Super Rapid Croatia 2026: Firouzja increases his sole lead

By admin July 3, 2026 0 comments

Alireza Firouzja increased his sole lead after the sixth round of Grand Chess Tour 2026 Super Rapid Croatia.

Good day for Gukesh, not so good for Praggnanandhaa

The World Champion, D Gukesh once again started his day with a loss. However, he bounced back strong by winning his next two games against Jorden van Foreest and Anish Giri. Praggnanandhaa on the other hand, started with a win against Jorden. Then he lost his next two games against Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja respectively.

Firouzja is still the sole leader at 10/12, followed by Keymer, Gukesh, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Bogdan-Daniel Deac at 7/12 each. Abudsattorov, Giri and Praggnanandhaa are at 50% score 6/12 each.

Round 4: Praggnanandhaa – Jorden: 2-0

R Praggnanandhaa (2690) and Jorden van Foreest (NED, 2597) played quite possibly their first rated Rapid game against each other. In a difficult double rook and minor piece endgame, Jorden managed to trap his rook. He was forced to give up an exchange and lose the game in the next few moves.

R Praggnanandhaa made a winning start for the second consecutive day | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Keymer – Firouzja

Position after 24…f4

Vincent Keymer (GER, 2627) got crushed by Alireza Firouzja’s (FRA, 2748) attack on the kingside. Thus, the German started his second consecutive day with a loss.

Alireza Firouzja (FRA) started with a win for the second day in-a-row | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

World Champion D Gukesh suffered his second loss of the event | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Round 5: Jorden – Gukesh: 0-2

The World Champion, D Gukesh (2684) seized his opportunity when Jorden van Foreest (NED, 2597) blundered in the endgame.

Position after 36.Bd3??

Find out the winning continuation for Black after 36.Bd3??

R Praggnanandhaa suffered his first loss of the event against Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Ivan Saric (CRO) suffered a crushing defeat against Vincent Keymer (GER) | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

R Praggnanandhaa suffered his second consecutive loss, this time it was against the sole leader, Alireza Firouzja (FRA) | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Garry Kasparov with kids | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Replay live stream

Replay live commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, & Maurice Ashley, IM Nazi Paikidze, and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Schedule and Format

Super Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 1st to 3rd July. The Blitz event will take place on 4th and 5th July. 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 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 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.