Zagreb: Firouzja regains three-point lead after 8/9 blitz performance

by Martina Gerdts
7/5/2026 – Alireza Firouzja is once again the sole leader thanks to an 8/9 performance on the first day of blitz. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who entered the fourth day of action in shared first place, suffered four losses in a row at some point and only scored 3½/9. Firouzja's closest chasers are now Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who scored 6 points on the first day of the blitz section and, with 17 points, are 3 points behind Firouzja in the overall standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Risky approach works wonders

After a good day for Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the third day of rapid, he failed to follow through in Saturday's blitz session. Pragg scored only 3½/9 points on the first day of the blitz tournament, which means he had to give up the shared lead. Alireza Firouzja is in his element in blitz and scored 8/9, thus taking the sole lead. On the final day, the participants will play another full round-robin. If necessary, playoffs will also take place after the regular rounds.

Firouzja: "When I am in good form, I can take big risks"

Alireza Firouzja interviewed by Maurice Ashley | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

In the interview with Maurice Ashley, Firouzja mentioned that he had played with 100% risk against Bogdan-Daniel Deac. He explained this by saying that he feels he gets good results when he is in form and plays riskily. His score of 7 wins and 2 draws on Saturday seems to confirm his assumption. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave said about Firouzja in an interview: "There is one guy who is absolutely unstoppable".

Bogdan-Daniel Deac 0 - 1 Alireza Firouzja (round 6)

In the game against Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Firouzja's problems began early on, after he played 15...Bg7?.

The material remains equal, but the position became more complicated for Black.

The early 9.g5, the omission of castling and the opening of the kingside did not exactly help Firouzja to play solidly. During the course of the game, he managed to exchange material, which allowed him to compensate for his lack of space. In the end, the players' performance in an equal endgame with rook, knight and four pawns per side decided the game.

Firouzja managed to checkmate his opponent.

Alireza Firouzja in his element at the Rapid & Blitz | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Vincent Keymer has a chance for revenge

The tournament has not been particularly successful for Vincent Keymer. On day four, he scored only 3/9 points. That gave him the same blitz score as Ivan Saric and half a point more than Jorden van Foreest. Keymer is now in sixth place in the overall standings.

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Vincent Keymer can still make up for lost ground on Sunday | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Keymer beats Gukesh

The blitz game between Keymer and Gukesh turned in the German GM's favour early on. Before move 20, Gukesh was forced to give up material.

The course of the game did not suit Gukesh. In the endgame, he faced Keymer with three pawns for the bishop pair. The game ended when Gukesh had to give up his last pawn and saw no more chances for Keymer to make a mistake with rook against rook and bishop pair.

In total, Keymer won three games on Saturday. He defeated Gukesh, Jorden van Foreest and Ivan Saric. He lost the rest of the day's games.

Abdusattorov feels he can still win the event

Commentator Maurice Ashley is surprised by Nodirbek Abdusattorov's rook sacrifice | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Grand Chess Tour 2026

Standings after round 9 - Blitz

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Topics: Alireza Firouzja, Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2026
Martina Gerdts studied Portuguese and Spanish linguistics and nowadays teaches language classes and writes about chess and languages. Having started playing chess for a tournament trip to Paris, she is now active not only as a player but in a diverse range of activities connected to chess. This includes among others teaching chess classes, writing about chess and being active as an arbiter.
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Zagreb: In-form Firouzja now three points clear of the field

7/3/2026 – Alireza Firouzja increased his lead at the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb after scoring two wins and a draw for the second day in a row. He now has 10/12 points, 3 more than Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Gukesh Dommaraju and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Firouzja won both his games with black on Thursday, while Gukesh and Deac both scored 4/6 to move into shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Zagreb: Entertaining first day of rapid leaves Firouzja as sole leader

7/2/2026 – Alireza Firouzja took the sole lead after the first day of the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb, scoring two wins and a draw in the opening three rapid rounds. His victories over Ivan Saric and Bogdan-Daniel Deac were not straightforward, while a third-round draw against Anish Giri left him on 5/6. Four players are one point behind: Giri, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Video

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.