Grand Chess tour: Magnus Carlsen wins Super United Rapid and blitz with a round to spare

Zagreb (Croatia): World number one Magnus Carlsen yet again proved he is the best in the world as he won the Super United Rapid and blitz chess tournament with a round to spare while reigning world champion D. Gukesh finished third in the standings.

After falling as many as four points behind Gukesh in the nine-round rapid event, Carlsen made the most of it in the blitz section games, scoring 7.5 points out of nine in the first leg. In the return games his score of four points out of first eight games was enough to grant him another tournament victory.

Gukesh, who started off brilliantly in the rapid section bagging as many as 14 points went out of sorts in the blitz section scoring just 1.5 out of his first nine games. Even though he made some steady progress in the last nine blitz games, it was never enough to catch Carlsen.

Carlsen ended the event with 22.5 points, 2.5 points ahead of American Wesley So who finished second while Gukesh eventually came third with 19.5.

Out of the 17,5000 USD prize pool Carlsen won 40,000, Wesley 30,000 and Gukesh won 25,000 with the fact that he proved his critics wrong by performing exceptionally.

Gukesh ended the event on 19.5 points, half point ahead of Alireza Firouzja of France and Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland.

The sixth place went to Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan ahead of Fabiano Caruana of United States and Anish Giri of Holland.

India’s R Praggnanandhaa, after winning as many as three Classical events this year, had a rare low as he ended ninth on 15 points while Ivan Saric of Croatia was tenth on 13 points.

Gukesh could have done better in a game of fluctuating fortunes had he converted his extra pawn to a victory over Praggnanandhaa in the final round game.

However, as it happened, the endgame the duo reached was a theoretical draw and there was little to play for.

However, the world's youngest ever world champion can take this as a positive result in the faster version of the game.

Final standings: 1. Carlsen (Nor, 22.5) 2. Wesley So (Usa, 20); D Gukesh (Ind, 19.5); 4-5. Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol), Alireza Firouzja (Fra) 19 each; 6. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 18); 7-8. Fabiano Caruana (Usa), Anish Giri (Ned) 17 each; 9. R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 15); 10. Ivan Saric (Cro, 13).