Super Rapid and Blitz: Gukesh in joint lead with Carlsen after day one

ZAGREB: World champion D Gukesh came up with two straight victories to tie for the top spot alongside world No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland and American Wesley So at the end of the first three rounds of Super United Rapid and Blitz Chess tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour.

Starting the day with a loss against Duda, Gukesh overpowered a reckless Alireza Firouzja of France before defeating compatriot R Praggnanandhaa to reach four points out of a possible six.

Carlsen beat Wesley So and drew his remaining two games against local star Ivan Saric and Duda to match Gukesh on points, while Wesley was the only other player involved in all decisive games, apart from Gukesh, as he put it across his US compatriot Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri of Holland.

In-form Praggnanandhaa had a tough day in office as he drew with Firouzja and Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan with the loss against Gukesh costing him dearly.

With six rounds still to come in the rapid section, and 18 thereafter in the blitz, it's early days but Carlsen still remains the firm favourite in his second favourite version after freestyle chess.

In the rapid section, two points are awarded for a victory while in blitz there will be one point for each win.

Gukesh was not disheartened after his first-round loss and came up with a fine effort. "Duda just got a nice position and played well," said Gukesh after the end of the day.

Firouzja got a bit impatient against the Indian, while Praggnanandhaa simply blundered.