The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘No fear’ Gukesh in joint lead at Candidates after beating Abasov
D GUKESH HAD just managed to beat Azerbaijan's Nijat Abasov after a six-hour marathon in Round 5 when the organisers ushered the 17-year-old prodigy to the fan zone of the Great Hall to chat with fans. There, FIDE’S host for the event, Charlize van Zyl,askedhimwhich player Gukesh was most afraid of playingintheprestigious Candidates tournament. Gukesh, just 17yearsofagebutall smouldering intensity, took a second to compose his response. “No one,” he said before breaking into a rare smile.
After five rounds, the second-youngest player ever to compete at the Candidates (the youngest being the legendary Bobby Fischer when he competed in 1959) finds himself on top of the standings with 3.5 points along with Ian Nepomniachtchi, a man who has won the Candidates twice. Gukesh is ahead of Fabiano Caruana, a man who is competing at his fifth Candidates. The Indian is unbeaten after five rounds, having also defeated the other teenage prodigy from his country, R Praggnanandhaa.
The Round 5 battle between Gukesh and Abasov lasted 87 moves before the Indian emerged victorious. The physical and mental strainonbothplayersstartedtoshowafterthe 80th move, with Abasov blundering with his king on the 82nd and Gukesh repaying the favour with a blunder in the next move.
With just five pieces left on the board by this stage — Gukesh having an extra pawn beside the queen and king — Abasov made two more blunders that put him in a position where checkmate was unavoidable.
When the end approached, despite how exhaustingthelastsixhourshadbeen,gukesh stood up and started pacing around his board waiting for Abasov to make the inevitable movethatsecuredhisvictoryandascenttothe top of the standings.
For Gukesh, standing on top of the standings even for a brief while would be satisfying, consideringhowclosehewastonotevenmaking the cut for the event. While his compatriots in the open section, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa, had secured their spots by virtueofperformancesinsingleeventslikethe FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Grand Swiss, Gukesh’s path to qualifying was through the long-winding FIDE Circuit route.
In fact, as he chased qualification for the Candidates, his results had started to dip. When the door seemed almost shut on his qualification, a last-ditch window opened up via the Chennai Grand Masters. Despite all the promise he had shown over the course of his fledgling career, Gukesh had been written off by legends of the game, particularly Magnus Carlsen, in the lead- up to the Candidates.
Abasov also was one of the underdogs for the Candidates event — qualifying only because Carlsen refused to compete. He came into the event as the World No.110 with a rating of 2632 (and has never been rated in the 2700s). On top of that, his preparation for the Candidates could not have gone worse: the Azerbaijani Grandmaster had tried playing football to build up his physical fitness for the biggest tournament of his career when he tore hisaclwhichrequiredsurgery.hehadstarted to walk just a week before he flew to Toronto.
HARRY KANE got his customary goal against Arsenal on his return to north London, but Bayernmunichcouldn’tleavewiththewinthis time.leandrotrossard’ssecond-halfequalizer rescued a 2-2 draw for Arsenal against Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinalstuesdayafterkanehadscoredagainst his old rival yet again.
Trossard rolled in a low shot in the 76th minute to cancel out Kane’s first-half penalty and leave the teams evenly balanced ahead of next week’s second leg.
“It was a tough game. Of course we are never happy when we don’t win,” said Kane, who now has a competition-high seven goals in the Champions League this season and 15 against Arsenal in his career.
The hosts had taken a 12th-minute lead throughbukayosakaanddominatedtheearly stages until former Arsenal player Serge Gnabrymadeit1-1inthe18thfollowingamistake by defender Gabriel.
Kane then put Bayern ahead from the penalty spot in the 25th, but two of Arsenal’s substitutes combined for the equalizer as Gabriel Jesus teed up Trossard in the area.
“We started so well. We could have scored two or three goals after taking the lead,” Trossard said. “You can see what kind of quality Bayern Munich have to hurt us.”
The last time these two teams played, Bayern routed Arsenal 10-2 on aggregate after two 5-1 wins in the round of 16 in 2017. There was, however, a sense that things would be very different this time as Arsenal is top of the Premier League while Bayern is having its worst Bundesliga season in more than a decade and has ceded the title race to Bayer Leverkusen.
But Kane, who scored a record 14 goals in north London derbies between Tottenham and Arsenal before joining the German powerhouse this season, made sure Bayern returns to Germany with at least a slight advantage for the second leg at home next Wednesday.
Kingsley Coman nearly scored a 90thminutewinnerforbayern,buthisflick-onfrom close range hit the post, while Saka had a penaltyappealturneddowninthefifthminute of stoppage time.
Bayern got the draw despite playing without any away fans in the stadium because of a UEFA sanction against the club, which meant Arsenal was able to fill all 60,000 seats with homesupporters.andthatcrowdwasraucous after a strong start for Arsenal. The opening goal came when Ben White teed up Saka inside the area and the England winger rolled a low shot between two defenders and inside the far post, out of reach of the diving Manuel Neuer.
Soon after, a sloppy Arsenal mistake led to the equalizer. Gabriel turned the ball over in midfield to give Bayern a quick counter, and Leon Goretzka slipped the ball through for Gnabry to slide in and slot the