Gukesh v. Sindarov clash scheduled for Wednesday

The Super Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament began on Tuesday at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, with the first three rounds of rapid chess launching the eleventh edition of the Grand Chess Tour. The Warsaw event opened with games played at a time control of 25 minutes plus 10-second increments.

As per usual in the GCT circuit, the tournament uses different scoring systems for the two sections. In the rapid event, wins are worth 2 points, while wins in the later blitz section will count for 1 point. After the first three rounds, five of the ten players in the field are tied for first place on 4/6: Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov, Wesley So, Vladimir Fedoseev and Hans Niemann.

Understanding Middlegame Strategy Vol.14 Reversed Colour Systems – Benoni, Blumenfeld and Benko Gambit

You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups.
The Benoni family of openings has toppled world champions, decided match games under the highest pressure, and rewarded those brave enough to play them with some of the most electrifying chess imaginable. In this Fritztrainer, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov -  continuing his successful series "Understanding Middlegame Structures" - takes you deep inside the complexities of the Colour-Reversed Benoni, the Colour-Reversed Benko Gambit, and the Colour-Reversed Blumenfeld Gambit.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Colour Reversed Banoni - Game 1

Vladimir Fedoseev won the 2025 edition of the tournament in Warsaw | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The leaders reached their scores in different ways. Sindarov and Niemann were the only two players in the group (and the field) to remain undefeated, as each scored one win and two draws on opening day. Caruana, So and Fedoseev also reached 4/6, but did so with two wins and one loss each. The day produced a high number of decisive games, with 11 of the 15 encounters ending with a winner.

Alireza Firouzja, Gukesh Dommaraju and Jan-Krzysztof Duda finished one point behind the leaders on 3/6. All three recorded the same results: one win, one draw and one loss. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1/6 points) and Radoslaw Wojtaszek (0/6), the oldest players in the field, had a difficult start.

The main storyline heading into the second day is the meeting between Gukesh and Sindarov, as the youngsters (aged 19 and 20 respectively) are set to contest the World Championship match later this year. Gukesh will have the white pieces in the round-five encounter.

Living legend Judit Polgar playing the first move in the all-Polish battle between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Caruana 1-0 Vachier-Lagrave

Attack like a Super Grandmaster

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.

The playing hall | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Gukesh 0-1 Niemann

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

Hans Niemann drew Candidates' winner Javokhir Sindarov in the first round of the event | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 3 (win = 2 pts, draw = 1pt)

All games

Links

• Grand Chess Tour website
• Nihal wins Menorca Masters, Gukesh finishes in fourth place
• Javokhir Sindarov: "The quarantine changed my life"