GM Magnus Carlsen came within a whisker of beating GM Gukesh Dommaraju and taking the sole lead in the 2024 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, but in the end, he had to settle for joint first place with GM Wei Yi, who won all three games on day two. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu scored two wins and is just a point behind, alongside previous leader GM Kirill Shevchenko.
Day three starts Friday, May 10, at 7 a.m. ET / 13:00 CEST / 4:30 p.m. IST.
Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland Standings After Day 2
Carlsen Hits The Front, But It Could Have Been Better
The first game of the day, where Carlsen faced the runaway leader, Shevchenko, looked to be a great opportunity for the world number one to assert his dominance. No surprise, therefore, that he looked miserable as he took a 57-move draw in which he got no real chances.
As it turned out, however, that result was just fine for the Norwegian’s tournament chances. Unfortunately for Shevchenko, he lost the next two games, while Carlsen did Carlsen things as he turned a good knight versus an average bishop position into a superior queen endgame that he went on to win in 107 moves against a player who has outplayed him in queen endgames in the past: GM Nordirbek Abdusattorov. The applause was deserved.
The last moments of one of the key games in the round 5 Carlsen-Abdussatorov. #SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland #grandchesstour pic.twitter.com/5hfTZjsh62
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) May 9, 2024
All that study had paid off!
That set up the clash against world championship challenger Gukesh in the final round of the day perfectly, and the players treated us to a wild opening until the 17-year-old backed down from a fight with 10.Nf3.
He explained afterward: “Obviously 10.Qh5 is the main move here, but I couldn’t remember all the details, and I thought it’s risky to play this without proper knowledge, so I tried to play something simple but he just easily equalized.”
In fact, it was worse than that, as Carlsen took over and gained a serious initiative. An exchange sac then made precision essential, and one mistake left Gukesh in a losing position. It wasn’t trivial for either side, however, and the win slipped through the world number one’s fingers.
That’s our Game of the Day and has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below:
That miss by Carlsen allowed Wei, the winner of this year’s Tata Steel Chess Masters, to storm into the joint lead with a perfect 6/6 score on day two.
Wei Yi Shows More Of His Tata Steel Form
Wei had two draws and a loss to Carlsen on day one, but he turned things around on day two. He started with a win over GM Anish Giri which he confessed was somewhat lucky, since his opponent had a good position until he got into time trouble, lost the plot, and got cut down by a ruthless attack.
Then the win over GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda stood out for a remarkable final position.
It’s move 28, all the pieces are still on the board, and pawns are level, but Black is completely busted, with weak pawns on b7, d6, and h5, while White’s pieces have perfect outposts.
Wei’s win over Shevchenko in the final round was another tour de force, featuring targeted preparation against his opponent’s Alapin Sicilian, relentless pressure, and then a fine conversion… up to a point. When the position simplified, Wei had a queen and four extra pawns against two rooks.
He let his guard down, admitting, “I thought every move was winning, but then I found the only way to draw!” Objectively (based on tablebases), it seems the win never slipped, but Shevchenko managed to construct something that looked to be a fortress before Wei’s determination finally paid off in 75 moves.
A Good Day For India
The first day in Warsaw was very tough for the Indian trio, but on day two everything came together. Although GM Arjun Erigaisi started with a loss to Duda, he hit back to win a model game against the tournament leader, Shevchenko.
The other two Indian stars, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, started against each other, with Gukesh feeling that his opponent played a solid position unnecessarily aggressively. It could have paid off, however, with the computer pointing out that 25…Rxf1+! would have been strong instead of 25…Rf2? 26.Qg4!, when it was essentially game over.
One square too short a move by Pragg, according to the computer, that wanted 25…Rxf1! Now Gukesh can take over with 26.Qg4! #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/YLPQjosGtj
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 9, 2024
Gukesh was surprised when that line was pointed out to him but noted his opponent had too little time. That was where he felt he improved on day two: “Yesterday it was a long time since I’d played some rapid and my time management was obviously so bad, but my games were quite good, so I was not that worried about my games, but today I just made sure I managed my time better, and I’m quite happy.”
Gukesh then punished Keymer for not castling in a complex game featuring a dubious king walk and an attractive final queen sacrifice.
The world championship challenger had made it back to 50 percent and then ended well by avoiding defeat against Carlsen.
Praggnanandhaa managed to shrug off the poor start to the day by winning an insane game against Giri that was another terrifying glimpse into the depths of modern computer preparation.
Praggnanandhaa explained that both players knew the line, but his opponent was shaky on the details: “There were many options for Black, but most of them go into some crazy complications and he went wrong there, and I had to find a couple of accurate moves, which weren’t too difficult.”
He was asked if he would want such a bizarre game to be shown to kids, and responded: “It would have been nice if I’d taken Rxf1+ in the previous game to show to the kids, but I didn’t, so I have to show this now!”
He ended the day by trapping Keymer’s queen in a much more understandable manner—it was a day to forget for the German number one.
Praggnanandhaa shares third place, just a point behind Carlsen, who he faces in round seven and could overtake with a win, since wins in rapid chess are worth two points. Gukesh and Arjun are just one more point back, so that there’s everything for the Indian stars to play for going into the final day of the rapid and the weekend of blitz to come.
The 2024 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland is the first event on the 2024 Grand Chess Tour and runs May 8-12 in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. 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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