Courtesy: Google
Dommaraju Gukesh, the world chess champion, had a forgettable outing in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour Weissenhaus event in Germany this month. The 18-year-old finished in eighth place in a 10-player Chess 960 tournament after losing to Iranian-French Grand Master Alireza Firouzja in the seventh-place playoff match yesterday, reducing a significant amount of prize money which he could have earned.
Following a winless run in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour Weissenhaus event, Dommaraju Gukesh went into the seventh-place playoff, and he battled hard against Alireza Firouzja with the black pieces in Game 1, drawing it with a remarkable comeback. But, in the Game 2, with the white pieces, he wasn’t able to take advantage before finding himself in deep trouble, which led his resignation on the 30th move, sealing the eighth spot in the overall standings in the tournament.
Dommaraju Gukesh walked away with just $20,000 to his name from Weissenhaus
With this poor finish, Dommaraju Gukesh walked away with just $20,000 to his name from the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour Weissenhaus event, but still, it was more cash in comparison to Levon Aronian getting $12,500 for ninth place finish, while. Vladimir Fedoseev received $7,500 for the 10th and bottom place finish. Vincent Keymer won the coveted tournament after getting the better of Fabiano Caruana, and his undefeated campaign earned him a whopping prize money of $200,000.
After losing the final of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour Weissenhaus event, Fabiano Caruana pocketed $140,000, while Magnus Carlsen got $100,000 for his third place finish. Javokhir Sindarov received $60,000 for his fourth place finish, while the likes of Hikaru Nakamura and Nodirbek Abdusattorov got $50,000 and $40,000 respectively for their fifth and sixth place finish in the recently concluded Chess 960 tournament.
