Bucharest, Romania: World champion D. Gukesh suffered a shocking loss to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of france in the fourth round of the Superbet traditional right here.
Gukesh, the pinnacle seed and a huge favorite to win the match, became pressured to maintain seeking out an elusive first victory on the occasion with 5 rounds still final within the $350,000 prize cash event.
On a day while R. Praggnanandhaa performed a draw with neighborhood hopeful Deac Bogdan-Daniel, Levon Aronian of the USA became the simplest different winner, scoring his first win on the fee of Duda Jan Krzysztof of Poland.
In other games of the day, Fabiano Caruana of the U.S. performed a draw with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, while Iranian-turned-French Firouzja Alireza signed peace with American Wesley So.
Caruana, Pragg, and Vachier-Lagrave shared the lead with 2.5 points from the first 4 rounds, and they may be observed through Alireza, Wesley, Aronian, and Deac on two factors apiece.
Gukesh is currently sharing the eighth spot on 1.5 factors at the side of Abdusattorov and Duda.
It was the Scotch starting that proved to be a hurdle in Gukesh's quest as Black. The indian went for a much less popular version, and despite the fact that the placement seemed level in the resulting center recreation, Gukesh became by no means sincerely out of the muddy waters.
Vachier-Lagrave used his probabilities to noticeably weaken Gukesh's guard on the queen side by way of free pawns, and then the game suddenly ended all of a sudden as Gukesh found out the weaknesses had been undefendable. It was all over in a trifling 31 actions.
Praggnanandhaa did not get any risk, as Deac became, in all likelihood, glad with a draw as white. The pieces got exchanged at ordinary periods and the game changed into a piece uninteresting for the chess buffs who have been looking at a complete-blown warfare. Pragg may want to do little and draw in 35 actions.
Results, spherical four: Deac Bogdan Daniel (Rou, 2) drew with R. Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2.5) beat D. Gukesh (Ind, 1.5); Duda Jan Krzysztof (Pol, 1.5) lost to Levon Aronian (America, 2); Firouzja Alireza (Fra, 2) drew with Wesley So (U.S., 2); and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 1.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (United States of America, 2.5).
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