Carlsen Reigns in SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia
source: chess.com
Magnus Carlsen won the 2025 SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz, topping the event by an impressive 2.5-point margin.
source: chess.com
This marks his 10th victory out of 12 Grand Chess Tour rapid & blitz events. This is also his sixth consecutive title in this year following victories at Chessable Masters, Paris Freestyle, Grenke Freestyle, Chess.com Classic, and Norway Chess.
The early days saw teenage world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in the lead, winning five rapid games in a row including consecutive victories over Carlsen. Gukesh ended the rapid with a score of 14/18, a three-point lead from the closest pursuer. Carlsen, meanwhile was chasing the pack with a modest score of 10/18.
On day 4 of blitz, Carlsen rallied with a 7.5/9 blitz score, while Gukesh slowed down with a measly 1.5/9. This surge put Carlsen into the lead.
Wesley So in Clear 2nd Place
Our countryman, Wesley So, was in clear second place after a wild game against American World No. 3, Fabiano Caruana.
Wesley's best game was against Gukesh where he sacrificed a Knight on g7 for a crushing attack against Gukesh's King.
https://lichess.org/ztDQRu8i#57
Wesley's wild game. Caruana made the last blunder with 48. a7??
Afterwhich Wesley simply captured White's rook with 48. ...Qxa1. 49. a1=Q loses to 49. ...Nf2+ 50. Qxf2 Qxa1+ 51. Qg2 Qxg2 checkmate!
https://lichess.org/broadcast/gct-2025-superunited-rapid--blitz-croatia/blitz-18/5EuE6SCO/V4NNZ4bt
What's Next?
The tour moves to the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz in August, followed by the Sinquefield Cup (classical) and will end in the Tour Finals in São Paulo at the end of September.
The only downside of the Grand Chess Tour is the covering of the event with the terribly annoying Yasser Sereiwan. The commentary by e.g. Peter Leko or David Howell is much better.
I agree.I switch to Chessbase India coverage even if they sometimes speak Indian language. Yasser's soothing voice is somewhat boring.
Yes, chessbase India talk more about the actual position and less blabla, just when they make these puzzles/quizes and then name all who got the right answer 😆
There are different styles of commentary, it does not make much difference to me
On that note David Howell and Jovanka Houska are good duo imo
First day and Gukesh lead was super performance
To make up for the first day points and close gap with blitz was another super performance by Magnus
With more experience and work on blitz Gukesh will do good in these time formats.
And Carlsen in Blitz was so good. Game by game - you think now someone will make a leap and get win but even in close positions he kept cool and games went to his favor.
Good event in Zagreb.
His wins against Carlsen in Rapid were great but he needs to improve in Blitz to be able to compete with the best in these events.