any blunders because this might be a very very critical moment in the game he takes on F2 he takes Rook takes F2 a fantastic move there and now uh there's no way to save this game The Rook will move check Queen will hang prananda is checking if there are any final defenses in the position but there seem to be none gukesh has managed to outwit his City mate BR and maybe King H1 just move the king away but then I bring Rook F5 and prag resigns gukesh scores the win and takes the lead a joint lead in the tournament with one and half out of two and uh GES speaking with the Arbiter there uh not so sure what they are talking about but a extremely complex game but it turned out that gukesh handled the complications better the clock better prag had the right approach and fighting Spirit but somehow gkes managed to outwit him you can see both the players writing down their moves because I think in the last 5 minutes you are allowed not to write uh here because there's no increment so they have written down the moves which they had missed uh there and now both of them sign their score sheets well for prag it's a disappointing result generally he likes to analyze after the game with his opponent but today uh he's not maybe uh it's just that he is not happy with his play uh the way in which he played there were definite chances for him his uh Choice was also very brave but then gukesh once again showing why he is one of the best players in the world right now adjusting and arranging all the pieces and his customary respect to the chess board takes his copy of the score sheet and he leaves the [Music] premises [Music] oh

Channel: ChessBase India

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Id: IhnH0TEI6Og

Length: 17min 54sec (1074 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 06 2024