Grand Chess Tour Super Rapid and Blitz 2026: Hans Niemann still in sole lead

By admin May 9, 2026 0 comments

Hans Niemann (USA) maintained his sole lead after the first nine rounds of Blitz at Grand Chess Tour Super Rapid and Blitz 2026. Wesley So (USA) is trailing him by a half point.

Caruana and Fedoseev in the fray

The tournament sole leader, Hans Niemann had a tough day. His first five games in Blitz were – loss, win, loss, win, win, then he drew, before finishing the day with a hat-trick of losses. Alireza Firouzja was the top performer of the day 6.5/9, followed by Fabiano Caruana 6/9 and Radoslaw Wojtaszek 5/9. Wesley So and D Gukesh scored 4/9 each. Hans scored only 3.5/9. However, that is still enough for him to maintain his sole lead 16.5/27. So is at 16/27, followed by Fabiano Caruana and Vladimir Fedoseev at 15/27 each. D Gukesh is at 13/27.

Hans Niemann (USA) is still in sole lead 16.5/27 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Interview with Hans Niemann (USA) | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

The World Champion, D Gukesh started the day with two losses against Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL) and Alireza Firouzja (FRA), then he drew against Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO). He scored his first win of the day against Wesley So (USA). He lost the next game in a wild battle against Fabiano Caruana (USA) in Blitz Round 5. Then he drew the following battle agianst former World Blitz champion, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA). Gukesh capitalized on the tournament sole leader, Hans Niemann’s (USA) late blunder in the final moments of the endgame in Round 7. Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) scored an emphatic victory against Gukesh in Round 8. He finished the day with a nice victory over his teammate, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)

D Gukesh scored 4/9 to move to 13/27 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Wesley So (USA) also scored 4/9, he is now at 16/27 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Fabiano Caruana (USA) scored 6/9 to move to 15/27 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Alireza Firouzja (FRA) scored the highest 6.5/9 on the first day of Blitz, his total score is now 12.5/27 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov and his coach Roman Vidonyak | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Polish Chess President: New Champions are Growing | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay live stream

Replay Super Blitz 2026 Round 1-9 live commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Maurice Ashley, & Cristian Chirila, IMs Nazi Paikidze & Irene Sukandar, and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay Blitz Round 1-9 games

Schedule and Format

Superbet Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 5th to 7th May. The Blitz event will take place on 8th and 9th May. It will be a double round-robin event for the Blitz which means nine rounds will be played on each day. Round 1 starts at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control for Rapid will be 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment. For Blitz it is, 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment.