As Gukesh was turning the screws on Magnus Carlsen, one of his predecessors on the world chess champion’s throne, in a rapid game on Thursday in Zagreb, another man who has been hailed as the world’s greatest chess player, Garry Kasparov, was among those who were doffing their hats at the mastery of the teenager from India.
Right after Gukesh managed to defeat Carlsen for the second time in two games — a rapid win at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2025, following the classical win at Norway Chess a few weeks back — Kasparov announced: “Now we can question Magnus’ domination. This is not just his second loss to Gukesh, it’s a convincing loss. It’s not a miracle… or that Gukesh just kept benefitting from Magnus’ terrible mistakes. It was a big fight. And Magnus lost.”
It’s been a heady three days in Zagreb for classical world champion Gukesh. He had flown to Croatia’s capital with many questioning his skills in the faster time control events of rapid and blitz. The common refrain was that his calculating style of play needed too much time, a luxury he would not have in rapid or blitz games. When he lost his first game, it seemed par for the course. But then, Gukesh hit his stride, defeating five of the strongest players in the field — Alireza Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana and Carlsen. On Friday, he drew two of his three games against Anish Giri and Ivan Saric before wrapping up the rapid section with a win over Wesley So.