The challenger and the number one
For the first time since winning the Candidates Tournament, the new challenger for the world title, Dommaraju Gukesh, will face former world champion Magnus Carlsen in an official tournament. Despite having withdrawn from the World Championship cycle, Carlsen continues to be the highest-rated player in the world by quite a margin.
Gukesh will be one of four ‘regulars’ participating in the first event of this year’s Grand Chess Tour, the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament. The Indian ace will be joined by fellow regulars Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Anish Giri.
Attack like a Super Grandmaster
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM†with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
The tournament will run from May 8 until May 12 with the well-known tour format of rapid and blitz chess: 9 rounds of rapid played on the first three days of action, followed by 18 rounds of blitz played on the final two days.
Besides the four regulars, six wildcards will be fighting for the $175,000 prize purse:
- Five-time World Champion & World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
- Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland)
- Wei Yi (China)
- Arjun Erigaisi (India)
- Vincent Keymer (Germany)
- Kirill Shevchenko (Romania)
Fans should make sure to catch all the action with Yasser Seirawan, Jovanka Houska and Nazi Paikidze via the Saint Louis Chess Club’s Twitch & YouTube channels.
The 2023 edition was only decided after Magnus Carlsen (the eventual winner) held a draw in a 124-move encounter against local hero Jan-Krzysztof Duda in their final-round blitz confrontation | Photo: Lennart Ootes
