Indian chess prodigy and reigning World Champion D Gukesh Dommaraju delivered a remarkable performance at the Grand Chess Tour SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz tournament held in Zagreb, Croatia, in July 2025. After a slow start with an initial loss, Gukesh bounced back with an impressive winning streak, securing five consecutive victories including wins over top players such as Alireza Firouzja, R Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, and notably, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. Gukesh’s victory against Carlsen in Round 6 was achieved with the black pieces and marked their first encounter since Norway Chess in June 2025. This win propelled Gukesh to take the sole lead with 10 points after the second day of rapid chess. He continued to dominate the rapid section, finishing with 14 points out of 18 and holding a three-point lead over Jan-Krzysztof Duda and a four-point lead over Carlsen going into the blitz portion. Despite a challenging blitz segment where Gukesh lost five consecutive games early on, he managed to recover and finished third overall with 19.5 points out of 36. Magnus Carlsen ultimately won the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament with 22.5 points, securing his sixth tournament victory of the year and his tenth win in twelve Grand Chess Tour rapid and blitz events. Wesley So finished second with 20 points. The tournament highlighted Gukesh’s rising stature in the chess world and his ability to challenge and defeat the world’s top-ranked players in rapid formats. Carlsen acknowledged the difficulty of the competition and praised Gukesh’s performance despite his own struggles during the event.