Super United 2025: D Gukesh Defeats Magnus Carlsen To Lead Rapid And Blitz; Kasparov Hails Indian GM

World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh stunned world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen at the Super United 2025 Rapid and Blitz tournament in Zagreb, Croatia, on 4 July 2025. With the win, Gukesh took the sole lead after six rounds with 10 points from a possible 12, leading by two points against the nearest rival, Poland’s Duda Jan-Krzysztof.

Playing with black pieces, Gukesh handed Carlsen a big defeat, marking his fifth straight win in the tournament and his second against the Norwegian GM in just over a month. Gukesh had earlier defeated Carlsen in the Norway Chess tournament, marking his first win over the 34-year-old.

In the match on Friday, Carlsen chose to open with the king pawn. However, Gukesh countered well, and with the clock ticking away, Carlsen had to give up two minor pieces for a rook and a pair of pawns.

Gukesh continued to build on Carlsen’s mistakes and forced a resignation from his opponent in the 49th move.

Earlier in the day, Gukesh had defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Fabiano Caruana, continuing his fine form in the rapid section.

Meanwhile, Carlsen was left languishing in a four-way tie for fourth with just six points. Among the other Indians in the tournament, R Praggnanandhaa remained winless on Friday, drawing all three of his games against Caruana, Carlsen and Anish Giri. With five points, he shares the seventh spot with Caruana, one point ahead of Alireza Firouzja.

Kasparov Hails Gukesh For Handing Carlsen ‘Very Convincing Loss’

Gukesh’s groundbreaking win against Carlsen found an admirer in GM Garry Kasparov. The Russian player, who was part of the commentary team during the event, termed the match a “very convincing loss” for the Norwegian and said that his dominance will be called into question.

“Now we can question Magnus’ domination,” Kasparov said. “This is not just his second loss to Gukesh, it’s a convincing loss. It’s not a miracle… or that Gukesh just kept benefitting from Magnus’ terrible mistakes. It was a game that was a big fight. And Magnus lost.”

The comments came on the backdrop of Carlsen’s criticism of Gukesh ahead of the match. He said that Gukesh had “not done anything to indicate that he’s going to do well”. He also added that he would treat the clash against the Indian GM as one of the “presumably weaker players in the tournament”.

Standings After Round 6:

1. D Gukesh (IND) – 10

2. Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) – 8

3. Wesley So (USA) – 7

4-6. Ivan Šarić (CRO), Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Anish Giri (NED) – 6

7-8. Fabiano Caruana (USA), R Praggnanandhaa (IND) – 5

9. Alireza Firouzja (FRA) – 4

10. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) – 3

(With PTI Inputs)