India's D Gukesh fell in the standings to seventh place while Vidit Gujrathi climbed off the bottom of the table in an action-packed Day 3 of the 2024 SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz chess tournament in Croatia. Day 3 saw the final three games of the rapid section, with Fabiano Caruana taking a massive three-point lead going into the weekend's blitz section.
Caruana (15 pts) leads Wesley So in second (12 pts) and Levon Aronian in third (11 pts). Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja are tied for fourth place with 10 points, with Gukesh a point behind them in seventh place. Anish Giri (6 pts), Vidit (4 pts) and Ivan Saric (3 pts) bring up the rear.
The day began with a massive clash between Gukesh and Caruana, which the Indian needed to win to draw level with the American (and thereby create a five-way tie for first place). However, Caruana remained on top throughout, but nearly blundered with his 32nd move, moving his pawn to a5. Gukesh could not take advantage however, and went on to lose the game, spurning a winning position.
Gukesh, who faces Ding Liren for the title of world champion in November, spiralled after the loss to Caruana, losing to wildcard Aronian despite the American giving up his queen early on. Gukesh's own queen was overpowered by his opponent's pawns and other pieces, and he resigned after 68 moves.
Kasparov: "The problem for Gukesh is there's too much pressure on his shoulders, because he's a good player, but he's not Magnus Carlsen"#GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/ARrx8SSRPq
- chess24 (@chess24com) July 12, 2024
Former world champion Garry Kasparov was watching on in the live broadcast and was of the opinion that Gukesh was feeling the pressure on his 18-year-old shoulders - thus struggling with his rapid & blitz chess. It was something that 31-year-old Caruana also went through as a youngster, but he'd matured into the leading figure dominating this tournament.
Gukesh rounded out the day with a win over bottom-of-the-table Saric, after the Croatian got lost in the complications of his opening and provided multiple openings for Gukesh to take advantage of, with the Indian duly obliging.
Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi began the day with a loss to MVL with black pieces, but climbed off the bottom of the table with a win against Firoujza with black pieces. Vidit then was in a surprisingly good position against Nepomniachtchi in his final game, only to throw away his advantage with an errant rook and his opponent pounced - and sealed the victory only a few moves later.
Vidit realises he ruined and lost a great position!#GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/pRLjRfJ4vo
- chess24 (@chess24com) July 12, 2024
The Indian pair are now quite far off the top to have a chance of winning the tournament, especially since blitz offers only one point for a win, as opposed to two in rapid. However, with 18 blitz games to come over the course of the weekend, there is still some hope for the Indians.