The world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen was held after round six of the Superbet quick and blitz event in Warsaw on Friday by D Gukesh, who recovered from a calm start to upset fellow countryman R Praggnanandhaa and Germany’s Vincent Keymer.
The world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen was held after round six of the Superbet quick and blitz tournament in Warsaw on Friday by challenger D Gukesh, who recovered from a slow start to beat Germany’s Vincent Keymer and compatriot R Praggnanandhaa. But in the fifth round, Praggnanandhaa won convincingly against Anish Giri of Holland, and in the sixth round, he triumphed over Keymer. Praggnanandhaaa and Shevchenko share the third position with seven points apiece, while Norway’s Carlsen and China’s Wei Yi are tied for the lead with eight points apiece.
Local sensation Duda Jan-Kryzstof is trailing by one point, while Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, Gukesh, and Arjun Erigaisi are tied for fifth place with six points each.
In the $175000 prize money tournament, Keymer is one point ahead of Giri in ninth place with four points.
Erigaisi, however, stopped Romanian Kirill Shevchenko’s incredible streak by winning the competition for the first time.
After losing the first two rounds and only drawing once, Gukesh showed tenacity to defeat Praggnanandhaaa in 41 moves in the fourth round.
In the middle game that resulted from White’s double fianchetto, Gukesh had little opportunity to advance his pieces, and his position deteriorated as Praggnanandhaaa attacked the King side.
Under extreme strain, both Praggnanandhaaa and Gukesh were on the verge of victory, but Praggnanandhaaa lost his composure and Gukesh recovered decisively.
In the subsequent round, Praggnanandhaa executed some challenging tactics to eliminate Giri in just 21 moves from an uneven Queen pawn position.
Giri made a mistake early on as a result of a cunning rook move.
Making the most of his opportunities, Gukesh destroyed Keymer, the white player. Due to the tactical difficulties, Keymer found himself in a crazy situation in the middle game when his king was taking a long stroll.
From there, he struggled to recover, and Gukesh sacrificed a queen to win the game.
After losing to Duda in the first match of the day, Arjun produced a masterful performance to defeat Shevchenko.
Arjun stayed close to the leader’s group throughout the day’s final game, playing to a draw with Abdusattorov.
For the second day in a row, Carlsen held his composure to record one win and two draws. His triumph over Abdusattorov in the fifth round served as a reminder of his superior ability to subdue an opponent, while his loss to Gukesh prevented him from signing a peace agreement.
The day’s standout player was Wei Yi, who combined with three straight wins to tie Carlsen for the lead.
After winning their opening match against Giri, the Chinese defeated Duda and handed Shevchenko his second loss of the day.
Results of the sixth round of the Rapid are as follows: 1-2 Carlsen, Wei Yi, 8 points each; 3-4 Shevchenko, Praggnanandhaa, 7 points each; 5-7: Duda (5 points), Keymer (4 points), Arjun (6 points), Abdusattorov (6 points), and Giri (3 points).
