Alireza Firouzja jokingly described the final day of the Super Rapid and Blitz, held in Croatia earlier this month, as the ‘worst of his life’ – and yet somehow he won the tournament anyway. The rapid event was held over the first three days, which left Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa in joint first place, and an impressive game from the latter is shown below. Firouzja followed that up with a crushing 8/9 score on the first day of blitz chess, building up a lead which looked unassailable. But his feeble start of 2/7 on the final day put the tournament win in jeopardy. He scraped into the tiebreaks thanks to a dramatic turnaround in the penultimate round against Gukesh (below), and went on to win a tense ‘armageddon’ game against Abdusattorov which decided the event.
Anish Giri-Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
Super Rapid, Croatia, July 2026
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 Be7 5 Bg2 O-O 6 O-O c6 7 Qc2 b6 8 Rd1 Nbd7 9 Bf4 Nh5 10 Bc1 Nhf6 11 b3 Bb7 12 Nc3 Ba6 13 Bb2 dxc4 14 bxc4 Bxc4 15 Nd2 Ba6 16 Bxc6 Rc8 17 Bf3 b5 18 a3 Qb6 19 Qb3 Rb8 20 Nde4 Nxe4 21 Bxe4 Bb7 22 Bxb7 Qxb7 23 d5 Nc5 24 Qa2 a5 25 dxe6 fxe6! Well judged. Preventing 25…Nxe6 26 Nd5! takes precedence over weakening the pawns. 26 Rac1 b4 27 axb4 axb4 28 Nb1 b3 29 Qa5 Rf5! Forceful play. The queen gets no respite. 30 Qe1 Ne4 31 Bd4 e5 32 Be3 Bg5! 33 Qa5 (see diagram 1). Allowing a stylish finish, but 33 Bxg5 was no better, e.g. 33…Nxg5 34 f3 Rxf3! wins. 33…Nxf2!! 34 Bxf2 Rxf2 White resigns, since 35 Kxf2 Rf8+ is followed by Bg5-e3# or Qb7-h1#
Gukesh has outplayed Firouzja up to this point, but faced a confusing choice with less than 20 seconds on his clock. Perhaps the simplest was 35 Rd6! Then 35…Bxb2 36 Bg5 wins cleanly, or 35…Bf6 36 Bb5! keeps control, and the Bd2 can move towards b6 or c7.
Dommaraju Gukesh-Alireza Firouzja
Super Blitz, Croatia, July 2026
35 Bg5? Tempting, but Firouzja can now escape. f2+ 36 Kf1 Bg4! The threat of Bg4-h3+ wins time 37 Kg2 f4! A clever follow up, since after 38 Bxd8 f3+ 39 Kh1 Bh3 White cannot prevent mate. 38 gxf4 Bxd7 Just in time! 39 Ra6? Firouzja’s resourceful play will now earn the full point. Instead 39 Rc7 Ke8 40 Bxd8 Kxd8 41 Rxd7+ (not 41 Rb7 Bc6+) Kxd7 and the endgame is drawn. Rc8 40 Rd6 Rxc4 White resigns in view of 41 Rxd7 Rc1 or 41 bxc4 Bh3+.
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