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Grand Chess Tour 2025: When the dust settles, it’s always Magnus!

A recap of the Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2025, Carlsen’s Blitz dominance, and what it means for Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju.

Magnus Carlsen won the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament 2025 (PC: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour)

The Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2025 has reminded the world that the 34-year-old Magnus Carlsen, currently the World Blitz Champion, is still untouchable in the shortest format of the game, and why rising stars like Gukesh have much to learn.

The Norwegian’s ability to squeeze water from stone — salvaging draws from losing positions and pulling off impossible wins from drawish endgames — was on full display in the last couple of days of the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament held in Zagreb, Croatia.

Gukesh vs Carlsen

Although Gukesh had a decent final day, his performance on the penultimate day was disastrous. After a stupendous act in the first half of the event — even topping the Rapid points table ahead of Carlsen and Polish grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda — he failed to capitalize on that advantage in the Blitz section, managing just one win and one draw in nine games on Day 4 (Carlsen won six and drew three on the same day). He had a relatively better outing the following day and eventually finished the tournament third overall behind Carlsen and American GM Wesley So.

Magnus ended up with 22.5 points while Gukesh secured 19.5 points, bulk of which came from his performance in the Rapid portion (14 points). Earlier, Carlsen had a mediocre (dismal by his standards tbh) start to the tournament, finishing with 10 points (4 points behind Gukesh) in the Rapid section, while also losing his game against the Indian prodigy. Magnus struck back in Blitz, winning their first encounter, before both agreed to a Berlin draw in their final match-up. Gukesh’s decision to settle for a quick draw might have been a strategic, risk-averse move, though I was expecting a serious fight, given he was three points behind Carlsen at that time.

This is also what sets the Norwegian genius miles apart from the rest. He may have off days, but in the long run — in tournaments with many games — his raw talent and ruthless mentality help him claw his way back from seemingly hopeless situations and stay above the curve. When the dust settles, it’s always Magnus who is left standing.

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Intuition vs Calculation

About 13 years ago, in an interview with CBS News, Carlsen said that he could almost instantly guess what the next best move is and the time he spends on calculation is just to verify the move than to find the correct one. He couldn’t explain how he does it, but it’s exactly that sixth sense, or rather what chess players call ‘intuition’, that made him the GOAT even in Blitz, which is basically the anything-can-happen format of chess (akin to T20s in cricket).

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Intuition is indispensable in Blitz. Hence it’s no wonder that Gukesh, who relies too much on deep calculation, struggles to match the level of Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura (American GM), or Alireza Firouzja (French GM whom Carlsen considers as his favourite new gen opponent), despite being the World Champion in Classical chess. Even the Rapid format is somewhat manageable with calculation, but in Blitz there’s not enough time to work through all the variations.

With practice, I’m sure his intuition will strengthen, quickening his decision-making process. In fact, Gukesh could take a leaf from the book of American GM Fabiano Caruana, who is another monster calculator but also a top-10 Blitz player. Moreover, he will always have the guidance and support of Vishwanathan Anand, who in his early days was known as “the lightning kid” due to his incredible prowess in speed chess. (Arjun Erigaisi (rank 13), R Pragnnanandhaa (17), Anand (18), Nihal Sarin (35), and Vidit Gujrathi (40) are currently India’s top ranked Blitz players in the world.)

Top 10 Blitz players in the world

I thought Gukesh’s games were feeble yesterday and today. Because it’s very fast and he’s not probably ready to show his skills in blitz. — Garry Kasparov

Though Gukesh is currently ranked 89th in the world in Blitz, the privilege of being the World Champion will earn him more invitations and opportunities to sharpen his game against the best in business. There’s plenty of room for growth, but he has age on his side. His Rapid gameplay has shown significant improvement in recent times, and I hope that, eventually, his skills will translate to Blitz as well.

No plans to change, no plans to impress

That said, I’m truly happy for Carlsen. Though not as expressive as former World Champion Garry Kasparov, or Hikaru Nakamura for that matter, Magnus is blunt, honest, and wears his heart on his sleeve. Ever since he chose not to defend his Classical title, quite a few people have been eagerly waiting to see him fall, for he doesn’t speak or act in a way that they deem is the only appropriate behaviour in chess. Well, haters will have to wait a little longer. He will fall one day, we all will, but just not today. Until then, I’m just happy to watch the Mozart of chess continue to script his legacy.

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