Carlsen, Gukesh, MVL, Erigaisi, Artemiev share lead @ World Rapid Doha
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen along with world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vladislav Artemiev led the star field with 4.5 points after the fifth round of the Euros 1 million FIDE Rapid & Blitz Championships 2025 at Doha. Shedding a lone draw to GM Erigaisi Arjun the Norwegian looked in fine nick and is likely to be one standing between the world rapid champion title and a possible challenger.
Five times World rapid champion Magnus Carlsen, who loves speed chess and had last played a FIDE event at the New York World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024. Fluent wins in the first four rounds against GMs Lodici Lorenzo, Paravyan David, Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo, Anton Guijarro David saw Carlsen move to 4/4 along with GM Erigaisi Arjun. Following them at 3.5/4 were two juniors viz., GM Sina Movahed and IM Goutham Krishna H who were conquering one mountain after the other.
15-year-old Indian International Master Goutham Krishna kept conquering one top GM after the other making big news at Doha. Among those GMs the Indian boy scalped were Indjic Aleksandar, Aravindh Chithambaram andTeimour Radjabov while drew Grand Swiss Champion Anish Giri and former world blitz champion Alexander Grischuk. Goutham next faces GM Hans Moke Niemann in what promises to be a sizzling clash. An ELO 2880 performance has made the Indian boy, hailing for the state of Kerala, the same as another speed merchant GM Nihal Sarin, the star of the day.
In key pairings of the next round MVL faces Carlsen, Erigaisi takes on Artemiev, while Giri crosses swords with Gukesh. Day two of the rapid championships starts on Saturday, 27th December by 6 AM ET / 12:00 CET / 4:30 PM IST.
David Anton Guijarro (2619) – Magnus Carlsen (2824) 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 d6 3. d4 g6 4. Bb2 Bg7 5. g3 b5 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. Qd3 a6 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Nfd2 Bxg2 10. Kxg2 O-O 11. c4 e5 12. cxb5 exd4 13. Bxd4 axb5 14. Qxb5 c5 15. Bb2 d5 16. Nc3 Rb8 17. Qa4 d4 18. Nce4 Nxe4 19. Nxe4 Re8 20. f3 Nb6 21. Qa5 c4 22. bxc4 Nxc4 23. Qxd8 Rbxd8 24. Bc1 f5 25. Nf2 Rxe2 26. Rd1 d3 27. Rb1 d2 28. Kf1
28…Rde8 0-1
Gukesh Dommaraju (2692) – Movahed Sina (2405) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. a4 O-O 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10. O-O Nc5 11. Qe2 Bd7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Rfd1 Be7 15. Nd2 Ne6 16. Nd5 Bc6 17. Nb3 Re8 18. a5 Bf8 19. Nb6 Rb8 20. c3 Qg5 21. h4 Qg6 22. Nd2 Rbd8 23. b4 f5 24. exf5 Qxf5 25. Nd5 Qf7 26. Nc4 Kh8 27. Nce3 g6 28. Be4 h5 29. Qc2 Kh7 30. g4 Nf4 31. gxh5 Nxh5 32. Kh1 Qe6 33. f3 Ng3+ 34. Kg2 Nxe4 35. Qxe4 Bh6 36. Ng4 Rf8 37. h5 Kg7 38. Qxg6+ Qxg6 39. hxg6 Bg5 40. Nf2 Rf5 41. c4 Kxg6 42. Ne4 Rdf8 43. Ra3 Bh4 44. Nxd6 Rg5+ 45. Kf1 Bd7 46. Ne4 Bh3+ 47. Ke2 Rg2+ 48. Ke3 Rb2 49. Rd2 Rxd2 50. Kxd2 Bg2 51. Ke2 Bh3 52. Ra1 Be6 53. Rg1+ Kh5 54. Rh1 Rh8 55. Nc5 Bf5
56. Ne3 1-0
Complete Results
Photos courtesy: Anna Shtourman / Lennart Ootes / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://worldrapidandblitz2025.fide.com/
