Chess Olympiad: Gukesh beats Caruana as India close in on maiden Gold

Grandmaster and World Championship challenger D Gukesh put it across Fabiano Caruana of United States to raise visions of a maiden gold medal for the Indian men in the 45th Chess Olympiad here.

Set to play the next World championship match in Singapore in November, Gukesh played another tough game showcasing his steely nerves against the top seeded teams and also beating higher ranked Caruana.

It was a Catalan opening wherein Gukesh got the complications running in his favour in the later stages of the middle game after grabbing a pawn.

Under pressure, Caruana crumbled like a cookie and soon after lost a second pawn to let Gukesh enter a winning endgame.

Earlier, R Praggananandhaa went down fighting against Wesley So to give the American team an early lead but the Indian men were in no danger anytime as Arjun Erigaise was always in command against Lenier Dominguez Perez.

Arjun won after over five hours of play, while Vidit Gujrathi played a rock-solid game against Levon Aronian.