When both players agreed to a draw, Gukesh had 5.10 minutes on his clock, more time than he had started the game with while Carlsen had 4:45

The final battle of the showdown between teenage world champion Gukesh and the world no 1 Magnus Carlsen ended in an anti-climatically quick draw in 14 moves at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia. It was a battle that lasted just about a minute and five seconds. Even Carlsen was reportedly “surprised” by how soon the fight had fizzled out (The Norwegian was reportedly heard saying this to the second of Anish Giri by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich). The quick draw was a surprise for chess fans who were expecting a tense battle, considering how the first two installments of their head-to-head battle had unraveled in Zagreb.

In the first Gukesh vs Magnus Carlsen clash at the Zagreb tournament, played in the rapid format, Gukesh had defied expectations off him and handed a defeat to the five-time world champion. Not just that, the youngest classical world champion in history had risen to the top of the leaderboard after the end of the three-day-long rapid section. Gukesh’s performance in rapid had been a revelation, with former world champion Garry Kasparov praising him to high heaven by saying “playing Gukesh was like playing a computer because you needed to beat him five times in each game.”

But since the blitz portion of the event started on Saturday in the tournament, Gukesh has experienced a string of defeats. He lost to Carlsen in their first blitz clash on Saturday. On Sunday, though, the duo played out a quick draw in round 13 of the blitz portion. It was a battle that lasted just one minute and four seconds. When both players agreed to a draw, Gukesh had 5:10 minutes on his clock — more time than he had started the game with — while Carlsen had 4:45.

Before the game, Carlsen said that he was playing in “survival mode”. He said he was just “hustling” his way in games. The draw against the Indian teenager was his third of the day out of four games, with his only win coming against Alireza Firouzja. Carlsen also drew with Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana.

WATCH: Gukesh vs Carlsen ends in 14 moves

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Despite being in “survival mode” Carlsen ended up winning the title, while Gukesh was third in the final standings.

“When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though!” Carlsen posted on his X after securing the title.

INTERACTIVE: How Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh played out a 14-move draw

The world champion from India had started the day with back-to-back defeats against Wesley So and Nodirbek Abdusattorov before defeating Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who was ahead of him in the standings.

Despite leading the tournament by a handsome margin, Carlsen had said that he was “feeling super shaky” before the Gukesh game.

“I feel super shaky. I feel like my play is not there at all so far. But there results are working out, so that’s good! Now I’m kinda in survival mode. Obviously, the results are working out great in the other games for me. I really cannot get going so far. I’m managing to hustle it,” Carlsen told Take Take Take.

Carlsen surprised

WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, who is part of the commentary team for analysis of the game, said there was a laughter in the playing hall when the game ended so quickly.

Source;IndianExpress 

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