4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: May 8, 2026 11:51 PM IST
Chess is often seen as a sport of quiet calculation, where emotion is expected to take a back seat to cold logic. But there is always room for a posture and a few gestures carry as much weight as the fist pump. When world champion D. Gukesh defeated his challenger Javokhir Sindarov in a rapid game at the Super Rapid and Blitz tournament in Poland, his celebration was far from subtle. And for those watching closely, it spoke volumes. It was as if Gukesh was reminding who holds the crown.
That was Day 2.
On Day 4, the Uzbek prodigy – the same one who has taken the chess world by storm with a World Cup triumph followed by a Candidates victory – struck back. Sindarov had his revenge, defeating Gukesh in the blitz portion of the event to even the score right away.
It was a day of extremes for Gukesh. From nine rounds of blitz, he walked away with just four points through three wins, two draws, and four losses. The start couldn’t have gone much worse as he lost back-to-back games at the hands of Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Alireza Firouzja. He finally steadied himself with a draw against Vladimir Fedoseev before snatching his first victory of the day against Wesley So.
Gukesh in action during Grand Chess Tour Poland. (Lennart Ootes/GCT)
The momentum evaporated immediately for the Indian as the highest-rated player of the event, Fabiano Caruana, handed him his third loss of the day.
At that point, Gukesh was languishing at the bottom of the blitz leaderboard with just 1.5 points from five rounds.
The following round pitted him against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Gukesh had his chances but failed to capitalise under time pressure, eventually settling for a forced draw.
The Grandmaster from Chennai then pulled things around against tournament leader Hans Niemann. After tumbling to him in the rapid portion, Gukesh settled the score against the American by squeezing out a full point with the black pieces.
Gukesh vs Sindarov blitz game at GCT
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Niemann blundered an entire piece, hanging his rook in the haste of a blitz endgame. Gukesh kept his calm and spotted the mistake with just seconds left on the clock, forcing Niemann to resign.
But the high of beating the tournament leader did not last long. Gukesh went on to lose to Sindarov as their budding rivalry heated up in Warsaw. The two players will face each other one final time at the event on Saturday, in a reverse-blitz clash to decide who stays ahead in their battle.
The day, however, ended on a winning note for the Indian as he defeated his former second, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, in the ninth and final round.
Firouzja had the best outing in the shortest time control, racking up 6.5 points, winning five games and losing just one.
With four points from nine rounds, Gukesh finished his day in eighth place among ten players after Day 1 of the blitz portion. After finishing the rapid event tied for fourth place, he slipped to fifth in the overall standings
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Grand Chess Tour: Super Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026 Leaderboard
| Overall Rank | Player Name | Rapid Pts | Blitz Pts | |
| 1 | Hans Moke Niemann | 13 | 3.5 | 16.5 |
| 2 | Wesley So | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 9 | 6 | 15 |
| 4 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 11 | 4 | 15 |
| 5 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 9 | 4 | 13 |
| 6 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 8 | 4.5 | 12.5 |
| 7 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 9 | 3.5 | 12.5 |
| 8 | Alireza Firouzja | 6 | 6.5 | 12.5 |
| 9 | Javokhir Sindarov | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| 10 | Radoslaw Wojtaszek | 5 | 5 | 10 |
