Carlsen's 'crazy' comeback at the Grand Chess Tour

On the evening of July 5, Magnus Carlsen had an explosive day of blitz chess, excellently winning the top spot, including a convincing victory over Gukesh Dommaraju - the young chess king who had just been crowned world champion.

Carlsen (left) finished the fourth day of competition in the leading position at the Grand Chess Tour - Photo: chess.com

Starting the fourth day of competition with a 4-point lead over reigning world champion Gukesh, grandmaster Magnus Carlsen made a spectacular comeback, scoring 7.5/9 points and creating a 2-point lead over Gukesh.

From third place, Carlsen has risen to the top after just one day. He now has 17.5 points, 1.5 points more than second-placed Duda. On the contrary, Gukesh had a disastrous day, scoring only 1.5/9 points.

He started with five consecutive defeats, against Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Carlsen and Ivan Saric. This losing streak was in stark contrast to his peak form in rapid chess, where he had an impressive five-match winning streak.

In the remaining four blitz games, the 19-year-old only managed to beat Fabiano Caruana, draw with Anish Giri, and accept defeat to Alireza Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. As a result, Gukesh plummeted from the leading position to third, behind both Carlsen and Duda.

Notably, Carlsen's victory over Gukesh in the fourth round of blitz chess was decided in the middlegame. The Norwegian skillfully maneuvered his knight to capture his opponent's weak pawn, while Gukesh's bishop failed to do the same. Despite the victory, Carlsen appeared dissatisfied with himself.

Carlsen commented after defeating Gukesh: "This game was terrible. I just played like an old man, without any tactical calculations, just based on experience. But the result was favorable so I can't complain."

Carlsen won against Gukesh after winning by 2 pawns - Photo: chess.com

The 34-year-old had a stellar performance on the first day of blitz chess, with 6 wins, 3 draws and no losses. Carlsen's losers on the day included Firouzja, Caruana, Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa and Saric.

The final day of competition will begin on the evening of July 6 with 9 remaining blitz games. Carlsen is not only aiming for the championship with a total prize fund of 175,000 USD (of which the champion will receive 40,000 USD), but is also preparing to regain the 2,900 Elo mark in blitz chess - a prestigious milestone he once achieved. Meanwhile, Gukesh, with his form suddenly fading, has fallen out of the top 100 blitz chess players in the world.

The Grand Chess Tour takes place from July 2 to 6 at the Westin Zagreb Hotel in Zagreb, Croatia. The tournament consists of 9 rapid games (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw) and 18 blitz games (1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw). The player with the highest total score wins the tournament.

TUAN LONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/man-nguoc-dong-dien-ro-cua-carlsen-tai-giai-grand-chess-tour-20250706075635847.htm