12-year old Russian beats world chess champion

Sergei Sklokin has defeated reigning global title holder Gukesh Dommaraju at the World Blitz Championship in Doha

A 12-year-old Russian chess prodigy scored a stunning upset over the reigning world champion at the World Blitz Championship in Doha, Qatar. Sergey Sklokin, a significant rating underdog, beat 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju on Friday.

Sklokin is merely a FIDE Master, two rungs below the grandmaster title in chess. Blitz is played at a time control of just three minutes for the entire game, plus a two-second increment per move, making time management as crucial as strategy.

The decisive moment came on move 70. With just eight seconds on his clock, Gukesh inexplicably rejected a straightforward rook exchange that would have led to a drawable ending and decided to keep the pieces on the board. However, he misplayed the position and Sklokin capitalized, forcing a resignation from Gukesh ten moves later.

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This marks Sklokin’s third consecutive victory at the tournament, placing him among the early leaders. The championship, which concludes on December 30, follows a Swiss system over 19 rounds.

Ahead of the defeat, Gukesh, who is the youngest classical world champion in history but is not known as a strong blitz player, had stated that he did not have a “lot of expectations” for the rapid and blitz events, aiming instead to “experiment, enjoy and play chess with the aim of having fun.”

Vice President of Russia’s Chess Federation Sergey Smagin, meanwhile, has said that Sklokin’s victory was “very pleasing,” but noted that the blitz format often allows lower-rated players to surprise top-ranked masters.

“Sergey Sklokin is a good boy; we’ll see what his future holds. He still has a lot of work to do. But in any case, victories like these are nice,” Smagin told Match TV.