Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov secured second place at the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2026 tournament held in Zagreb from July 1 to 5. This event is the third leg of the Grand Chess Tour series, featuring the world's top chess players.
The Grand Chess Tour is not a single competition but a series of elite seasonal chess tournaments. The GCT-2026 calendar includes legs in Poland, Romania, Croatia, and the United States. Each leg has its own winner, standings, and prize fund. Results also count toward the overall series standings: players earn Grand Chess Tour points for their participation. After five legs, the best performers of the season qualify for the tour final.
Before the final day, Alireza Firouzja led the blitz standings with 8 points from 9 games on the first day, holding a three-point lead over his closest rivals. However, on the second day, he managed only 2 points from 7 games, a situation Abdusattorov capitalized on.
The Uzbek player went undefeated on the day, scoring 6.5 points from 9 games. He defeated reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Ivan Šarić, among others, and became the sole leader with two rounds remaining.
Firouzja later described the day as “the worst blitz day of my life.” He managed to stay in contention by winning a game against Gukesh in the penultimate round: the French player, despite being in a losing position, managed to confuse his opponent and secure victory. This allowed him and Abdusattorov to enter the final round with equal points.
In the decisive game of the main tournament, Firouzja and Abdusattorov drew. They then played two tiebreak games with a time control of 8 minutes plus 3 seconds, both of which also ended in draws.
The winner was determined by an Armageddon game: Abdusattorov played White and had one minute more on the clock, but he needed a win to claim the tournament. In a complex struggle, the Uzbek grandmaster had opportunities to gain an advantage but failed to convert, and the game ended in a drawish endgame. The draw gave Firouzja the championship, as he was playing Black.
Final standings: Firouzja and Abdusattorov each had 23.5 points. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa tied for third with 21.5 points. The remaining places: Vincent Keymer (20), Gukesh Dommaraju (18.5), Anish Giri (17), Bogdan-Daniel Deac (15), Jorden van Foreest (12.5), and Ivan Šarić (7).
Abdusattorov earned $42,500 in prize money. Firouzja received $47,500 and 11 Grand Chess Tour points. The Uzbek player, who participated in Croatia via a wildcard invitation, did not receive GCT points for this result.
Additionally, Abdusattorov improved his blitz rating to 2820 points, solidifying his second place in the world rankings. It is worth noting that after the World Team Rapid and Blitz Championship in Hong Kong, he crossed the 2800-point barrier in blitz, becoming the first Uzbek player to achieve this in at least one of the time control formats.
The Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia tournament took place from July 1 to 5 in Zagreb. Participants first competed in rapid chess with a time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds in a round-robin format, followed by blitz chess with a time control of 5 minutes plus 2 seconds in a double round-robin format.
Source: www.gazeta.uz