Why D Gukesh owes credit to a German Grandmaster, praised by Carlsen, for India No. 1 and World Championship titles

D Gukesh became the new India No. 1 on Wednesday and has a German grandmaster to thank, who also helped him during the World Championship.

It was a long 72-move battle as D Gukesh had to rely on all his experience to defeat Vincent Keymer in the fifth round of the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee on Wednesday. The result was also against one of Seconds from his historic World Chess Championship victory in December, last year. Meanwhile, the victory also saw Gukesh become the new India No. 1, overtaking Arjun Erigaisi in the live ratings.

D Gukesh owes credit to a German grandmaster, also praised by Magnus Carlsen.

Playing with white pieces, Gukesh was in good form against Keymer, despite some early errors. Against Ding Liren in Singapore, Gukesh’s strategy was to tire out his opponent, and Keymer tried doing the same against the Indian grandmaster. But his plan wasn’t working as he was already behind in the middle game, with Gukesh a pawn up. But instead of resigning, he played until the 72nd move, and then with Gukesh’s win inevitable, the German resigned. Keymer was a pawn up, but Gukesh had an additional bishop. Keymar was one of Gukesh’s two Seconds taking part at the Tata Steel this year, alongwith with Pentala Harikrishna.

Before his game vs Keymer, Gukesh was asked about how he prepared facing his seconds. He simply replied, “Once I get to the board, in general I don’t really care about the opponent, whether it’s a good friend or anyone. It will be business as usual. We have developed a close bond over the year. I’m glad they’re playing in this tournament.”

Meanwhile, Keymer also spoke on his role as Gukesh’s Second in Singapore. Speaking to Chessbase India, he said, “My job as a second during the match was, of course, to help prepare the openings. It's good to bring your own style and ideas to the table, but ultimately it's up to Gukesh and his head coach to decide. Of course, we had a direction before the match and knew what we wanted to look at in detail.”

“With Gukesh it was: the preparation is blitzed out. I think the general idea was to avoid getting into time trouble. Time trouble increases the risk of losing control, and that's the last thing you need. By contrast, Ding Liren's time management was very particular. But World Championship matches have their own rules, and after the first six rounds we had to count ourselves lucky not to be behind. That's because some games could have gone against us”, he added.

Keymer is a former junior world no. 1 in the FIDE rankings. His current FIDE rating is 2733, and his ranking is 20 in the world. In the past, Keymer has also received particular praise from World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, for his opening ideas.