At the Menorca Masters 2026, defending world champion D Gukesh suffered a setback and lost to compatriot Nihal Sarin in the third round.Gukesh arrives in Menorca as a two-time champion but his current form paints a very different picture. His troubles started early Nihal. By the ninth move, Gukesh made a questionable decision early on, retreating his queen to c7 instead of opting to swap the queen. This move put Nihal in the driver’s seat. The master from Kerala quickly activated his dark side bishop with Bf4, followed by a pawn push with e4, steadily building central control and pressure.Sensing this momentum, Nihal intensified his attack with Bg6, targeting the bishop of Gukesh and destroying his defensive structures. Under pressure, Gukesh wavered again and played Qd7 in an attempt to keep his position. But Nihal responded with precision, knocking off the knight on f6 with e5 and then capturing Gukesh’s active light square bishop.At that moment, the game tilted firmly in Nihal’s favor, with the evaluation engine showing a significant advantage (+1.71).Fully aware of Gukesh’s resilience under pressure, Nihal left nothing to chance. Once he had control, he tightened his grip. He advanced his h-pawn and launched a coordinated kingside attack. Gradually, Gukesh’s position deteriorated, his pieces were tied up, space was limited, and counterattacks were non-existent. By move 34, with no viable defense available, Gukesh threw in the towel.All moves from 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. OOO 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 was his first loss in the tournament after drawing with Lenil Dominguez Perez and Ruslan Ponomariv in the first round.For Nihal, the win set the stage for a strong start. defeated Pentala earlier Harikrishna After a draw with Dominguez Perez, he moved into the sole lead with two points from three rounds. The contrasting trajectories of India’s young stars are now hard to ignore. While Nihal continued his steady rise in classical chess, improving his rank and consistency, Gukesh experienced a rare slump after reaching the pinnacle of world championship.In fact, Menorca may be one of the last big events Gukesh hosts this year. The Chennai grandmaster has chosen to curtail his schedule to prepare for a title defense later in 2026. As part of that strategy, he also quit the chess circuit.
Overall results after the fifth round of the Menorca Masters (Photo: Chess.com)
