Superunited Rapid and Blitz: Gukesh seventh; Caruana finishes on top

Zagreb: D Gukesh finished on seventh spot, the best among Indians, while top seeded Fabiano Caruana clinched the Superunited Rapid and Blitz with a dominant effort here.

Gukesh logged 14 points in the event, while the other Indian player in the fray Vidit Gujrathi finished ninth with 11 points.

It turned out to be a fine performance by Caruana following his victory in the Superbet Classic here.

Caruana scored a record 27 points in the tournament that had nine rounds in rapid and 18 in Blitz and the American was clearly dominant as the nearest rivals finished as many as four points behind.

The American also added $40000 to his kitty and equalled the 27-points record set by Norwegian World number one Magnus Carlsen in 2019.

The second place was shared by Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and American Wesley So after all tallied 23 points apiece.

Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia was a distant fifth on 18.5 points ahead of American Levon Aronian who scored 17.

Gukesh ended the event on 14 points and yet again his performance in the faster version will be reviewed by his team ahead of the World Championship match scheduled in November against China’s Ding Liren.

For the records, Anish Giri ended on 8th spot on 13. 5 points, and the last place went to Ivan Saric of Croatia who finished on 10 points.

Caruana also surged ahead in the Grand Chess tour standings that was led by Indian Praggnanadhaa coming into this tournament.

With Praggnanandhaa out of the fray here, Caruana now leads the table on 22.5 points ahead of Firouzja who has 17.58 points.

Praggnanandhaa slipped to third place with 16.25 points and will have to take his chances in the last two events scheduled in Saint Louis, USA, in August this year.

For Gukesh, the Rapid section went decently on 9 points out of a possible 18 wherein he scored three wins, three draws and three losses but in the blitz section the Indian could muster just five points out of 18 games.

On the contrary, Gujrathi was better in blitz as he scored seven points in all but in the rapid segment he struggled with just one win and two draws.

Final results: 1. Fabiano Caruana (USA, 27); 2-4. Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (both Fra), Wesley So (USA) all 23. 5. Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID, 18.5); 6. Levon Aronian (USA, 17); 7. D Gukesh (Ind, 14); 8. Anish Giri (Ned, 13.5); 9. Vidit Gujrathi (Ind, 11); 10. Ivan Saric (Cro, 10).