SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2023: All you need to know
Author: Maria Fragaki
The third tournament of the Grand Chess Tour, the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2023, is 9 days away and will feature ten players, including Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, and Gukesh D.
Wesley So leads the Grand Chess Tour 2023
The Grand Chess Tour started on May 4th with the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, continued with the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, and has reached its third leg, the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, which will take place between 3-10 July in Zagreb. It’s the second rapid & blitz tournament of the tour, which will conclude with the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz and the Sinquefield Cup in November, 2023.
In the first tournament (classical) of the Tour, the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, GM Fabiano Caruana was crowned the Champion to take the lead of the Tour. GMs Anish Giri, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, and Richard Rapport were close but finished in a four-way tie for second.
In the second tournament (rapid & blitz) of the Tour, Magnus Carlsen and Jan-Krzysztof Duda fought their way to the top, with the Norwegian GM winning first place, Duda coming second, and Wesley So finishing third with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
After the first two events, GM Wesley So leads with 15.25 GCT points, followed by GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda with 14.5, and GM Fabiano Caruana with 13 GCT points.
Alireza Firouzja was the 2022 GCT Winner
After defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5 in a rapid playoff for the title, GM Alireza Firouzja won the eventful 2022 Sinquefield Cup to emerge as the overall winner of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour, and pick $227,500 in -not even- three weeks!
“In general, the Grand Chess Tour is the toughest tour in the history of chess I think, so to win it is an amazing feeling and I cannot be more happy” Firouzja said after his victory, adding: “For sure I got some experience from the Candidates Tournament. I played there 14 very tough games against very good players and everybody was motivated, so I took a lot of lessons and experiences there, and it definitely helped me to be at the top of my game here.”
Firouzja’s incredible performance was shadowed by Carlsen’s withdrawal from the tournament due to suspicions of GM Hans Niemann cheating. The whole chess world was shocked by the day-to-day run of events, but the young GM kept his spirit up high and won in glory!
SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2023
The SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz 2023 is the midway point of the Grand Chess Tour, starting with Round 1 on July 5th in Zagreb, Croatia. The prize fund for the tournament is $175,000, with the first picking up $40,000, the second $30,000, and the third $25,000.
Three full days of Rapid and two of Blitz chess will determine the winner of the tournament, among Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Richard Rapport, Ivan Saric, Gukesh D and Constantin Lupulescu.
