Gukesh opening for a solid setup in the opening, giving up space in the center to get a healthy pawn structure and control over the light squares.
Saric quickly plays his knight up the board with the intention of infiltrating the dark squares in Gukesh's position. This is an uncommon way to play this opening, as Saric now will damage his own pawn structure and risks it being captured at a later stage.
Play turns dynamic as Saric has the bishop pair in exchange for a weak pawn.
Saric has managed to keep his pawn alive for now. If he can keep it that way, he will be able to gain a clear advantage in the position.
For Gukesh, his main strategy will now revolve around pressuring this point further.
While Saric has maintained a grip over the position with a clear space advantage, Gukesh has managed to activate his pieces and prepares to infiltrate Saric's light squares in the middle of the board.
Saric gets his rook into play while claiming to have tactical counterplay, but Gukesh should now be able to win a pawn with little compensation!
Suddenly, Gukesh takes over the initiative and has a strong position.
This was Saric's intention with his rook move, trying to use a discovered attack against Gukesh's knight to his advantage. The problem, however, is that Gukesh has a strong counterpunch that Saric likely missed!
Gukesh has seen this ahead of time and sacrifices the exchange to end up with a material advantage!
Gukesh has managed to stabilize the position and stands with a winning advantage now!
Gukesh is now a pawn up in addition to having two minor pieces against Saric's rook, leaving him with a decisive advantage. Winning this position will now be close to trivial for Gukesh!
A tactical approach heavily backfired for Saric, who ended up in massive trouble after missing a key element in a tactical exchange of pieces. His decision left Gukesh with two minor pieces for a rook in addition to him applying pressure to Saric's weakest point in the position.
After Saric's big mistake, Gukesh had no trouble converting his advantage. An important win for the world champion, who greatly increases his chances to end the tournament in 2nd place!
As Gukesh continues his struggle through the blitz, he's still among the top three due to his fantastic performance in the rapid section. Maintaining his chances to finish on a high note, Gukesh went for a pragmatic draw against Magnus Carlsen in the last round, hoping to finish the tournament in 2nd place behind Magnus.
While he will have to fight hard to get his desired result, he has managed to keep his second place for now and will have great chances to maintain it if he defeats Saric in this round.