Indian Chess Grandmaster Gukesh, the world’s youngest champion, finished in sixth place in the Super Rapid Blitz. Moke Wilberforce Hanscool of the USA finished first during the final rounds, taking the prestigious Grand Slam Blitz title and $50,000. Wilberforce dominated the event even in the final round.
Many of Grandmaster Gukesh’s hopes were dashed in the rapid and blitz. After blitzing through nine rapid and 18 blitz, he racked up 17 of 36 possible points. Due to the immense potential Grandmaster Gukesh has, the expectation was that he would place well in the tournament. Grandmaster Gukesh finished due to poor rapid performance during the points race. Gukesh only brought home nine points in the rapid split. His performance was a source of major concern. Grand Tour Gukesh only finished behind in the rankings due to the final day.
D Gukesh Ends Campaign in Mid-Table
Grandmaster Gukesh brought his game and confidence on the last day of the tournament. The last day of the tournament was challenging, but he overcame the challenge through focus and determination that dropped Gukesh below the other grandmasters in the standings. Grandmaster Gukesh showcased the young and aggressive.
However, in Gukesh’s most noteworthy defeat, he was bested in almost all categories by Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov, who won the tournament’s three encounters in head-to-head battles, going 2-1 against Gukesh. Earlier this year, Gukesh chose to omit the main classical events of the Grand Chess Tour to center his attention on rapid and blitz events, as a part of his tight international tour schedule.
The Indian prodigy, Gukesh, is likely to see Sindarov in a special match again later this year and will also participate in the highly prestigious Norway Chess, which will host the world’s best players.
As the tournament started closing, the still self-assured, Hans Niemann started his surge to the top of the tournament as he was able to take the last two rounds, and ended the tournament by beating Polish Grandmaster, Radoslaw Wojtaszek in the last round, a finish that Frank Theron described as a highly impressive game of chess.
Strong Finish Helps Gukesh Recover
The Grand Chess Tour will now move to the first of the 4 Super Classics in Bucharest, Romania. The next tourney will have R Praggnanandhaa set as the only Indian on hand. It will surely be a challenge competing against the world’s top Grandmasters.
Here are the Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz standings.
- Hans Moke Niemann (USA) 22.5
- Fabiano Caruana (USA) 22
- Wesley So (USA) 21
- Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia) 18
- Alireza Firouzja (France) 17.5
- D Gukesh (India) 17
- Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) 16.5
- Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) 16.5
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) 16.5
- Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland) 12.5