At the Menorca Masters 2026, reigning World Champion D Gukesh suffered a setback, going down to compatriot Nihal Sarin in the third round.Gukesh arrived in Menorca as a two-time champion, but his current form paints a starkly different picture. His troubles began early against Nihal. As soon as the ninth move, Gukesh made a questionable decision in the opening, retreating his queen to c7 instead of opting for a queen exchange. The move handed Nihal the initiative. The Kerala-based grandmaster quickly activated his dark-squared bishop with Bf4, followed by an e4 pawn push, steadily building central control and pressure.Sensing the momentum, Nihal intensified the attack with Bg6, targeting Gukesh’s bishop and destabilising his defensive structure. Under pressure, Gukesh faltered again, playing Qd7 in an attempt to hold his position. But Nihal responded with precision, striking with e5 to dislodge the knight on f6 before capturing Gukesh’s active light-squared bishop.At that moment, the game firmly tilted in Nihal’s favour, with evaluation engines showing a significant advantage (+1.71).Fully aware of Gukesh’s resilience under pressure, Nihal left nothing to chance. Once he seized control, he tightened his grip. Advancing his h-pawn, he launched a coordinated kingside assault. Gradually, Gukesh’s position deteriorated, his pieces tied down, space restricted, and counterplay non-existent. By move 34, with no viable defence remaining, Gukesh resigned.All the moves from the Gukesh vs Sarin match: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 c6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Qb3 Qb6 9. c5 Qc7 10. Bf4 Qc8 11. e4 Be7 12. Bd6 Qd7 13. e5 Ng8 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15. O-O-O Bd8 16. h4 Ne7 17. Bh3 Nc8 18. f4 b6 19. Kb1 a5 20. Qc2 bxc5 21. dxc5 Na6 22. a3 Ne7 23. g4 Qb7 24. Bf1 Bc7 25. Ne2 Nb8 26. Nd4 Nd7 27. Bd3 a4 28. Rde1 Ra5 29. f5 Nf8 30. Rhf1 gxf5 31. gxf5 Rxh4 32. fxe6 Nxe6 33. Nxe6 fxe6 34. Qf2It marked his first loss of the tournament, following draws against Leinier Domínguez Pérez and Ruslan Ponomariov in the opening rounds.For Nihal, the victory capped a strong start. Having earlier defeated Pentala Harikrishna and drawn with Domínguez Pérez, he surged to the sole lead with two points from three rounds. The contrasting trajectories of India’s young stars are now hard to ignore. While Nihal continues to rise steadily in classical chess, improving his rating and consistency, Gukesh is enduring a rare slump following his ascent to the summit as world champion.In fact, Menorca could be among the last few marquee events Gukesh plays this year. The Chennai grandmaster has opted to scale back his schedule as he prepares for his title defence later in 2026. As part of that strategy, he has also withdrawn from the Grand Chess Tour.
Overall results after 5th round of Menorca Masters (Photo: Chess.com)
