The world championship challenger Dommaraju Gukesh had an off-day at the board on day three of the SuperUnited Rapid Croatia
Gukesh lost two of the last three rounds and finished seventh with a score of nine points.
Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi also faltered in rapid chess, scoring a mere single victory against Alireza Friouza in round eight of the game and finished ninth with just one win and two draws.
Fabiano Caruana decimated the tournament claiming 15/18 points, with no losses and just three draws.
Gukesh vs Caruana
A queen’s gambit declined by Caruana, continued swiftly till the 32nd move. The 33rd move gave him the chance to win the match.
Gukesh failed to find the tricky move to gain an advantage and committed two blunders.
Caruana played very game actively and made Gukesh resign from the board, diminishing his chance of winning the tournament.
A victory for Gukesh would have levelled the playing field, potentially creating a five-way tie for first place.
However, Caruana’s triumph extended his lead by two points, leaving Gukesh to face further challenges in the upcoming round.
Gukesh further lost to the American Levon Aronian. As the opening went wrong, Aronian gave up his queen, in the Sicilian.
This decision proved disastrous for the Indian GM as his opponent’s pieces and pawns overwhelmed his queen, turning the game into a nightmare.
Gukesh registered a consolation win in his last Rapid game against the hometown hero Ivan Saric.
Superunited Blitz
The Blitz section at Zagreb will begin today and the format for the same will be five-minute games with plus two-second increments per move.
It is going to be a double-round robin tournament and will also further decide the leader of the Grand Chess Tour.
The viewers can catch the action it live at chessbaseIndia YouTube from 8:30 pm IST onwards.