The World Champion Gukesh dominated the rapid section of the Grand Chess Tour Croatia, co-leading after day 1, continuing to sole lead in day 2, and finally Gukesh finished top of the table after the rapid stage.
But few saw what was coming in the first day of the blitz – Carlsen in beast mode! Carlsen completed day 1 of the blitz with 7,5/9, defeating Caruana, Firouzja, Pragg, Abdusattorov, and Gukesh along the way. The loss of Gukesh from Carlsen was not the only bad news for the Indian player, as he finished with only 1,5/9, losing seven of the nine games he played.
Calendar: Magnus Carlsen next tournaments / Wesley So next tournament / Gukesh next tournaments
Carlsen commented on Gukesh’s day for chess24: “The score is shocking… The good thing for Gukesh is it couldn’t really have gone any worse… Hopefully for his sake he can calm down and play with a different attitude tomorrow, because now he doesn’t really have anything to lose.” Duda also praised Carlsen, “I’m not sure I can do anything, to be honest, because it’s mostly about Magnus. Once he’s on a roll, he makes 9/9 or something, you can’t really do anything. I just have to focus on my chess!” referring to the Magnus Carlsen’s win at the Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025
Grand Chess Tour SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia
Former World Champion Magnus Carlsen surged into the lead with a powerful performance, bringing his total score to 17.5 points after nine blitz rounds. Meanwhile, World Champion Gukesh D, who led the field after the rapid portion, had a difficult day on the board, scoring just 1.5 out of 9 in blitz. The setback drops him to third place with 15.5 points, behind Carlsen and Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who now holds sole second place with 16.0 points. With nine more blitz rounds still to play, the title race remains open.
More: Grand Chess Tour Croatia 2025 LIVE rapid / Grand Chess Tour 2025 Rapid Zagreb information / Grand Chess Tour 2025 – Zagreb Blitz information / Pairings
