Over the 18 rounds of the blitz section at the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland event, Fabiano Caruana took first place with 13 points. Alireza Firouzja finished second with 11½ points, having shown a remarkable performance in the first nine rounds of blitz, while Hans Niemann took third place with 9½ points.
While Hans Niemann shone in the rapid, Firouzja stood out in the first half of the blitz with 6½ out of 9 points. Niemann had scored only 3½ points. But on Saturday he added 6 points to his tally, while Caruana had the best score on Saturday, with 7 out of 9. Firouzja scored only 5 points on the final day, so his gap to Niemann increased. In the end, Caruana fell half a point short of catching Niemann in the overall standings.
Fabiano Caruana scored 7/9 on the final day | Photo: Lennart Ootes
| Place | Player | Rapid pts | Blitz pts | Total pts | Prize money |
| 1 | GM Hans Niemann | 13 | 9.5 | 22.5 | $50,000 |
| 2 | GM Fabiano Caruana | 9 | 13 | 22 | $40,000 |
| 3 | GM Wesley So | 12 | 9 | 21 | $30,000 |
| 4 | GM Vladimir Fedoseev | 11 | 7 | 18 | $20,000 |
| 5 | GM Alireza Firouzja | 6 | 11.5 | 17.5 | $15,000 |
| 6 | GM Gukesh Dommaraju | 9 | 8 | 17 | $11,000 |
| 7 | GM Javokhir Sindarov | 8 | 8.5 | 16.5 | $9,000 |
| 7 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 8 | 8.5 | 16.5 | $9,000 |
| 7 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 9 | 7.5 | 16.5 | $9,000 |
| 10 | GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek | 5 | 7.5 | 12.5 | $7,000 |
Wesley So and Vladimir Fedoseev still managed to finish ahead of Alireza Firouzja in the overall standings. The rapid games counted double compared to the blitz games, so Firouzja's particularly low score in the rapid section hurt him especially. Even so, with 17½ out of a possible 36 points, he scored half a point more than reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.
Gukesh v. Niemann
Gukesh was the only player against whom Niemann lost twice in the blitz. Against Sindarov, Niemann drew twice. Wesley So gave up half a point to Niemann in the blitz. Gukesh finished only seventh in the blitz, but he did not give Niemann any points.
After Niemann played 37...Rd5?, he had only 10 seconds left, while Gukesh had only 6 seconds on his clock. White played 38.Bc3, after which the black rook on a1 ran into difficulties. 38...Qxc3 would not have saved Black, as 39.Qe8+ Kh7 40.Qe4+ wins the rook on d5. Black therefore followed up with 38...Rc1. The game then continued 39.Bd2 Qxe2 40.Rxe2 Rc2
41.Re8+ Kh7 42.Bxf4 saves the white bishop. After 42...Rxa2, both sides again had the same number of pawns, but White had the strong bishop pair against a lone rook.
Solution to the mate in 3: 50.Bg7+ Kh7 51.Bf6+ Kh6 52.Bg5#.
This was Hans Niemann's first victory at a Grand Chess Tour event | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
The 22-year-old tournament winner competed against elite stars such as Fabiano Caruana, reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Candidates winner Javokhir Sindarov. He had received his place at the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026 through a wildcard. With this tournament result, his chances of further invitations to world-class events have increased.
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