New Delhi: World champion D Gukesh registered a clinical victory over world no. 2 Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the third round of the Norway Chess, to put his campaign back on track on Thursday, specially on his 19th birthday.

The win helped him open his account at the grand event being held in Stavanger as he grabbed three crucial points.

Gukesh had endured back-to-back defeats to world no. 1 Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the first two rounds, but in the third one, he put Nakamura under time pressure to win the clash in 42 moves. Nakamura, one of the best Rapid and Blitz players, had made a draw offer on move 30, which Gukesh declined and went on for a victory 12 moves later.

Playing with white pieces, Gukesh turned 19 while partaking in the third round as he got done with his clash against Nakamura. In the last two games, Gukesh was under constant time pressure but got Nakamura staring at the clock in Round 3 of the six-player double round-robin tournament.

"I feel quite good (about the win). I think my time management was much better today than before. He (Nakamura) had some drawing chances, but I guess, overall, it was good," PTI quoted Gukesh as saying, after the match. The chess prodigy has moved to fifth spot on the points table ahead of Chinese No.1 Wei Yi.

Armageddon chances, time management…

He was asked if he would be comfortable in the Armageddon tie-break as the tournament goes on, as his core strength lies in Classical chess. He replied, "Yeah, I mean, at some point it will come for sure. But right now, I'm just happy with this (win)." Gukesh had beaten China's Ding Liren to achieve the world title last December. Talking about his last two clashes, he acknowledged the fact that they were tough on him.

"Obviously, the last two games were kind of tough. But today I just tried to play it as a fresh tournament. Glad I played (like that)," the now 19-year-old said. On his first victory, it was asked if the difference from the previous losses lay in managing the clock better on Thursday, to which he conceded it was "clearly horrible." "Glad my time management and my game were pretty good (today)," he added.