(July 12), D. Gukesh, a World Championship contender, will try to upstage Vidit Gujrathi in the quicker version when they play in the superunited rapid and blitz chess tournament, which is a Grand Chess Tour event.
D Gukesh, a World Championship contender, will try to upstage Vidit Gujrathi in the quicker version when they play in the Superunited rapid and blitz chess tournament, which is a Grand Chess Tour event. Gukesh, who has consistently demonstrated his superior skill in the classical format, is scheduled to face Chinese player Ding Liren in Singapore on November 20th to determine the next world champion. However, the Indian still hasn’t established himself as one of the world’s best in the faster version.
The fact remains that, should there be a tie in the World Championship, games involving rapid and blitz chess will be played to determine the winner. Gukesh would like to break the record, just as American Fabiano Caruana did in Bucharest a few days ago when he easily won his games against Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, and Frenchman Alireza Firouzja.
With a wildcard, Gujrathi will compete alongside one other Indian player for a USD 175000 prize pool. The tournament will consist of nine rounds played under rapid chess rules and eighteen under blitz chess rules.
It’s unclear who will be the master of Zagreb given that each victory is worth two points under the rapid system and one under the blitz rules, but Caruana, the top seed, has a good chance of winning back-to-back matches on the tour.
There are five playing days for Alireza and Russian player Ian Nepomniachtchi to demonstrate their true mettle. Both players have the ability to turn the tide in their favor on any given day.
The other three players in the running are American Wesley So, Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Dutchman Anish Giri. Local hero Ivan Saric and another American, Levon Aronian, round out the ten-player field.
Thus, he is still a threat but is obviously having form issues, and Vachier-Lagrave needs to establish himself once more.
In the most recent Global Chess League in Dubai, Levon Aronian guided his team to victory, but it’s obvious that the former Armenian is past his prime. Giri, however, would prefer to close it on a positive note despite experiencing mixed results with the faster version.
If Gujrathi is able to duplicate his magic, all eyes will be on him. In the previous Candidates tournament, Gujrathi emerged as one of the best-prepared players, so there’s a good chance he’ll pull some surprises here.
