Hans Niemann convincingly won the rapid section of the Super Rapid & Blitz tournament in Warsaw, finishing as the only player in the field to go through all nine rapid rounds undefeated. The 22-year-old Californian scored 13/18, a plus-four result, in games played at a time control of 25 minutes plus 10-second increments.
Niemann goes into the 18 rounds of blitz, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with a one-point advantage over Wesley So and a two-point lead over defending champion Vladimir Fedoseev. Those three players enter the final two days as the clear frontrunners, having created a gap over the rest of the field during the rapid section.
The players tied for fourth place are already two points behind Fedoseev, on 9/18. Fabiano Caruana, Gukesh Dommaraju and Jan-Krzysztof Duda share that score after the rapid portion, leaving them four points behind Niemann.
Niemann entered the final three rapid rounds tied for first place with So. While So signed three draws in the final stretch of the rapid section, Niemann added two draws and a win, preserving his unbeaten record and taking sole first place.
The key result came against Duda. Niemann defeated the Polish grandmaster out of a Petroff Defence, patiently converting a queenless position in which he had an extra pawn.
This is the position Niemann converted into a win in round eight. It was by no means a trivial task, as Duda's resignation only came on move 63.
Hans Niemann ahead of his game against Radoslaw Wojtaszek (draw) | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Vladimir Fedoseev, who convincingly won last year's edition, stands in sole third place | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Round eight in progress | Photo: Lennart Ootes
A great-looking shot of world champion Gukesh Dommaraju | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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