D Gukesh leads with 14 points in Grand Chess Tour after five consecutive victories

After three days of rapid chess, reigning World Champion D Gukesh is leading at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament, a part of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, in Zagreb, Croatia, scoring 14 points out of 18 before heading to the blitz portion of the tournament. Gukesh on Friday finished at the top of the chart with 14 points, followed by Jan-Krzysztof Duda with 11 points, and Magnus Carlsen is third with 10 points.

Despite beginning day three with a victory, Magnus Carlsen was limited to two draws, maintaining his position right behind the frontrunners. With nine points apiece, Fabiano Caruana and R Praggnanandhaa are tied for fourth place. With 8 points each, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, and Anish Giri are all tied.

On Day 3, Gukesh shook hands after a calm draw against Dutch GM Anish Giri as they approached a nearly locked middlegame. The second game of the day, against Croatia's Ivan Aric, also finished in a draw. In the final match of the day, after two draws, they eventually defeated Wesley to end on 14 points.

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen made an encouraging start to the final day, defeating Fabiano Caruana in his opening game, but a subsequent draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov put paid to his chances of closing the gap and another draw against Anish Giri in the final game of the day.

The other Indian on the court, R Praggnanandhaa, had a less exciting performance. He won once, against Ivan Saric, and tied seven of his nine matches, earning nine points overall. Gukesh's campaign got off to a rocky start with an early setback - a first-round loss to Jan-Krzysztof Duda. However, this only resulted in an amazing turnaround. Gukesh seized command of the leaderboard by winning five straight games, including a masterful defeat of Carlsen in Round 4. (ANI)