The Candidates champion, D Gukesh, staged an impressive comeback on the second day of SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2024, earning 5/6 points at the rapid phase in Zagreb, Croatia, on Thursday.
The Indian registered two wins and a draw in the three rounds of day-2 action of the rapid phase at the event. He managed to bag the wins against top GMs like Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
He also played out a long 51-move draw against fellow Indian, Vidit Gujrathi in the fifth round.
Gukesh has now jumped up to a tied third position in the standings with 7-points after six rounds, trailing by two points to the leader.
The young Indian will be high on confidence before heading in for the final day of rapid phase as he earned both of his wins despite having black pieces in hand.
Gukesh will now be aiming to finish the rapid phase at the top of the standings.
His next match in round seven is against the leader and the last week champion, Fabiano Caruana of USA. This match might well decide the winner of the rapid phase of this competition.
On the other hand, Vidit Gujrathi’s losing streak of four consecutive matches came to an end as he finally got his first points on the board with two draws against Gukesh and Anish Giri of Netherlands in round 5 and 6 respectively.
However, he is still lagging behind and currently at the bottom of the standings with just two points on board and has to play catch up on the final day of rapid event on Friday.
Day-3 Schedule
Round-7:
D Gukesh (W) Vs Fabiano Caruana (B)
Vidit Gujrathi (B) Vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (W)
Round-8:
D Gukesh (B) Vs Levon Aronian (W)
Vidit Gujrathi (B) Vs Alireza Firouzja (W)
Round-9:
D Gukesh (W) Vs Ivan Saric (B)
Vidit Gujrathi (W) Vs Ian Nepomniachtchi (B)