Gukesh misses out on top spot despite improved performance as Carlsen wins SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz 2025

D Gukesh had a slightly better run on Sunday, the second day of the Blitz competition at SuperUnited Croatia, the Grand Chess Tour's event in Zagreb, by collecting three wins and two draws. That, however, did not prove enough for the Indian Grandmaster to retain the top spot in the tournament standings as Magnus Carlsen clinched the title with a final score of 22.5 points.

Gukesh had finished as the top player at the end of the Rapid section of the tournament with 14 points, finishing well ahead of Polish Grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda (11) and Carlsen (10), producing the kind of performance that helped him shatter his image of being a Classical-specialist.

The 19-year-old GM, however, undid his hard work in the Rapid rounds by losing his first five Blitz games on the trot on Saturday, the penultimate day of the competition, and ending the day with seven losses in nine outings.

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Gukesh puts up improved Blitz performance on final day at Zagreb

That stretched to nine defeats in 11 games after the chess star from Chennai began the final day of the tournament with back-to-back losses – against Wesley So and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. He would later collect victories over Duda, Ivan Saric and Fabiano Caruana besides holding Carlsen and compatriot R Praggnanandhaa to a draw.

Despite his improved performance on Sunday, Gukesh finished at the bottom of the Blitz standings with 5.5 points. As for the overall standings, he finished third, behind Carlsen and American GM So.

Carlsen, who had suffered a second defeat against Praggnanandhaa in as many tournaments last week, was off to a strong start on Day 1 of the Blitz event with six wins and three draws – against Duda, So and Dutch GM Anish Giri.

So, on the other hand, had a poor run in the Rapid games but bounced back in Blitz to finish second with 20 points, half-a-point ahead of Gukesh.