Latest news with #SuperUnitedRapid&BlitzCroatia2025
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First Post
10-07-2025
- Sport
- First Post
D Gukesh's secret to his latest win over Magnus Carlsen revealed: 'Chess wise, it's a tricky period'
D Gukesh stunned world No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the Rapid section of the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia as the world chess champion finished third in the tournament. Gukesh's coach Grzegorz Gajewski has now revealed how the famous win was made possible. read more World chess champion D Gukesh's famous win over world No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the Rapid section of the Grand Chess Tour event in Zagreb was a result of the 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster spending hours practicing faster time controls and making improvements to his overall game. By finishing third at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2025 and first in the Rapid section of the event, Gukesh showed that he is making rapid strides in the faster formats of chess. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Gukesh, who won the World Chess Championship at a record age of 18 last December against Ding Liren, is largely seen as someone who is only good at the Classical format. He has often found himself at sea in faster formats like Rapid and Blitz and Freestyle Chess, where a player doesn't always have the required time for calculations and a lot of moves are made based on gut feeling. In that context, Gukesh's recent performance at SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia was a welcome change as he defeated Carlsen in the Rapid section, his second consecutive win over arguably the greatest chess player of all time, after beating him at Norway Chess in Classical format. Gukesh's secret to his latest victory over Carlsen Gukesh's coach, Grzegorz Gajewski, who guided him to the world title, has revealed that the Chennai chess star is now dedicating significant time to practicing faster time controls and working on exercises to sharpen his play in Rapid and Blitz formats. 'We are doing some exercises strictly devoted to the faster time controls,' Gajewski told the New Indian Express. 'Just some training games and exercises.' Also Read | Gukesh shatters image of a one-format champion with latest victory over Carlsen and Rapid title in Croatia Gajewski added that besides getting Gukesh ready for faster time controls, he is also focussed on helping the Indian chess sensation deal with the growing pressure and expectations by reminding him that he is only 19. 'Chess wise, it's a tricky period because as world champion, the expectation is that much higher,' Gajewski said. 'In the process, many people forget that he's only 19. Sometimes, he even forgets that he's only 19. It's about managing his own ambitions, he's of course very hungry and just wanting to crush everybody on the board. But the reality is that the competition is very strong and many of his opponents are older, even the very young guys are older than him.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Polish GM, who has also worked with five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, said the broader focus is not just on improving in one format, but on enhancing Gukesh's overall chess skills — a process that will make him a more well-rounded and formidable player. 'For me, the most important thing is for Gukesh to develop as a player not in terms of Classical or Rapid or Blitz… there are many areas to improve and once he improves in those areas he will become stronger in all formats. You just focus on the improvements.'
India Today
02-07-2025
- Sport
- India Today
Magnus Carlsen makes bold assessment of Gukesh at Grand Chess: One of weaker players
Magnus Carlsen has reignited his rivalry with reigning world champion D. Gukesh by making a stark, unapologetic assessment ahead of their highly anticipated clash at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2025. The world No. 1 openly questioned the 18-year-old's credentials in faster formats, suggesting Gukesh remains unproven and, in his words, 'one of the presumably weaker players' in the tournament think Gukesh played quite well here last time,' Carlsen said in the pre-tournament press conference in Zagreb. 'But it remains to be proven that he's one of the best players in this format. We have a very, very strong field Gukesh hasn't done anything to indicate that he's going to do well in such a tournament. I hope, for his sake, that he can do better. But playing him in this tournament, I will approach it as if I'm playing one of the presumably weaker players.'The blunt remarks add fresh fuel to a rivalry that has been simmering since their last meeting in Stavanger. At Norway Chess last month, Gukesh stunned Carlsen in a dramatic classical game, coming from behind to hand the Norwegian a rare defeat from a winning position. Carlsen, visibly anguished, thumped the table in frustration—sending pieces scattering in a moment that quickly went viral and captured the shock of a five-time world champion undone by an That encounter came in classical time controls, where Gukesh has made his mark. But the third leg of the Grand Chess Tour, starting July 3 in Zagreb, shifts to rapid and blitz—a domain long dominated by Carlsen, and where Gukesh has had limited two are set to face off three times during the event—once in rapid and twice in blitz—between July 3 and 6. Their clash on July 3 will mark the first meeting since that unforgettable Round 6 battle at Norway Chess, where Carlsen's implosion and Gukesh's composure flipped the Gukesh, who earlier this year became the youngest classical world champion in history, the challenge now is to prove he belongs among the elite in the shorter formats. He'll have company in compatriot Praggnanandhaa R, winner of the Bucharest leg of the tour, and one of the most in-form players on the meanwhile, isn't short on confidence. When asked to name the top contenders, he was direct: 'If I'm in good shape, it will take something special to beat me.' He picked Alireza Firouzja as his 'clear second favourite', leaving little doubt as to how he sees the field—and his place in may be the world champion, but Carlsen's words are a reminder of who still sees himself as the game's benchmark. The challenge, then, is for the young Indian to rise to the pace of rapid and blitz—formats where instinct and experience often trump the eve of the tournament, former world champion Garry Kasparov offered a pointed bit of advice—perhaps as much to Gukesh as to the chess world's rising generation: 'The moment you stop improving—actually, the moment you stop thinking about improving—it's over. I stayed on top for so long because I knew that the main opponent is your own excellence The moment you rest, you know it won't take long to decline.'- EndsTrending Reel
Indian Express
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Magnus Carlsen says Gukesh is ‘one of weaker players at Grand Chess Tour': ‘Hope for his sake that he can play better'
Magnus Carlsen has fired a fresh salvo at the reigning world champion Gukesh, questioning his credentials in the shorter time controls by saying that the youngest classical world champion in history 'hasn't done anything to indicate he's going to do well in such a tournament.' Carlsen was speaking ahead of the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2025, where he will face off on the board against Gukesh for the first time since that infamous table smashing incident at the Norway Chess, where he had lost his cool after suffering his first defeat in classical chess to the teenager from India. Carlsen had been incensed after throwing away a winning position against the Indian and then losing the game, his first loss ever in classical chess against the boy who now occupies the world champion's throne that was so willingly vacated by the Norwegian a few years back. But the Norway Chess tournament was a classical event while the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2025 will see players face off in the faster time controls of rapid and blitz where Gukesh has struggled in the past. 'Gukesh hasn't done anything to indicate that he's going to do well in such a tournament,' Carlsen told the organisers in an interview before the tournament in Zagreb. 'Gukesh actually played quite well here last time,' Carlsen conceded before adding: 'But it remains to be proven that he's one of the best players in such a format. This is a very, very strong field that we have here. Players like Gukesh and Anish Giri… they have a lot to prove because there aren't a lot of players you can feast on. In the course of 27 rounds, things usually show. I hope for Gukesh's sake that he can play better, but playing him in this tournament I will sort of approach it as I'm playing one of the presumably weaker players in the tournament actually.' The SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia is the third leg of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour. Besides Carlsen and Gukesh, the field will include players like Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Ivan Saric. Players will play nine rounds of rapid and 18 rounds of blitz which means Carlsen will face off against Gukesh once in rapid and twice in blitz. The rapid game will happen on Thursday, with the blitz games in the days after that. Carlsen, who arrived at the tournament after a two-week-long honeymoon with his wife Ella, said that players like Caruana and Firouzja would be the favourites here. After Carlsen had smashed his fist on the table at Stavanger in response to blundering away a winning position against Gukesh at Norway Chess, former world champion Garry Kasparov had joked that they will get 'heavier tables' for the Zagreb event in anticipation of Carlsen playing there. When Carlsen was asked if he would check the strength of the tables before his game, the world no 1 said with a smile: 'No, I plan to make good moves so that those gestures won't be necessary.' Asked if he had seen any of the countless memes that had emerged after the incident, Carlsen said: 'I haven't seen any memes. I mean, for me, it was a painful loss for sure. And I mean, I understand there's going to be discourse around it, but it doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy it. I would have much preferred to win the game the way that I should. I think overall it's good for publicity is good for chess, but no, I don't go around looking out for those things.'
