World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen pulled off a phenomenal feat by winning all his nine games on Day 1 in Blitz.
| Photo Credit: Twitter@GrandChessTour
Young Indian Grandmaster D. Gukesh finished fifth while his illustrious compatriot Viswanathan Anand could only manage a tied seventh place in the third leg of the 2023 SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Chess tournament.
Gukesh, who had a moderate performance on Day 1 of the Blitz segment, bounced back well on the second day to pick up 6.5 points which included wins over Anand and top players like Fabiano Caruana (USA) and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland). Gukesh, who beat Anand for the first time ever in tournament play in the Rapid segment, got the better of the five-time world champion in 34 moves in the blitz on July 9.
Also Read | Grand Chess Tour: Anand has moderate day; Gukesh shines with twin wins
The 17-year-old Indian star began the second day of the Blitz section with a win over Richard Rapport (Romania) and then stunned the highly-rated Caruana. After going down to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Gukesh turned the tables on Anand.
A defeat to Alireza Firouzja was followed by three straight wins — over Constantin Lupulescu (Romania), Duda and Ivan Saric (Croatia). He ended the tournament with a draw against Ian Nepomniachtchi and a score of 19.5 points (Rapid + blitz).
Anand, who had started the tourney in style in the Rapid segment, had to endure a poor run, scoring only three points on Day 1 of the Blitz and logging 3.5 points on the second day. The veteran Indian ended with 16.5 points.
Carlsen capped off an incredible blitz performance to win the top prize a score of 26 points out of a possible 36, taking home a first-place prize of $40,000. Finishing in second place was Nepomniachtchi (22.5), with Caruana (21.5) taking third place and Firouzja (21) fourth.
Carlsen who won all his nine games on July 8 in Blitz, saw the streak snapped in the first round of the day, as he failed to convert a slightly better endgame against Caruana. The Norwegian then drew with Duda before uncorking four straight wins against Gukesh, Saric, Anand, and Nepomniachtchi to clinch tournament victory. The tournament saw 9 rounds of rapid and 18 rounds of Blitz being played.
The Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, featuring the world’s best players.
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