Grandmaster agrees to draw with Carlsen despite winning position

Jan-Krzysztof Duda agreed to a draw with Magnus Carlsen in a stalemated position, despite having a winning advantage in round three of the rapid chess tournament at the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb.

Playing white, Duda opened with the Four Knights Game against Carlsen. The two players quickly exchanged pieces, leaving only queens and pawns on the board in the endgame. Carlsen managed to advance a pawn to c3. However, his black king was pushed to the edge of the board and was in danger of being perpetually checked.

Therefore, Carlsen was forced to use his queen to continuously check Duda, seeking a draw. Duda had a way to move his king into the corner and avoid the perpetual check. But he seemed concerned about the advancing pawn potentially promoting, so he didn't hide his king and accepted the stalemate.

The position after move 62...Qb2. Carlsen (black) repeatedly checks with his queen from b7 to b2, a mistake according to computer analysis. Duda could move his king to g1 to avoid the perpetual check, but he feared the black pawn's promotion. He accepted moving his king to f3, resulting in a stalemate.

This isn't the first time an opponent has agreed to a draw with Carlsen in a winning position. In the winners' bracket final of the Champions Chess Tour on 22/5, world number two Hikaru Nakamura had a winning advantage but resigned against Carlsen.

Commenting on Duda's decision to draw, Nakamura said, "This game shows how strong Carlsen is. Duda once had a standard Elo rating of 2,760, ranked 13th in the world. But he's afraid of Carlsen, wants a quick draw,".

The Norwegian player finished the first day with one win against Wesley So, two draws against Ivan Saric and Duda, earning 4 points. He is currently among the leaders, tied with Gukesh Dommaraju, So, and Duda. The 19-year-old world champion started with a loss to Duda but won both subsequent games against Alireza Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. He shares the lead despite being the second-to-last seed, based on rapid chess Elo.

Carlsen during his game against Duda in the third round of the rapid chess tournament at the Grand Chess Tour, Westin Zagreb Hotel, Zagreb, Croatia, 2/7/2025. Photo: GCT/Lennart Ootes

The second day of competition begins at 8:10 PM today, Tuesday. Carlsen will play white against Firouzja, while Gukesh will play black against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The highlight of the day will be the round six match at 11:10 PM, with Carlsen playing white against Gukesh.

Before the tournament, Carlsen also mentioned that he would approach games against Gukesh as he would against the weakest players in the tournament. This is because the world standard chess champion is not highly regarded in rapid and blitz formats.

The Zagreb leg of the Grand Chess Tour takes place from 2/7 to 6/7 at the Westin Zagreb Hotel in Zagreb, Croatia, featuring 9 rounds of rapid chess and 18 rounds of blitz chess. The 10 players participating in the tournament, ranked by descending rapid chess Elo, are: Carlsen, Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Abdusattorov, So, Duda, Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, Gukesh, and Saric.