Arlington, USA: India suffered a crushing 0-5 defeat at the hands of the USA in the first leg of Checkmate, a live arena chess spectacle in Arlington, with Hikaru Nakamura delivering a stunning victory over world champion D. Gukesh.
The high-profile encounter featured tense moments and multiple winning chances for both sides, but the USA capitalized on critical opportunities. Playing with the black pieces, Indian players struggled to find their footing and will now aim to recover with white pieces in the return leg in India.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi fell to Fabiano Caruana, while Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh was unexpectedly defeated by International Master Carissa Yip. International Master Levy Rozman then bested Sagar Shah, and chess prodigy Ethan Vaz lost to International Master Tani Adewumi, completing the whitewash.
The Indian team will now regroup and prepare to mount a strong comeback in the second leg on home soil.
