Gukesh, Pragg in action at Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2026

by Rasika Ratnaparkhi - 01/07/2026

The Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2026, the third event of the Grand Chess Tour, begins today in Zagreb. World Champion D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa are among the ten players competing for the title. The tournament features three days of rapid followed by two days of blitz. The tournament features nine rounds of Rapid (25+10) and 18 rounds of Blitz (5+2). Round 1 starts at 3:00 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. IST) every day. Photo: Lennart Ootes

The Grand Chess Tour moves to Croatia

The third event of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour, Super Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2026, begins today in Zagreb, Croatia. Following the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland and the Super Chess Classic Romania, the Tour now shifts to faster time controls. World Champion D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa will be among the ten players fighting for the title. The first round starts today and the event will run till 6th July.

The Westin Zagreb will host the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia 2026.

Participants

The exciting line-up for the event! | Photo: Grand Chess Tour

We have a formidable line-up of six full-Tour regulars and four wildcards. In rating order, the participants are:

GM Vincent Keymer (GER) - World No. 5
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) - World No. 6
GM Anish Giri (NED) - World No. 8
GM R Praggnanandhaa (IND) - World No. 11
GM Alireza Firouzja (FRA) - World No. 12
GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) - World No. 21
GM D Gukesh (IND) - World Champion, World No. 26
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) - World No. 27
GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) - World No. 68
GM Ivan Saric (CRO) - World No. 108

Abdusattorov, Deac, Saric and Gukesh are competing as wildcards for this leg, while the remaining six are full-season Grand Chess Tour players.

Participants of the Super Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2026 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Format and Schedule

The event follows the same structure as previous Super Rapid & Blitz tournaments. It is a single 10-player round robin in the Rapid section, followed by a double round robin in the Blitz.

Rapid: July 1 - July 3 (three rounds per day), time control 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment, 2 points per game, 1 point for draw.

Blitz: July 4 - 5, two 9-round round robins (nine games per day), time control 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment, 1 point per game, 1/2 point for draw.

Round 1 begins daily at 3:00 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. IST)

The player with the best combined score across Rapid and Blitz will be declared tournament champion.

Check out the event schedule.

Prize Fund

The total prize fund for the event is US $200,000 for the Rapid event and US $200,000 for the Blitz event. The top three finishers in each section will take home $50,000, $40,000 and $30,000, respectively.

Gukesh drew the number 10 in Rapid. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Tomislav Koric and Garry Kasparov made the inaugural first move | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Garry Kasparov playing simul. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Maybe they were analysing some game! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia is the third stop of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour, with Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, the Sinquefield Cup and the GCT Finals still to come later this season.

Pairings for Round 1 Rapid:

Bo.	Rtg	White	Black	Rtg
1	2597	Van Foreest, Jorden	Giri, Anish	2664
2	2690	Praggnanandhaa, R	Keymer, Vincent	2627
3	2686	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	2613
4	2748	Firouzja, Alireza	Saric, Ivan	2595
5	2701	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	Gukesh, D	2684

Important Links

Grand Chess Tour: Official Site, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube

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