World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju has done it again, beating world number-one Magnus Carlsen from a losing position to take the sole lead in the 2025 SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz. “Now we can question Magnus’ domination,” said 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov, as a fifth win in a row left Gukesh two points clear of second-placed GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
Day three starts Friday, July 4, at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST.
SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia Standings After Day 2
The Build-Up: Gukesh Keeps On Winning, Carlsen Lives Dangerously
Day two in Zagreb was all about the round-six clash between Gukesh and Carlsen, their first meeting since the young Indian’s win in Norway Chess—and the table slam that ended the game—had reverberated around the world. First there were two other rounds to play, however, and it was fascinating to watch the two players.
Gukesh started the way he’d ended day one, scoring a third win in a row after GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov‘s pawn grab 16.Qxc5?! allowed Gukesh to trap his opponent’s king in the center of the board. “The first game was pretty good!” said the world champion, who, one slight miss aside, played almost perfectly.
The second game of the day wasn’t quite so convincing for Gukesh, since he found himself in trouble against GM Fabiano Caruana out of the opening. On move 15, Caruana could grab the pawn on h4, since recapturing would lose on the spot to the black queen coming to h4.
15…f5! was also very strong, but Caruana was ultimately doomed by spending eight minutes on his decision, which was to play the relatively meek 15…h5. Black was still better, but a few moves later Caruana allowed 20.d4! and suddenly White eased to victory.
While Gukesh was winning two impressive games, Carlsen, who started the day as co-leader, made two draws, both of which raised questions about his play. In the first he played a fine Catalan pawn sacrifice against the player he’d said he considers his main challenger in Zagreb, GM Alireza Firouzja.
White had a significant edge, but Carlsen described his own play as “really, really poor in time pressure” as he went astray and got hit by some nice blows, including the in-between move 31…Qxf3!, picking up a pawn.
The threat of Re1 checkmate means White has no time to rescue the g6-knight.
Carlsen held things together with 32.Ne7+! to reach a pawn-down endgame, which would usually be his bread and butter, but this time he allowed Firouzja multiple chances to win.
Carlsen described it as “a bit of a miracle escape.”
Carlsen pulls off a very narrow escape against Firouzja! https://t.co/0s2UTzA2tL pic.twitter.com/bsNrkxl0tT
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 3, 2025
Firouzja struggled to recover from that game, getting crushed by GM Anish Giri in the next round, while Carlsen’s next clash with GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was unconvincing. 23…h4?! was a questionable pawn sacrifice in a position where the computer gave Black as much better after 23…f4!.
The sacrifice almost worked out, given how Praggnanandhaa followed up, but Carlsen missed the kind of idea he usually spots—a plan of c6, Qd8-Qb6, hitting b3 and some loose pieces on f2 and g1. In the end he had to carefully hold a fortress a pawn down, making a draw in 74 moves after a 75-move draw in the previous round.
So it was clear who the form player was going into the most anticipated clash of the day, which was also set up perfectly—Carlsen trailed the leader by two points, but would catch Gukesh if he won with the white pieces.
Gukesh Defeats Carlsen Again—Kasparov Asks If It’s The End Of An Era
Carlsen put additional pressure on himself in the pre-tournament interview, where he suggested he’d approach Gukesh as “one of the presumably weaker players in the tournament.”
Carlsen: “Gukesh hasn’t done anything to indicate that he’s going to do well in such a tournament. I hope for his sake that he can play better, but playing him in this tournament I will approach it as I’m playing one of the presumably weaker players in the tournament.” pic.twitter.com/ED7GfCJLxR
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 2, 2025
Four rapid wins in a row had likely changed Carlsen’s mind already, however, and it was another pre-tournament interview that would come to the fore. WGM Anastasiya Karlovich asked Gukesh what he’d learned from his years competing in the chess world: “I’ve learned that when my back is against the wall I do everything I can, not only in chess but even if I’m playing some other sport. If I’m down by a match point in tennis—I don’t play it so well—but I still manage to give my 100%.”
I’ve learned that when my back is against the wall I do everything I can, not only in chess but even if I’m playing some other sport.
—Gukesh Dommaraju
Preparing to face Carlsen, Gukesh stuck to his usual ritual of closing his eyes and meditating a while before the game. Carlsen arranged his pieces and opened 1.c4.
Carlsen arrives as Gukesh is meditating and the most anticipated clash of the day has begun! #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/t1Ru3JQgmg
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 3, 2025
The opening would go like a dream for Carlsen, with Gukesh lamenting his ninth move and close to lost by move 19.
He would say afterward:
Beating Magnus is always special, for sure, and I think this also gives a bit more confidence in the sense that I just had a horrible position from the opening, I just mixed up something really bad, and then it’s nice that two losing positions in a row I could win against Magnus!
It’s nice that two losing positions in a row I could win against Magnus!
—Gukesh Dommaraju
The observing Kasparov commented, “Considering what happened last time, beating Gukesh for Magnus is the biggest priority, as important as winning the tournament!” Things seemed to be going that way, until 23.b4?!, a move about which the 13th world champion said, “you don’t play b4, period!”
Neither player realized it didn’t work immediately, however, with Gukesh initially thinking the move was “clever” before spotting 25…c6!, which was the first moment in the game when he thought he had chances. The d5-break would soon follow.
It was suddenly much harder to play with White, though still balanced as far as 34…Qe6!, at which point Kasparov was already seeing the writing on the wall for Carlsen and pointing out that the revenge mindset might not have been ideal for the game.
Kasparov on Carlsen: “He came here to take revenge for Norway Chess, and that’s not good!” #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/c4pKpYsw2c
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 3, 2025
“I think I had one last chance at some point to bail out to something that was very drawish, and I thought let’s continue playing, and then a couple of moves later I was pretty hopelessly lost,” said Carlsen after the game, and he might have been thinking about e.g. 35.c7 here. Instead we got 35.Rc5?, which was almost the last mistake, since Gukesh had expected the move and could immediately respond with the powerful 35…e4!.
The end didn’t come abruptly, so that this time Carlsen had time to come to terms with the loss at the board before resigning.
Gukesh takes down Carlsen again, the Indian World Champion’s 5th win in a row in Zagreb! 🤯https://t.co/2ONUGJEHkn pic.twitter.com/Naytf0ecLz
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 3, 2025
That is, of course, our Game of the Day, which has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.
Gukesh had made it five wins in a row after his opening loss.
Despite giving up his crown, Carlsen remains the world number-one by rating in all forms of chess and Gukesh winning the title didn’t immediately make him the man to beat. As the game ended, however, Kasparov raised the question of whether this second loss in a row is the moment at which Carlsen’s domination of the chess world is really coming to an end.
Kasparov as Gukesh beats Carlsen: “A very important day! Now we can question Magnus’ domination. It’s not just the second loss, it’s a very convincing loss!” #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/N63zPXk1Qm
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 3, 2025
A top Indian coach, GM Srinath Narayanan, suggests we’re now seeing “generational shift,” adding “Gukesh’s ability to adapt to new things and formats is astounding. It might take its time, but over the period of time there will be few doubters remaining.”
Generational shifts take time to gain universal acceptance across many fields. Even when Magnus rose, many legends were slow to acknowledge his strength.
Gukesh’s ability to adapt to new things and formats is astounding. It might take it’s time, but over the period of time there…
— Srinath Narayanan (@srinathchess) July 3, 2025
Carlsen himself, meanwhile, was making no excuses. He commented, “I’ve played kind of poorly the whole tournament and this time I got soundly punished,” while offering “all credit to Gukesh.”
“All credit to Gukesh; he’s playing well and he’s taking his chances too. – He’s doing incredibly well now. It’s a long way to go in the tournament, but winning five games in a row is no mean feat.”@MagnusCarlsen after losing to @DGukesh. pic.twitter.com/gUz3FTAJxd
— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeApp) July 3, 2025
Carlsen added: “Honestly I am not enjoying playing chess at all right now. I don’t feel any flow at all when I’m playing, I’m constantly hesitating, and it’s just really poor right now.”
He did finish, however, when asked about other things, by saying, “Life doesn’t have to be bad, even if I play some poor chess games!”
Life doesn’t have to be bad, even if I play some poor chess games!
—Magnus Carlsen
Carlsen trails Gukesh by four points, but with three rapid rounds and 18 rounds of blitz to go before a winner is crowned, there’s still everything to play for.
It’s also not only about Carlsen. Duda is two points behind Gukesh, and GM Wesley So three, though that could easily have been the other way around, since in the final round of the day So was one accurate move away from beating Duda.
Can Gukesh continue his fantastic form, or will the field strike back? Whatever happens, we still have another two Carlsen-Gukesh games to come, this time in blitz!
How to watch?
The 2025 SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz is the third event on the 2025 Grand Chess Tour and runs July 2-6 in the Westin Hotel in Zagreb, Croatia. The 10 players first compete in a single rapid round-robin with a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, followed by a blitz double round-robin with a 5+2 time control.
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