India, Feb. 10 -- D Gukesh lost to Fabiano Caruana in the first game of their ongoing quarter-final clash at the Weissenhaus leg, of the ongoing Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Gukesh was handpicked by Caruana after the round-robin stage, and the India No. 1 crashed to a second straight loss. He had also lost to Magnus Carlsen in the final round of the preliminary stage.

Gukesh and Caruana will meet again on Monday and the reigning world champion will look to stage a comeback.

Gukesh's weakness in non-classical format was perfectly showcased once again, as it had been in his defeat to Carlsen. It started off on an equal note, but soon the momentum shifted to Caruana's favour, who secured the win with a sensational 40.Rf3!!

It was only...