It’s been a comeback of epic proportions from Magnus Carlsen, who is now the sole leader in the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz chess tournament in Zagreb after eight rounds of blitz on Saturday. And there has been a corresponding slump from world champion Gukesh, who lost five games in a row before securing a draw against Anish Giri in his sixth game of the day.
After eight round of blitz, Gukesh’s three-point lead at the end of the rapid section which he brought into Saturday had evaporated. The youngest world champion in history finds himself in joint second with his world chess championship second Jan-Krzysztof Duda with 15.5 points. Carlsen meanwhile had 16.5 points.
On Saturday, where all players had to play nine games, the teenage world champion lost to Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Carlsen, Ivan Saric before salvaging a draw against Anish Giri to still stay in the hunt for the top spot. Then, he lost to Alireza Firouzja before winning his first blitz game at the Zagreb event, defeating Fabiano Caruana. He is taking Praggnanandhaa in the final game of Saturday.
All players will be back for nine more rounds of blitz on Sunday.
Magnus Carlsen reacts after resigning against Gukesh in a rapid game at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2025 in Zagreb on Thursday. (PHOTO: Grand Chess Tour via Lennart Ootes)
After his win over the Indian on Saturday, Carlsen himself said that he had played a rubbish game.
“The game itself was kind of rubbish. I was really just playing old man’s chess trying to play without tactics whatsoever. But it worked out well, so cannot complain,” Carlsen told Take Take Take after beating Gukesh.
Former world champion Garry Kasparov meanwhile pointed out that beating Carlsen in the rapid event on Thursday had a huge psychological effect on the Indian teenager who currently occupies the world champion’s throne.
INTERACTIVE: How Gukesh defeated Magnus Carlsen on Thursday
INTERACTIVE: How Gukesh lost to Magnus Carlsen on Thursday
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READ MORE | Magnus Carlsen reacts to Gukesh defeat: ‘Poor from me, got soundly punished… but all credit to Gukesh’
Kasparov was once again on the official commentary studio to talk about the Carlsen vs Gukesh game on Saturday, just like he was doing on Thursday when the duo clashed in the infamous rapid encounter which Gukesh won.
“I feel pity (at Gukesh’s results), because Gukesh played such a great rapid portion. I think the win over Magnus had a huge effect on Gukesh, psychologically it’s such a big win. It was a great game,” Kasparov said while the Gukesh vs Carlsen was raging. “I thought Gukesh’s games were feeble yesterday and today. Because it’s very fast and he’s not probably ready to show his skills in blitz. In blitz, every gram of your energy that is being wasted for something else just has a very negative effect. The games he lost today, some of them were just terrible. Losing to Magnus I understand, but anybody can lose the game. But even this game, we didn’t see his tenacity.”
READ MORE | Garry Kasparov explains why playing Gukesh is ‘like playing a computer’: Have to beat him 5 times… he has many lives in each game
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After Gukesh lost to Carlsen, Kasparov added: “Losing four games in a row, somehow it now resembles, on the negative side, his outstanding performance in rapid, where he won five in a row. I hope it will not be the laws of physics, you know, the impact and the reflection.
Asked how Gukesh should manage to recover from the slump, Kasparov said: “I don’t know. I think he should now just somehow recover his composure. Forget about the tournament. Just start playing. I think it’s probably just too much pressure. ‘I have to play well.’ He’s still doing fine. He finds many great moves. But he needs to somehow drop this luggage, which is not easy, I understand. He’s losing all his games in a row. There’s little time to recover. But he’s too young. I wish him well, because we want to see more competition.”
