Bengaluru, July 23 -- World champion D Gukesh must be relieved that the ordeal of a super tournament in his hometown is finally over. For a while, it seemed he was in real danger of slipping below the 2700 Elo mark. He finished the Chennai Grand Masters in last place with 2/7 points, making it one of the most difficult events of his career. Alireza Firouzja won the tournament after staving off attacks from Arjun Erigasi to draw their final round game. Arjun, who needed a win for the title, had to be content with third place after Dmitry Andreikin finished second on tiebreaks. Gukesh lost two games from winning positions, leaving him precariously placed at 2702.9 on Tuesday. He lost 14 Elo points in this tournament alone. Playing White, Gukesh gave up his bishop to go for a quick 19-move draw by repetition against American grandmaster Hans Niemann in the final round on Wednesday, which spared him a further slide. The world champion ended on 2703.1. Niemann, while admittedly baffled with Gukesh's play, spoke of recovering from a slump in form in chess being an isolating process. "I could obviously understand that the tournament isn't going well so he doesn't want to continue. But it's funny.I mean it's very rare that you win in the opening with Black against a world champion. I should have been more optimistic," Niemann told mediapersons. "The main reason why we've seen Ding and Gukesh do poorly is that they were never the best players in the world, not even close to it. "When things go badly, people can try to tell you why, but no one is inside your mind. Improvement during those periods is very isolating. Chess is such an abstract sport and pinpointing the exact reason is really difficult. I would say it is mostly a mindset thing." He doesn't rule out a comeback by Gukesh in the World Championship match against Javokhir Sindarov later this year. "If he starts well, regains his confidence and takes control, his prime form could return," Niemann said....