Wesley starts the game with the king pawn today!
The other choice for top players is the Italian Opening, which has been in fashion for the last decade or so.
But we all thought there is absolutely no way that the World Champion plays!
Berlin being such a solid opening that goes to the endgame almost right from the start, this is such a surprise of an opening choice, obviously.
The American Grandmaster goes for his favorite version of the Berlin, where there will be a solid fight in the center, more in tune with the Petroff Defense.
This is a solid way of handling the Berlin, and this is a favorite of Wesley. There is a memorable game by Wesley in this very variation against Fedoseev, which is a copybook example of endgame brilliancy!
But it is surprising that Gukesh has adoped this system. After all, the variation has no dynamism to offer, which we all expect from him in every game...
As we can see, both the sides do not have structural weaknesses. Only, Wesley has a mild development advantage, which Gukesh will aim to liquidate in the long run.
Without much of a weakness to attack, this is a familiar theme in this pawn structure. White will atleast try to gain the bishop pair, thus keeping a hope for some domination in the endgame later.
Gukesh doesn't want to give up the bishop for White's knight, and hence places it on an odd square. Black will now kick the white Knight away, after which Black's dark Bishop will return back to the long diagonal.
Incidentally, this is a new move in this position, a novelty!
It is typical of players who have played a world chess championship: they will carry new ideas for many many months afterwards!!
As expected, this was the ploy home-cooked by Gukesh, to preserve his dark colored bishop, rather than exchanging it off for the White knight.
Instead of retreating his Knight, white attacks the black Knight with his Bishop, thus gaining more more tempo, though it remains to be seen if this makes any real gain in the long run.
An almost forced move, centralizing the knight. But, on the downside, White will be able to win a tempo in the future by attacking this very knight with one of his pawns.
White decides to 'punish' Black for his creative play and decides to capture the bishop, even at the cost of weakening the kingside.
This is all the more interesting as it comes from Wesley, who almost never weakens his kingside in this fashion.
By the way, we are guaranteed an intense struggle for sure! With such an uneven and quirky pawn structure for both sides, there is bound to be a great fight today.
White is now guaranteed a solid pawn structure in the center. Only, it is a question of how Wesley is going to treat his kingside in the middlegame.
With such imbalances in many dimensions, this is going to be the thrillingest game of the day!
In the long run, White should be easily able to restore material parity by capturing Black's central pawn. However, it is his weakness on the kingside that White should be concerned about in the long run.
Considering that Black is still developing most of his pieces, White seems to be doing well here. Only his weakened pawn structure on the kingside will be a long-term issue for him. It is important for white in this position to develop his pieces rapidly before Black can develop his pieces and probe White's kingside.
The position is near level here dynamically - what could be termed as a 0.00 in assessment by computers. But , with such uneven pawn structures, it is definitely a fight between two human players!
Typical of the World Champion, he places much low emphasis on material in an open position. Gukesh didn't think much for this decision too, hardly consuming less than two minutes to offer this pawn sacrifice!
Wesley decides to call Gukesh's bluff and captures the offered pawn. Now it is up to Gukesh to prove his initiative on the kingside.
More than anything, this pawn sacrifice immediately helps to develop all his pieces, particularly when White is yet to develop his bishop and Rook on the queenside.
Black is ready to battle on the kingside, and piles up all the pieces towards the center.
Remarkably, Gukesh doesn't even want to attack the White bishop who captured a pawn in the previous move. Gukesh is focused only on mobilizing the pieces towards the white king.
Black could have ignored the white bishop's threat and focused on attacking with his queen and knight on the kingside.
Now, Wesley might be able to take advantage of Black's passively placed rook in the open file.
Wesley aims to complete his development, bringing the queenside rook also into play
However, this provides White with a target, as he can threaten Black's isolated pawn now, which can be attacked by White's queen and bishop.
Playing with conviction, Wesley played his move quickly here, bringing out his queen to attack Black's weakened pawn in the center.
Gukesh has his back against the wall now!
Black now aims to bring his knight to the kingside, aiming to take advantage of White's weakened kingside.
He has almost nullified Gukesh's initiative against the white king and is a sound pawn up for good in this position. The world champion now has an uphill task to invent resources to mount another assault on the white king while acknowledging that he is down by a pawn.
Though the queen and knight are potentially great attackers when combined, Black doesn't have much of a target on the kingside now. However, Wesley still has to come up with accurate moves to preserve his advantage.
The white rook rushes to further pile up an attack on the black pawn. This is not the accurate move in the position, but White still retains a small advantage here.
Black has a two-pawn deficit in the ensuing positions, and he has to hope for his opponent's inaccuracies in defending the position here.
It simply doesn't seem to be the World Champion's day! Even though Black tries his best to bring all his pieces into attack, he simply lacks the firepower to create any threatening attack here.
Suddenly, White has gained the initiative apart from the material. The black queen has been chased away from the kingside now, thus the chapter of Black's counterattack on the kingside is getting permanently closed.
Another inaccuracy from Gukesh, as his position becomes near untenable now. Now, Wesley has to find that one accurate move which will win him material, and the game itself.
Black has now run out of threats here and has defeat staring at him from close quarters. The black knight on the kingside is vulnerable, and the black king is without much of a defense too.
Gukesh has given up his queen for a rook and knight, but White has two extra pawns in the position, which should allow him to win the game slowly.
Black creates an escape square for his king, preventing a future back rank mate. Still ten moves to reach time control, Gukesh will be desperate to create play here, whereas Wesley will try to keep it simple
Instead of saving his pawn, Wesley doesn't mind stopping Black's dreamed attack in the kingside. To that extent, he doesn't mind giving up one of his pawns, and maintains the white queen in the center of the board.
Understanding that he has a huge advantage in the position, Wesley doesn't want to rush into any unnecessary action. He instead simply defends his position from any future threats, thus getting ready to encash his extra pawns in the long run.
Though White's advantage is obvious, Gukesh tries to make use of any tactical chance which might come his way.
Wesley brings his king to the center, careful not to allow any penetration by the black rook in the center. He shows no urgency to push his pawns right away, preferring to strengthen his position first.
With this modest move, Wesley aims to take his bishop further up the opponent's camp and shut down the open file. Thus, he aims to prevent any counterplay that the black rook might aim to create.
Gukesh wants to create counterplay by any available means by now. He doesn't mind opening up the position, even making his own king vulnerable to attack. Even otherwise, Gukesh is a player who always gambles with king safety against dynamism.
Black's kingside has opened up, and the end is near for Black now. Wesley has coolly prevented black pieces from gaining any activity, thus eliminating any risk to his position.
The world champion played with his characteristic aggression from the beginning, sacrificing a pawn for initiative in the middlegame. However, he was met with stubborn defense by one of the best strategic players in the world, Wesley So.
Though Gukesh had his chances, his own play wasn't perfect, as he created weaknesses in his own position even after sacrificing a pawn for initiative. Thus, the promised attack against the white king never materialised, and White slowly took over the initiative and won the game
Caruana has already drawn his game against Aronian, which must be motivating enough for all the players on three points to try and win their games, to get closer to the tournament leader! 🪙
With his home preparation, not only has Gukesh gained the value of a surprise, but he has also gained a lot on the clocks. While he has hardly taken any time on the clock, Wesley has already consumed more than 26 minutes so far.
Welcome to the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup! As the tournament enters the final stretch, the gap between both our combatants and the leader, Caruana, is barely a single point! This should definitely make them work harder to score their first win in the tournament.
Another two players who are just one point below the leader, Caruana. Definitely they both know that they need to try for a win to reach the top and dethrone Caruana. But in this strong tournament, it is such a difficult task even to score a single victory.
Wesley is a very solid player with a profound positional style and deep preparation, but he has not been able to penetrate through the opponents' defenses so far.
On the other hand, we have young Gukesh, who tries like crazy in each and every game to win. It is almost as if he doesn't care about the result of the game. So even though he is Black today, there will definitely be a fight, and let us hope it will be colorful to watch!