Fabiano Caruana tops SuperUnited Rapid 2024, extends his sole lead by three points
Fabiano Caruana (USA) won all three games on the third day to finish at the top of SuperUnited Rapid 2024. He has increased his sole lead by three points. D Gukesh had a good chance in the queen and minor piece endgame against Caruana. However, his cautious approach made him miss the opportunity. Caruana then defeated Anish Giri (NED) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) to finish the rapid portion scoring 15/18. Wesley So (USA) and Levon Aronian (USA) are at second and third position scoring 12/18 and 11/18 each respectively. Gukesh scored his lone win of the day against Ivan Saric (CRO). Vidit Gujrathi secured his first victory of the event against Alireza Firouzja (FRA). He blundered in the final round against Ian Nepomniachtchi at a moment where he could have gained a substantial advantage. Nine rounds of Blitz will be played today from 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
The Americans are in top three
The Americans have claimed the top three places in the Rapid event. There is a good chance that one of them will win the tournament. Unless the remaining seven have something to say in the 18 rounds of Blitz that will be played starting today.
Round 7: Gukesh - Caruana: 0-2
D Gukesh (2647) had a great opportunity in the queen and minor piece endgame against Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2738).
Gukesh correctly spotted 34.Qd3 after Na2, he needed to take the a5-pawn to alleviate the pressure and gain upper hand. Instead, 35.Qc2 Nc3 36.f3 Nd5 allowed Black to get back in the game. After a few moves, he made an incorrect pawn exchange which hastened the creation of a passed pawn for Black and increased his firm grip.
Round 8: Firouzja - Vidit: 0-2
Vidit Gujrathi (2701) scored his first win of the event against Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2724) in the penultimate round of the Rapid event. He was unbeaten against Firouzja in rated games this year. That remained unchanged.
Before playing 36.e6, White needed to go 36.Rf6+ Kg5 37.Bf7 to maintain his decisive advantage. In the above position, a draw is the maximum White could have aimed for 38.Rxf3 gxf3+ 39.Kxf3 b5 40.e5 would have been balanced. Instead, 38.Rd1?? turned the tables Kf6-+ 39.Rh1 Nxe6 40.Rh6+ Kg7 and Black won the game in the next few moves.
Caruana - Giri
28...d5 break stirred things badly for Black. 29.exd5 Rxd5?? 30.Rxd5+- Bxd5 31.Kh2 Rxc2 32.Bxe5 f6 33.Bg3 h6 34.Qa7 and White won as Black cannot avoid material loss to prevent checkmate threat.
Aronian - Gukesh: 2-0
Levon Aronian (USA, 2750) won an interesting battle against D Gukesh (2647) after sacrificing his queen for a rook and bishop early in the game.
Round 9: Gukesh - Saric: 2-0
After suffering two consecutive losses, Gukesh bounced back with a victory against Ivan Saric (CRO, 2614) in an exciting battle.
Vidit - Nepomniactchi
Vidit blundered 28.Rxf6?? in a position which could have given him a decisive advantage if he spotted the correct continuation. Find out what White missed in the above position.
Replay live stream
Replay Round 7-9 games
Round 9 results
| Bo. | Name | Result | Name | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | So, Wesley | ½ - ½ | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | PGN | ||
| 2 | GM | Gukesh, D | 1 - 0 | GM | Saric, Ivan | PGN | ||
| 3 | GM | Giri, Anish | 0 - 1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | PGN | ||
| 4 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 0 - 1 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | PGN | ||
| 5 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 0 - 1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | PGN |
Standings after Rapid Round 9
Blitz Round 1 pairings
| Bo. | Name | Result | Name | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | ||||
| 2 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Aronian, Levon | ||||
| 3 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | GM | Giri, Anish | ||||
| 4 | GM | Saric, Ivan | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | ||||
| 5 | GM | So, Wesley | GM | Firouzja, Alireza |
Schedule and Format
SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 10th to 12th July. The Blitz event will take place on 13th and 14th July. It will be a double round-robin event for the Blitz which means nine rounds will be played on each day. Round 1 starts at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control for Rapid will be 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment. For Blitz, it will be 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment.
Prize
The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000.
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