Short and Sweet: Gukesh vs. Duda

by Johannes Fischer
8/7/2025 – The trend is toward speeding things up, chess being no exception. Today in Katowice, Poland, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Poland’s number one, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, face off in a six-game blitz match (3+2). If the score is tied after six games, an Armageddon game will decide the winner. ChessBase India will broadcast the short duel live, starting at 11:00 CEST.
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Identifying a clear favorite in this match is difficult. After all, they’re playing only six blitz games. The ratings don’t help much either. In the current FIDE world ranking list, Gukesh is number six with a rating of 2776, while Duda is number 23 with 2725.

In blitz, however, the picture changes significantly. According to the FIDE blitz rating list, Duda holds 14th place with a rating of 2752. Gukesh, on the other hand, is rated 2613 and barely makes it into the top 100.

The official poster | Source: Tournament page

In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

Parallel to the match between Duda and Gukesh, two of Poland’s rising stars will also face off in blitz. Jakub Seeman, born in 2008 and a former U16 World and European Champion, will play against Patryk Cieslak, born in 2010. Cieslak is a former U12 European Champion and was recently awarded the IM title. Seeman was recently awarded the GM title.

Official page...

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".