The Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia, the third leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour, will be held in Zagreb from 1 to 5 July. The event will take place at the Westin Zagreb Hotel, located near the Mimara Museum and the Croatian National Theatre and Opera House. It follows the two opening tournaments of the tour, which were held in Warsaw and Bucharest.
This is the eleventh edition of the Grand Chess Tour circuit. It consists of six events: two classical tournaments, three rapid and blitz events and the knockout-format GCT Finals in Saint Louis. As in previous editions, full-tour participants are scheduled to play both classical events and two of the three faster time-control legs, while wildcard players complete the fields at individual tournaments. The top four players in the overall standings qualify for the finals.
The Croatia leg will use the familiar rapid and blitz format. The tournament begins with a 10-player single round-robin in rapid chess, with nine rounds played at a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment from move one. Rapid games count double: a win is worth 2 points, a draw 1 point and a loss 0 points.
The blitz section will then consist of a double round-robin, with 18 rounds across two cycles. The time control is 5 minutes plus a 2-second increment from move one. In the blitz section, a win is worth 1 point and a draw ½ point. The player with the highest combined rapid and blitz score will win the tournament.
A view of Zagreb from the Westin Hotel | Photo: Marriott Hotels
The field includes six players from the world top 20 in classical chess according to the June FIDE rating list. Five of them are aged 23 or younger: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer, Alireza Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Anish Giri, aged 32, is the only top-20 participant in Zagreb who is over 30.
The lineup also includes Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Jorden van Foreest, two experienced players with strong records in elite events. Underdogs Bogdan-Daniel Deac from Romania and Ivan Saric from Croatia complete the field.
The first two events of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour produced wins for Hans Niemann (wildcard) and Vincent Keymer. Niemann won the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland in Warsaw, while Keymer took first place at the classical event in Bucharest. After those two tournaments, Fabiano Caruana leads the tour standings on 20 points, followed by Wesley So on 15½. Neither Caruana nor So - who played in the two first stages - will play in Zagreb.
Keymer is third in the standings with 13 points, the maximum score awarded for an outright tournament victory. Since he has played only one event so far, a strong result in Zagreb could move him to first or second place in the overall table. Firouzja and Vachier-Lagrave, both on 7 points, will also have the chance to add to their totals in the Croatian capital.
GCT 2026 rankings
| Player | POL | ROU | CRO | STL | SIN | Total points | Prize money | |
| 1 | Fabiano Caruana (United States) | 10 | 10 | 20 | $125,833 | |||
| 2 | Wesley So (United States) | 8 | 7.5 | 15.5 | $72,500 | |||
| 3 | Vincent Keymer (Germany) | 13 | 13 | $131,250 | ||||
| 4 | Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) | 3 | 7.5 | 10.5 | $72,333 | |||
| T–5 | Alireza Firouzja (France) | 6 | 1 | 7 | $25,000 | |||
| T–5 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) | 3 | 4 | 7 | $37,416 | |||
| T–7 | Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands) | 4 | 4 | $28,416 | ||||
| T–7 | Anish Giri (Netherlands) | 4 | 4 | $28,416 | ||||
| T–7 | R Praggnanandhaa (India) | 4 | 4 | $28,416 | ||||
| Hans Niemann (United States) | 13 | 13 | $50,000 | |||||
| Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia) | 7 | 7 | $20,000 | |||||
| Gukesh Dommaraju (India) | 5 | 5 | $11,000 | |||||
| Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania) | 4 | 4 | $28,416 | |||||
| Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) | 3 | 3 | $9,000 | |||||
| Radosław Wojtaszek (Poland) | 1 | 1 | $7,000 | |||||
| Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) | ||||||||
| Ivan Saric (Croatia) | ||||||||
| Levon Aronian (United States) |
Vincent Keymer won the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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