D Gukesh loses to Nihal Sarin in Menorca Masters comeback after 2026 schedule rethink

World Champion D Gukesh suffered a crushing loss to fellow Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin in the Menorca Masters 2026 as he made his first comeback since admitting the struggle for form and taking the big call on restructuring his schedule. The defeat to Sarin was Gukesh's first loss at the Menorca Masters after starting with draws against Leinier Dominguez Perez and Ruslan Ponomariov.

On 31 March, 19-year-old Gukesh surprised the chess world by revealing that he is cutting down on his schedule for 2026 to focus more on training and recovery as the Indian Grandmaster gets ready to defend his world title.

Gukesh's restructures 2026 schedule

Gukesh admitted that he has been forced to take such a big call due to his prolonged poor form, due to which he has failed to win a single big tournament since winning the World Chess Championship in December 2024.

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“My performance in the last few events has been quite disappointing, not just for me, but for all of you who support me,” Gukesh wrote on X. “In order to find my best form my team and I have decided that I should compete with slightly less intensity over the next few months. Consequently, we feel it is in my best interest to skip long events away from home to allow for more dedicated training time.

“With this in mind, I approached the Grand Chess Tour organizers and asked to play only two European Rapid & Blitz events. They were very supportive and understanding, and we agreed that I would participate in the Rapid & Blitz tournaments in Warsaw and Zagreb this year. I’m very grateful for their support. Respectfully, I am not planning to play any other events during the Grand Chess Tour schedule and will certainly be back for the full Grand Chess Tour in the future.”

Gukesh suffers defeat in comeback to Sarin

Gukesh, however, has decided to fulfill his commitment at Menorca Masters 2026, which is a six-player rapid invitational chess tournament. He began the tournament with a draw against Cuban and American chess Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez Perez in the double round-robin format tournament.

Gukesh then played out a draw against Ponomariov before losing to Nihal Sarin with Black pieces. The match lasted 34 moves before Gukesh was forced to resign.

Here's how Sarin defeated Gukesh:

With some quick and sharp moves, Nihal had Gukesh's king stuck in the centre and his Queen and Bishop primed to launch a decisive attack.

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. Qf2