Gukesh dominates Grand Chess Tour, leaving Carlsen trailing

19-year-old world champion Gukesh Dommaraju leads the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb after the rapid chess section with 14 points, 4 points ahead of Magnus Carlsen.

On the final day of rapid chess, Gukesh drew with Anish Giri and Ivan Saric, then defeated Wesley So. He finished this section with 6 wins, two draws, and one loss, earning 14 points. The Indian representative significantly outperformed his rivals, despite his initial Elo rating being second to last.

Carlsen also gained three points on Tuesday, with a victory against Fabiano Caruana and two draws against Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Anish Giri. The world's number one player remains in third place with 10 points. Polish player Jan-Krzysztof Duda is second with 11 points, three points behind Gukesh.

The youngest world standard chess champion in history, at the age of 18, Gukesh Dommaraju. Photo: FIDE

The youngest world standard chess champion in history, at the age of 18, Gukesh Dommaraju. Photo: FIDE

Gukesh initially had only a 0.3% chance of winning this tournament, based on rapid and blitz chess Elo ratings. However, he now has the greatest opportunity after the rapid chess section. The three-point difference with Duda is equivalent to three blitz chess victories. But with players competing in 18 blitz games, anything can happen.

Today, Wednesday, the blitz chess section begins at 8:05 PM, Hanoi time. Carlsen plays black against Giri, while Gukesh plays white against So. In the Grand Chess Tour rapid chess, each player has 25 minutes for a game, plus 10 seconds after each move (25+10). The blitz chess format is only 5+2.

Gukesh, playing black, will face Carlsen again in the fourth round of blitz chess at 9:35 PM. A victory in this game would mark the 19-year-old's third consecutive win against Carlsen across all three chess formats. This is a rare occurrence since the Norwegian first became world number one 15 years ago.

The Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb brings together 10 players, competing in a single round-robin of rapid chess and two rounds of blitz chess from July 2nd to 6th at the Westin Zagreb Hotel in Zagreb, Croatia. The 10 participating players, ranked by descending rapid chess Elo, are: Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja, Caruana, Abdusattorov, So, Duda, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Giri, Gukesh, and Saric.