The King's Pawn
Principled and direct play from Nogerbek, inviting tactically sharp systems such as the many Sicilian Defenses now possible.
Gukesh goes for the solid but ambitious terrain of the Caro-Kann. Interestingly, it's been an especially popular choice among some of the young Indian prodigies, with Praggnanandhaa notably essaying it a handful of times in recent months.
Grabbing the center.
Gukesh targets the center along the light squares, the idea behind his pawn push on move one.
A cautious approach
Nogerbek goes for the Exchange Variation of the Caro-Kann, a system that does contain some poison but is in general seen as a good way of reducing risk. It may be the case that he's quite happy to try to guide the game towards a draw today, fancying his chances in the tie-breaker instead.
Gukesh takes back with the pawn, ensuring that he keeps strong central control.
Nogerbek brings his bishop out onto a strong diagonal, before Gukesh is in time to take that diagonal for his own light-squared piece.
Gukesh develops his knight, hitting the undefended pawn in the process.
Nogerbek pushes his pawn forward
He is now defending his central pawn, and at the same time covering the light-squared bishop against any possible attack from Gukesh's knight.
Gukesh takes over the diagonal
A typical idea, looking to place the queen along a key diagonal before Nogerbek has the time to drive his own dark-squared bishop onto it.
Prophylaxis
Nogerbek prepares to bring his kingside knight out into the game. The idea is to anticipate and stop a possible pin of this piece against his queen, by Gukesh's light-squared bishop.
Gukesh accepts that his light-squared bishop will remain passive for now, and instead goes about continuing his kingside development.
Nogerbek steps the knight forward, and is now ready to castle on the next move.
Gukesh sets up a bishop-queen battery.
Nogerbek castles, bringing his king to safety.
Gukesh chooses a more 'passive' square for his knight
But the idea makes a lot of sense, since he has a flexible pawn formation in the center and may wish to keep the path clear to advance these pawns in the future.
Nogerbek takes over the semi-open file
It makes sense to place his rook here, since the lack of a pawn for him on the file ensures strong piece activity.
Gukesh also castles, as the players approach the middlegame.
Nogerbek threatening a central pawn push?
We find ourselves already within relatively unexplored territory. That said, of the few games to have reached this position, the move chosen by Nogerbek has been the most popular. So it would appear that both players remain within their home preparation for now.
Gukesh controls an important square
A useful move, as Gukesh recognizes that in future variations it is possible that Nogerbek would be able to use this square for one of his minor pieces, in particular the knight.
Nogerbek seeks out the bishop trade
He's happy to exchange these pieces, since it's one of the least active of his army, while Gukesh's own dark-squared bishop is a strong piece that is coordinating well with his queen.
A slow pace
The somewhat rigid pawn structure means that fast plans are not easy to execute. Both sides must patiently maneuver their pieces over the coming moves, before any possibility of sharper play appears on the board.
Nogerbek follows through and trades off the bishops. Now, his queenside knight is no longer tied down to the defense of this piece, which means that he can continue his development on the next move.
Gukesh takes back
More than a little surprising to see him take five minutes before playing his move, since there was no other option but to recapture!
A somewhat cynical choice
Nogerbek doesn't seem to be showing much ambition today, as he trades off his strong light-squared bishop for the much less active knight of Gukesh.
Gukesh captures back towards the center, making sure to keep a healthy pawn structure.
Nogerbek offers a second trade
This is the idea behind bishop takes knight on the previous move. Now the central square is not sufficiently well-protected by Gukesh, so Nogerbek is able to plant his knight here.
Gukesh drops back, indicating that he wants to keep the fight alive by avoiding further trades. Soon, he'll be seeking to push back the invader knight.
Nogerbek shows that he too is ready to invite complications, if needs be. His move is clever, the point being that he knows that Gukesh will want to kick the knight away. This has the drawback of weakening his kingside pawn chain, and so Nogerbek sets himself up for a possible quick attack.
Gukesh kicks back the knight
He plays the expected move, driving Nogerbek's most active piece away from its strong post in the center.
Nogerbek drops back towards the center
The knight is best placed here, and can potentially coordinate with the queen in a kingside attack in the future.
Gukesh finishes his development
The game continues to march at a slow pace, but Gukesh is likely not unhappy with how things are evolving. He's got healthy piece development, and the position is unbalanced enough that he can entertain winning chances in the long term.
Nogerbek brings his last minor piece into the game
One slight concern for him is his somewhat shaky structure on the queenside. Gukesh can bring a rook to the semi-open file and begin to pressure it immediately.
Gukesh seizes the semi-open file
He places his rook on the most natural square, targeting the pawn that is for now undefended. Nogerbek has to be a bit careful here to not drift into the kind of passive position where he's just responding to the opponent's threats at each turn.
Nogerbek slides his rook over to defend the pawn.
Gukesh looking to add to the pressure
He lifts one rook up, in order to bring the second to bear down on Nogerbek's weak pawn. He seems to be taking over the initiative here, although the position remains objectively around equal.
Nogerbek brings his knight to a more active square
I don't think his main idea is to improve the knight, so much as it is to clear the square for his queen to move towards in order to defend his pawn.
Gukesh doubles up the rooks
He's now threatening to take Nogerbek's pawn on the next move.
Nogerbek lifts his queen up to cover the pawn.
Gukesh looking to improve his piece harmony
The bishop would sit best on the right-hand side, as from there it would cover both of Gukesh's vulnerable pawns at the same time.
Slow improvement
Nogerbek is lacking any real active plan here, so he's just looking to keep things solid and make slight improvements to his position wherever possible.
Gukesh finishes the maneuver, bringing his bishop to cover his most vulnerable pawn in the central file.
Nogerbek establishes his king on the second rank
The move itself is nothing other than a mildly improving one, with the main intention being to just stay solid and hoping to weather the small storm that Gukesh is brewing on the queenside.
Gukesh is beginning to bring his knight into the game, likely thinking to reroute it via the central square where his queen currently stands.
Nogerbek sits in wait
He lifts his rook forward, perhaps thinking of ways in which he can bring this one in support of his weak pawn in the future.
Gukesh shows his ambition
You can tell that he's happy about the fact that he has a subtle but persistent initiative here. He's looking for a pawn break on the left hand side, to further weaken Nogerbek's pawn chain.
Attack & Defense
Nogerbek drops his queen back, looking to slide the rook over in defense if needed. But also, setting up some attacking pressure of his own. The point is that the knight can move forward to hit Gukesh's pawn in combination with the rook and queen.
Gukesh supports his central pawn from the side, while also setting up a potential triple battery down the semi-open file. Stacking up all of his heavy pieces against Nogerbek's most vulnerable pawn is a tempting plan.
Nogerbek switches his rook over
He adds more cover to his pawn, continuing to play largely defensively and hoping that Gukesh won't be able to find any way of breaking through.
Gukesh improves his pawn chain, supporting his left-hand pawn and also covering against a possible knight jump.
Nogerbek slightly improves his queen, defending the rook too just in case of any tactical ideas based on the x-ray along the semi-open file.
Alekhine's gun (sort of!)
The term 'Alekhine's gun' was coined by famous chess author, IM Jeremy Silman, to describe a situation where the two rooks and queen are all stacked up along a file. Here, we almost have that arrangement, though it does differ as the queen is wedged in between the rooks, so the pressure is a bit less significant than with both rooks forward.
Nogerbek lacks any good active plan, so he jumps the knight to mildly pressure Gukesh's kingside pawns.
Gukesh sets up a possible pawn break
He looks to move his pawn forward at the right moment. If he can get that pawn break (contact with the enemy pawn) at the right moment, then he might be able to break down Nogerbek's queenside structure.
Nogerbek returns with his knight
The drawback of Gukesh's last move is that he has left Nogerbek an outpost. That's a square that Nogerbek's knight may wish to use in the future, so dropping back with this piece makes a lot of sense.
Gukesh reroutes his knight
He burns over half of his remaining time on the clock before settling on this move. But the idea is a strong one, as he seeks to bring his knight towards the center to pressure both the pawn and the queen. Nogerbek has to be very careful here.
A nice move, with the point being that if Gukesh were to now jump in with his knight, then Nogerbek would be able to push his pawn forward and make use of the fact that Gukesh's knight would be a little unstable.
Gukesh returns with his knight to the square it previously occupied. Could this be a sign that he's happy with a draw? In my view, it's more likely that Gukesh is just looking to buy some time to inch closer to move 40 when they'll receive an extra 30 minutes on the clock.
Nogerbek is happy to drop back.
Gukesh returns, keeping the repetition going for now.
Nogerbek is the one that's been under pressure, so for sure he would be happy to repeat moves and make a quick draw from here.
No interest in a draw from the fighting grandmaster. The World Champion has built a reputation as one of the most combative players in chess, so nobody who has seen his games will have thought it was too likely that he would do anything other than keep the game alive.
The move was screaming to be played, but it's a clear mistake. Gukesh was hoping that Nogerbek would take the bait, as now it allows him to make an unexpected break-through in the center!
This is the key point that Nogerbek has either overlooked or undervalued. The pawn cannot be captured, as that would cost him his knight.
Nogerbek pushes forward in order to clamp his knight down on what is now an incredibly strong outpost. But the damage has already been done, and Gukesh can now keep pushing in the center.
The point!
Gukesh now lands his pawn on a very dangerous square, pushing Nogerbek's knight to a more passive position and gaining space in the center.
The knight retreats, but now there's real issues here for Nogerbek. One tempting plan for Gukesh is to land his own knight on the advanced outpost, immediately hitting the enemy queen.
Gukesh lands his knight onto the strong square, further pushing back Nogerbek's forces.
Nogerbek drops his queen back away from the attack
The problem is that now Gukesh can try and strike from various directions, with Nogerbek's queenside being fragile but also a pawn storm in the center looking threatening.
The quick repetition to buy time
We can say with complete certainty that Gukesh is not interested in making a draw from here as he will know he's got a clear edge. But repeating moves is useful, in order to buy some time on the clock.
A simple but strong move, with Nogerbek now having to contend with a possible pawn sacrifice at the right moment. That would leave his king very exposed.
It's not looking good for the Kazakh grandmaster, as he accepts leaving Gukesh with a super strong protected passed pawn. His desire to cut out that pawn sacrifice mentioned in the previous note makes sense, but this is too heavy a price to pay.
A well-timed pawn capture, opening up lines for Gukesh to invade with his pieces.
Nogerbek takes back.
What a nightmare situation for Nogerbek, as he simply cannot guard against the dual threats of a knight fork and queen takes pawn.
Nogerbek covers against the major threat, but now he will be left a pawn down and with the worse position to boot. Gukesh should be winning this one!
A huge success for Gukesh, as he comes out of time trouble with a winning position. Both players get an extra 30 minutes on the clock from here, so Gukesh should have enough time to secure the full point from here.
Painful scenes in the live broadcast, as a visibly upset Nogerbek stares at the board in despair. He knows his fate is no longer in his hands, but the position remains too messy to resign. So he eventually settles on a queen move while he waits to see how Gukesh searches for a decisive breakthrough.
For now, Gukesh takes over the semi-open file. Soon, he can swing his other rook to add to the pressure along this file.
Nogerbek is looking to guard against an invasion of the rook along this rank. But Gukesh can already start thinking about a concrete way of crashing through, by sacrificing the exchange in order to push his central pawns forward and bring his light-squared bishop to life.
The beginning of an unusual, but quite effective, queen maneuver.
Nogerbek continues to sit in wait.
Gukesh eyeing up the rook sacrifice?!
The queen maneuvering looks a bit unusual, which makes me feel like what the World Champion has in mind is to sacrifice his rook for the knight. Then the queen would be well placed, as she would be supporting the forward push of the central pawn.
Nogerbek stops the threat, by dropping his knight back.
The problem for Nogerbek is that now it's easy for Gukesh to get his other rook onto the left-hand file, as the knight is no longer covering that entry point.
Nogerbek continues to shuffle his pieces around, as he lacks any sort of active counterplay.
Gukesh grabs some more space, improving his position move-by-move without rushing anything.
Nogerbek arranges all of his heavy pieces along the second rank, defending the vulnerable pawn on the left hand side.
Gukesh prepares to bring his bishop into the game, maneuvering it onto a very threatening diagonal.
Nogerbek drops the queen back, taking aim at Gukesh's undefended pawn.
Gukesh defends against the threat, while also eyeing up the central pawn.
Nogerbek keeps on shuffling his rooks around, putting the onus on Gukesh to find the breakthrough.
Gukesh improves his rook, before aiming to drive the bishop forward to add to the pressure against the knight.
Nogerbek sees nothing better than to invite a knight trade, but now it's going to be very easy for Gukesh's bishop to invade his half of the board.
Gukesh quickly trades, setting up the bishop invasion next.
Nogerbek takes back.
It's looking close to curtains here for Nogerbek, as Gukesh's bishop steps into the game decisively. The fragile queenside arrangement is about to collapse.
Gukesh continues to add to the pressure move by move. He might look to invade with his queen now, which might be enough to break down the last of Nogerbek's resistance.
Gukesh seems to be going for this plan, with the queen about to zig-zag her way into enemy territory. Nogerbek cannot do anything to stop this.
Gukesh prepares to move his queen one square forward, which would hit Nogerbek's own queen.
The threat is to drop the bishop back, which would target Nogerbek's queen while also exerting maximum pressure against his knight.
Nogerbek is 'all-in' when it comes to defending his knight, but now the coast is clear for Gukesh to begin pushing that very dangerous passed pawn in the center.
The end is near, as the pawn prepares to soon march towards the seventh rank.
Nogerbek slides his rook away from the attack, targeting the enemy queen.
A strong finishing sequence!
There's no time for Nogerbek to capture the enemy queen, as his own is under fire.
Nogerbek has nothing better than to give up his rook for bishop and pawn.
Gukesh wins material, and will soon find a tactical sequence to force immediate resignation.
Nogerbek takes the pawn back, but now Gukesh can force a win on the spot.
Yesterday the World Champion failed to get going, as Nogerbek did an excellent job of containing his advances and guiding the game to an eventual draw.
Today, it seemed like Gukesh would have an even tougher time of things, since Nogerbek would be brimming with confidence while the World Champion would have the added challenge of commanding the Black pieces.
But Gukesh did not want to play by the script, choosing the solid but ambitious Caro-Kann Defense as a way of avoiding undue risk while still keeping chances to fight for the full point.
Nogerbek, for his part, seemed to lack ambition from the start. He emerged from the opening with a good position, but then traded off his strong light-squared bishop for Gukesh more passive knight without any need to do so.
That desire to simplify was understandable, but it brought about a shift in momentum that Gukesh was able to snowball into a clear initiative as the middlegame stretched on.
And, by the time that the players found themselves in a time scramble, the pressure had become too great. Nogerbek made a couple of poor decisions and, just like that, his fate was sealed. And from that point forward, Gukesh converted with ruthless precision.
The World Champion goes through to round 3!
Close, but no cigar!
The World Champion stepped into yesterday's game as the clear favorite, as he set out to do battle against the strong Kazakh grandmaster, Kazybek Nogerbek.
And for a long time, it looked as though the game was heading towards a decisive result in his favor. He got a dream position out of the opening, and it seemed like only a matter of time before his opponent would crack under the pressure.
Nogerbek, however, had different ideas! Facing tremendous queenside pressure, and later a dangerous attack, he somehow managed to quiet Gukesh's initiative on both flanks and guide the game towards a difficult but ultimately holdable endgame.
Gukesh sensed the momentum shifting against him, and tried his best to complicate matters until the end. But it was hopeless against an in-form Nogerbek, who handled the later stages of the game with machine-like precision and navigated the position to a completely drawn rook endgame.
One more chance for Gukesh to break the deadlock before tomorrow's tiebreak round. Can the World Champion break through from the Black side, and earn himself a rest day before Friday's round 3 matches kick off?