A tough 27 games stretched over five days, filled with more ups and downs than a theme park ride, concluded with 19 year old Classical World Champion D. Gukesh overcoming his previous challenges in speed chess, achieving a respectable 3rd place finish at the Grand Chess Tour SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia in Zagreb on Sunday.
After taking charge of the Rapid event with a solid three point advantage over Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Gukesh’s journey almost went off track during the Blitz segment, where he suffered seven losses out of nine rounds, including five straight defeats on Saturday.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov dealt him two more losses to kick off his final day, making Gukesh’s downfall seem inevitable, until he went up against Duda. His rescue came from an unexpected ally, his own World Championship Second, along with the on form Polish Grandmaster Duda.
Duda, who was ahead 2-0 after their Rapid and initial Blitz match, appeared ready to land the final blow. He was well acquainted with Gukesh’s style, having engaged in more than 300 training blitz games with him at the behest of Gukesh’s primary coach and fellow Polish player Grzegorz Gajewski during their World Championship prep. Duda seemed set to crush Gukesh’s dreams once and for all.
However, the Indian, having lost his lead and pushed out of the top three by that point, couldn’t afford to linger on previous failures. Gukesh, competing solely on his skills, took down Duda in only 28 moves, which, in a sense, reignited his journey and set him up for a spot on the podium.
For two competitors like Gukesh and Carlsen, a draw is simply not on the table. History has seen their mutual rejection of draw proposals, like when Gukesh turned down the threefold repetition against Ding Liren on his way to winning the World Championship, or Carlsen’s famous endgame battles.
However, Sunday required a different approach. The Indian player needed to stay steady with a chance for the podium, while the Norwegian, who was comfortably ahead, aimed to maintain his lead.
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