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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
SuperUnited Rapid Croatia Tournament

Dommaraju Gukesh7/9(+6 -1 =2)[games]
Jan-Krzysztof Duda5.5/9(+2 -0 =7)[games]
Magnus Carlsen5/9(+2 -1 =6)[games]
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa4.5/9(+1 -1 =7)[games]
Fabiano Caruana4.5/9(+3 -3 =3)[games]
Anish Giri4/9(+2 -3 =4)[games]
Wesley So4/9(+2 -3 =4)[games]
Alireza Firouzja4/9(+1 -2 =6)[games]
Ivan Saric3.5/9(+0 -2 =7)[games]
Nodirbek Abdusattorov3/9(+0 -3 =6)[games]

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
SuperUnited Rapid Croatia (2025)

Name: SuperUnited Rapid Croatia
Event Date: July 2 - 4, 2025
Site: Zagreb CRO
Format: 10-player, 9 Rds, SRR; TC: 25m+10spm

Official site: https://grandchesstour.org/tours/20...

Pairings/results: https://chess-results.com/tnr120946...

 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. R Praggnanandhaa vs D Gukesh  0-1382025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaA06 Reti Opening
2. Giri vs Abdusattorov  1-0662025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC70 Ruy Lopez
3. Saric vs Abdusattorov  ½-½622025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC18 French, Winawer
4. So vs Giri 1-0482025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaE48 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5
5. Duda vs Carlsen  ½-½642025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC48 Four Knights
6. Firouzja vs Caruana  ½-½622025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC55 Two Knights Defense
7. D Gukesh vs Firouzja 1-0612025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaE67 King's Indian, Fianchetto
8. Giri vs Saric  ½-½452025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaB50 Sicilian
9. Abdusattorov vs R Praggnanandhaa  ½-½562025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaD25 Queen's Gambit Accepted
10. Caruana vs Duda  ½-½1002025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaA13 English
11. Carlsen vs So 1-0752025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaA14 English
12. Firouzja vs R Praggnanandhaa  ½-½502025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaD20 Queen's Gambit Accepted
13. Duda vs D Gukesh 1-0592025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC22 Center Game
14. Saric vs Carlsen  ½-½422025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaB33 Sicilian
15. So vs Caruana 1-0502025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC55 Two Knights Defense
16. Firouzja vs Giri  0-1322025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaD00 Queen's Pawn Game
17. Saric vs Firouzja  ½-½362025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaB96 Sicilian, Najdorf
18. Abdusattorov vs Caruana  0-1582025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC55 Two Knights Defense
19. Carlsen vs D Gukesh 0-1492025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaA21 English
20. So vs Duda  ½-½632025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC50 Giuoco Piano
21. Giri vs R Praggnanandhaa  ½-½142025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC72 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, 5.O-O
22. So vs Abdusattorov  ½-½502025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC50 Giuoco Piano
23. D Gukesh vs Caruana  1-0592025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaA06 Reti Opening
24. Duda vs Saric  ½-½352025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaB97 Sicilian, Najdorf
25. Caruana vs R Praggnanandhaa  ½-½532025SuperUnited Rapid CroatiaC10 French
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-02-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Atterdag: Just in time before this insanely strong rapid & blitz tournament begins.

The world's no. 1 and winner in 2019, 2022 and 2023 Carlsen is allowed to participate on a wild card!

The others are (in ranking order) Caruana, Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Pragg, Firouzja, Giri (also wild card), Duda and Saric (wild c.).

Rapid: 3 games a day, 9 rounds. / Blitz during 2 days thereafter.

Looking forward to a wealth of exciting games with the best chess to be seen in these formats!

Jul-02-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Very sad about insanity, <User: Atterdag>.

Treatment may include antipsychotic medication, psychotherapy, and social support.

Early treatment appears to improve outcomes.

Medications appear to have a moderate effect. Outcomes depend on the underlying cause.

Psychosis is not well-understood at the neurological level, but dopamine (along with other neurotransmitters) is known to play an important role.

Jul-02-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Duda wearing glasses!
Jul-02-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Atterdag: Thanks for your compassion and great advice, <offramp>. My strongest medicine against insanity (my own and other's) is a beautiful glass of Sherry Oloroso, with a tapa (bread, olive oil, Manchego and Serrano ham).

Btw you seem to know an awful lot about these cures. Have you tested them yourself?

Anyway, chess can both be a cure and a curse. I think this tournament will be former, I just don't know for what.

Not for the world champion, apparently. But it's only one nineth of show so far.

Jul-02-25  fabelhaft: Carlsen’s endgame against So was also somewhere on the insanity spectrum.
Jul-02-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp:
"We are fed up checking you up. You are some kind of nutcase but we are not sure. So we are going to stuff you full of beta-blockers right up to your brimmy brim brim."

"Will that make me better?"

"No, but you will be less dangerous."

Jul-03-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  MarcusBierce: Gukesh crushing the competition, including a victory over Magnus.

Congrats!

Jul-04-25  Atking: <MarcusBierce> Yes and again a performance up to 3000 Elo. Crazy!
Jul-04-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Atterdag: Yes, Gukesh now begins to live up to his title. Super play and a victory against the former champ in "his" format is telling.
Jul-04-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <Atking: <MarcusBierce> Yes and again a performance up to 3000 Elo. Crazy!>

You said <CRAZY>, but you should add that it is <INSANE>, and you might as well add <AMAZING!!>.

Jul-04-25  dehanne: Carlsen's hairdo looks like a bowl of pasta.
Jul-04-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Atterdag: What a triumph for the world champion. Winning such a strong rapid tournament with 2 points ahead of Carlsen!
Jul-04-25  NrthrnKnght: The Coffee House Open has now concluded..
Jul-05-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Two 'GM' draws for Gukesh to wrap up matters, those being his longest games of the event.

Speaking of long games: Duda somehow managed to play an astonishing three (3) hundred-movers in this tournament. I recall having three such games in my entire career, though perhaps there were more.

Jul-05-25  jphamlore: Just examining Gukesh's games, I have to wonder if almost all chess literature and software needs to be overhauled to reflect how to maximize chances over-the-board.

Imagine an entire book of puzzles where the objective is to find the line that keeps the game on edge, that complicates a position, even if in theory the computer evaluation will not approve. Or that asks one to evaluate when the time for any looseness in calculation is over, when there is no longer any slack.

In other mental games such as contract bridge or poker, it has long been asserted that one can never become an actual great player without playing in games for stakes where one cannot afford to lose.

Gukesh did the equivalent in chess -- he had the burden / expectation from his parents making so many sacrifices for his career that he was playing for stakes so high he could not afford to lose. He has been for so many years simply been pushed continuously in games to extend his calculations over and over again that extra ply beyond what his opponents can do that moment.

It does seem Gukesh has been trained to recognize all the standard endgames to aid his calculations. The biggest question may be if he experiences the same frustrations that Carlsen has expressed, that one can learn a vast amount more about chess without it sometimes translating to better results over-the-board. What if Gukesh tightens up his game in the transition from the opening to middlegame to be perfect, so that he is no longer in positions giving his opponents chances. Will his results actually improve, or will he lose the ability to go on winning runs similar to the rapids of this event so far?

Jul-05-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Wow. A lot of assumptions there, <jphamlore>. Not sure whether they are backed up by special knowledge of Gukesh' training techniques, or are the kind of assumption one would make about any hardworking young super GM.

I do like what you say in your first 2 paragraphs. I wonder when computers will not just give the best moves and evaluations with best play, and start giving predictions of the result of a game, taking into account things like the players strengths and weaknesses, recent results, and preferences for certain kinds of positions or play.

When that day comes, I can imagine chess could become a big betting field.

Jul-05-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  saffuna: <In other mental games such as contract bridge or poker, it has long been asserted that one can never become an actual great player without playing in games for stakes where one cannot afford to lose.>

Early in his career Lee Trevino was asked about pressure on the final hole of a tournament. He answered, "You don't know what pressure is until you play for five bucks with only two bucks in your pocket."

Jul-05-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Perhaps <hamhock> can produce actual evidence for yet another of his sweeping assertions.

As to playing poker, my concern is making the right play for the situation, taking numerous factors into account without concern for the money involved.

Jul-06-25  Chessinfinite: Nice..an important win for Gukesh in rapids, dominating the field.and yet another win against Carlsen .awesome

I have been away from Chess for a while, but then I heard Kasparov's comments on this game..and he says it was a'big fight' game and praised Gukesh's play..Congrats to Gukesh!

There is no doubt Carlsen is going to be the biggest threat to Gukesh's title going forward :)

Jul-06-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Hi <Chessinfinite>. Hard to understand your last sentence.

If you mean Gukesh's title as World Champion then I doubt if Carlsen's a threat - Carlsen's said he's not interested in competing for the World Championship any more.

If you mean title of best in the world, Gukesh has said he's proud to be World Champ but he knows Carlsen is the best in the world. So I doubt if they think they're competing for THAT title either.

I agree though; it was wonderful to see Gukesh dominate the rapids.

I find it really interesting that despite how the trend is going amongst super GMs, Gukesh seems really only very interested in classical play. The only evidence I have of that though is that Carlsen said it of him. Maybe it's just that to compete for WCC he had to concentrate on classical.

It'll be interesting when he's defending the title: will he be as willing as the others have been to draw the classical games and win on rapid tie-breakers?

I don't know the circumstances, but may I say "Welcome back"?

Jul-06-25  Chessinfinite: <Dionysius> Thanks!

I was trying to say, maybe a feeble attempt at - Carlsen's chess dominance in question at this rate...and hoping for Carlsen's renewed interest in Classical championship events..with a few more such wins by Gukesh and, who knows..

For now, its good to see Gukesh starting to live up to the expectations of the World Title and beating the player who renounced everything a chess player seeks to achieve.

Jul-07-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Totally agree - it's time for the world to get over the fact than Carlsen ain't coming back to the WCC.

And the best way to do that is to have a few successive champs who are impressive enough on their own, and don't encourage us to hark back to the old days.

Good for Gukesh. I wonder how he'll get on at St Louis next month - rapids/blitzes 9th to 16th, then the classical Sinquefield 16th - 29th.

Jul-07-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Still not too late to cancel the invite and bring in Hans.
Jul-08-25  Chessinfinite: Hans who?..anyone else getting an invite is unlikely at this point..

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