5 min readUpdated: May 5, 2026 11:40 PM IST
On a wild opening day at the Super Rapid and Blitz Poland tournament on Tuesday, world champion D Gukesh drew a game against Alireza Firouzja he was winning, then lost a game to Hans Niemann which was ambling towards a draw and finally ended his day by winning a game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda where he was under significant pressure.
Three blunders — not all by Gukesh — decided the fortunes of the world champion on the first day of the rapid and blitz tournament in Warsaw. But the big talking point of the day came when the 19-year-old was locked in battle against Niemann in round 2. When making his knight hop on the e7 square on his 27th move, Gukesh, already under severe time trouble at that point, toppled over Niemann’s queen. When he tried to pick up the queen, he accidentally knocked over a pawn as well. With his time running down to just two seconds, Gukesh hit the clock to prevent himself from getting flagged. At that point, two of Niemann’s pieces were still down on the board, rolling about.
WATCH: Gukesh drops pieces in game against Hans Niemann
Gukesh, nearly losing on time against Niemann, knocks the pieces over!https://t.co/ZY1lUUBb4Y#GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/XYGzjROewH
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 5, 2026
The American grandmaster hauled over the arbiter who gave him an extra minute, but did not forfeit Gukesh.
“I personally think it should be a forfeit. But it’s not my job to decide,” Niemann told St Louis Chess Club in an interview after the day’s games were over.
Niemann pointed out that at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Doha, there were instances of players getting handed forfeits because they had knocked over the pieces and then reset the clock before they had arranged the pieces in the right squares.
Niemann said he had been the one to ironically ask at the pre-tournament technical meeting what would happen if someone knocked over the pieces and hit the clock before the board was properly set up.
Asked if there should be an instant forfeit in such cases, Niemann, not known to be diplomatic, said: “I’m not an arbiter. So I am not going to opine as an expert. But if that’s the regulation for the world championship, then it’s probably good to have the same rule at all events.”
Not that it mattered. With Niemann already up on the clock and then receiving one additional minute as per existing tournament rules, Gukesh continued to duel both the American and his clock before making the game-deciding blunder on move 51 (51. Ke4) where he moved his king to e4, thus allowing Niemann’s h file pawn to advance down the board and his knight on g4 on a perfect square to offer protection. Gukesh resigned on move 53.
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This had been the second blunder of the day from Gukesh. In the first game against Firouzja, Gukesh had squandered a winning position in a single move too.
Since becoming the world champion in December 2024, Gukesh has shown remarkable improvement in the rapid format. And it seemed like he was destined to beat Firouzja. By the 29th move, Gukesh had seized control of the game with black pieces. By move 32, he had three additional pawns on the board. By move 40, Alireza would have started entertaining thoughts of waving the white flag of surrender. Both players played inaccuracies, but Gukesh maintained a two-pawn advantage and his edge on the eval bar. But on the 68th move, when Firouzja captured Gukesh’s rook and offered up his own, Gukesh took the rook with the wrong piece: he opted to take with a pawn instead of with his bishop, which turned out to be a game-changing error. After 20 more moves, the game ended in a draw.
“If you can’t win these kinds of positions, what positions are you going to win?” asked grandmaster Maurice Ashley on the St Louis Chess Club stream on YouTube. “Gukesh is going to have to clear his head after a potentially disastrous draw.”
Before the day ended, the perfect antidote to clear his head arrived. Gukesh finally got some luck in his final game of the day, against Duda, who was one his seconds at the World Chess Championship in 2024.
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Duda held an edge from the 26th move, and despite inaccuracies, his edge never slipped. But a blunder on move 40 allowed Gukesh to put his king under duress. The Polish GM ultimately resigned on move 45.
The day saw only two players, Gukesh’s world championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov and Niemann, stay unbeaten after three rounds. Wednesday will see Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov square off for the first time since the Uzbek GM confirmed his spot in the world championship as the challenger.
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