World Championship challenger D Gukesh will look to improve his billing in the faster version as Vidit Gujrathi joins him for the Superunited rapid and blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour. Set to meet Chinese Ding Liren in Singapore from November 20th to decide the next world champion, Gukesh has repeatedly proved his superior ability in the Classical format. But when it comes to faster version, the Indian is yet to find his place amongst the world elite.

The fact remains that in case of a tied result in the World Championship, there will be games under faster time control of rapid and blitz chess to determine the winner and Gukesh would like to set the record straight like American Fabiano Caruana just did a few days back in Bucharest when he won the tiebreaker by a mile winning his games against Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja of France.

Gujrathi, who has got a wildcard, will be the other Indian in the fray in the USD 175000 prize money tournament that will have nine rounds under rapid and 18 under blitz chess rules.

With each win worth two points in rapid and one under the blitz rules, it remains to be seen who will be the master of Zagreb but the odds are in favour of top seed Caruana who will look forward to notching back-to-back wins on the tour.

Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia and Alireza are another two players who can turn the tide in their favour on their day and here they have five playing days to prove their true mettle.

Wesley So of America, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Anish Giri of Holland are the other three in contention while local star Ivan Saric and another American Levon Aronian complete the ten-player line up.

So remains dangerous but is clearly struggling with form while Vachier-Lagrave has to prove himself yet again.

Levon Aronian led his team to a triumph in the last Global Chess League in Dubai but the former Armenian is clearly past his best. Giri, on the other hand, has had mixed success in faster version and will like to end it on a high.

All eyes will be on Gujrathi if he can replicate his magic. Gujrathi had come out as one of the best prepared players in the last Candidates tournament and there is every chance that he will spring a few surprises here.

Players: D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi (Ind); Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Wesley So (Usa); Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid); Ivan Saric (Cro); Anish Giri (Ned). 

World number two Fabiano Caruana defended his Superbet Classic title by winning all three rapid games in a thrilling four-way tiebreaker, featuring Indian Grandmasters D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, after a rather dull tournament. Caruana lost to Anish Giri of Holland in the Classical format to split the competition wide open as Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and France’s Alireza Firouzja all finished the classical section tied for first.

Praggnanandhaa survived by the skin of the teeth against Alireza, who held a completely winning position for a long time. If the Frenchman had won the final classical round there would have been no need of tiebreak games as he would have overtaken Caruana on points.

But Caruana lost, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa drew and that set up a four-way tiebreaker to decide the winner.

Caruana, not known as a tiebreaker master, proved that he can get the better of the younger generation as he defeated all three –- Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Alireza to come up trumps and win the first prize hamper of USD 68500.

The tiebreaker saw the two Indians on the backfoot. Gukesh could have done better but Caruana was spot on while Praggnanandhaa could have complicated things.

Earlier, Praggnanandhaa was staring at his first defeat in the tournament as Alireza was clearly on top.

The Indian struggled in the middle game and had to part with a rook for a minor piece but fought till the last to salvage a lost a position.

Gukesh played out a draw with Wesley So in a mere 22 moves, the Nimzo Indian defense did not give any confidence to the American and the draw was through repetition of moves.

Results final round: Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (5); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 5) drew with R Praggnaanandhaa (Ind. 5); Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rom, 3.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 4.5); Wesley So (USa, 4) drew with D Gukesh (Ind, 5);; Ian Nepomnichtchi (Fid, 4.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 4.5). 

File image of R Praggnanandhaa.© X (Twitter)

Delhi has joined Chennai and Singapore in the race to host the World Championship match between D. Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren after the All India Chess Federation backed the national capital’s bid while accusing the Tamil Nadu government of acting unilaterally by pushing the southern city’s name. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) CEO Emil Sutovsky on Saturday said all three cities have submitted their bids and they “meet the criteria”. Sutovsky added Chennai was the first to bid for the much-anticipated match in November-December this year, while the New Delhi bid came in last.

“Three bids to host the FIDE World Championship Match-2024. Chennai, Singapore, New Delhi (in order of submission). All meet the criteria,” Sutovsky wrote on ‘X’.

The international chess body’s council will discuss the issue and announce the winner later this month.

“Next week FIDE Council to discuss it — representatives of the bidders invited to share details and take questions. Final decision in June,” Sutovsky added.

The Chennai bid was made by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu while the All Indian Chess Federation bid for New Delhi.

While FIDE doesn’t stop any government from bidding for the prestigious event, it is unusual for two entities from the same country to bid for the tournament.

AICF president Nitin Narang told PTI that the national chess federation has bid for New Delhi as the venue for the title showdown and that a no-objection certificate (NOC) had been taken from the Indian government.

He, however, said that the Tamil Nadu government had not consulted the AICF before sending its bid to FIDE.

“The Tamil Nadu government never consulted the AICF or had any conversation with us about it (Chennai as venue), nor do they have the NOC (from the Government of India) for it,” said Narang.

“The New Delhi bid happens to be from the AICF, with the NOC being given by the Government of India,” he added.

Gukesh, who hails from Chennai, had become the youngest ever challenger for the world title by winning the Candidates Tournament in Toronto in April.

The basic criteria outlined by FIDE for a prospective bidder for the 2024 edition is a budget of Rs 8.5 million (Rs 71 crore approx) and a facilitation fee of USD 1.1 million (Rs 9 crore) for the global body.

The duration of the tournament is 25 days and approval of regulations will be completed by July 1.

The total prize money awarded by FIDE would be around USD 2.5 million (Rs 20 crore plus) after the fund was increased from the USD two million (Rs 17 crore) in 2023.

India has hosted the prestigious showpiece in 2000 and 2013.

In the 2000 edition, Viswanathan Anand claimed the first of his five world titles by winning the event played in a tournament format with 100 players. Anand defeated Alexei Shirov in the final.

In 2013, Anand lost to Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen.