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Hans Moke Niemann wins Grand Chess Tour Super Rapid and Blitz with 22.5 points, Fabiano Caruana is second, D Gukesh finishes sixth with 17 points
D Gukesh (Picture credit: PTI)
World champion D Gukesh had to be content with a sixth-place finish, while Hans Moke Niemann of the United States kept his nerve towards the end to win the Super Rapid and Blitz, a part of the Grand Chess Tour.
Gukesh ended his campaign with 17 points out of a possible 36 from 9 rapid and 18 blitz games. With each rapid win worth two points and each blitz win worth one point, Gukesh scored 9 points in rapid and 8 points in blitz.
Things could have been worse, but Gukesh won the last round against Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland to finish in the middle of the standings.
D Gukesh Playing Only Rapid And Blitz
It may be recalled that Gukesh had withdrawn from the main classical events of the GCT and is only playing the rapid and blitz segments this year. The youngest-ever world champion is also slated to play his match against Javokhir Sindarov of the United States later this year, apart from the Norway Chess tournament.
D Gukesh’s three victories on the last day came against Wesley So of the United States, Niemann and Duda, while the most notable of his four losses was against Sindarov, who won their personal mini-match by a 2-1 margin in the three games they played here.
Meanwhile, Hans Niemann showed steely nerves and won the last two rounds to finish on 22.5 points, which was enough to clinch the trophy as well as the first prize of 50,000 USD.
In the final round, Niemann defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland.
Fabiano Caruana of the United States finished second on 22 points, a full point ahead of Wesley So. Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia ended fourth on 18, while Alireza Firouzja of France was fifth, just ahead of Gukesh.
The Grand Chess Tour caravan now moves to the Romanian capital Bucharest for the Super Classic, where the lone Indian in the fray will be R Praggnanandhaa.
Final Standings: 1. Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 22.5); 2. Fabiano Caruana (USA, 22); 3. Wesley So (Usa, 21); 4. Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 18); 5.Firouzja Alireza (Fr, 17.5); 6. D Gukesh (Ind, 17); 7-9. Duda Jan-Krzystzof (Pol), Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 16.5 each 10. Radoslav Wojtaszek (Pol, 12.5).
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