World chess champion Gukesh gets lucky after bad start in GCT rapid event in Poland

World chess champion D Gukesh got lucky to strike a first win after a pair of difficult results on the first day of the Grand Chess Tour: Super Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026 at Warsaw on Tuesday.

Gukesh defeated local favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the third rapid game on the opening day. He drew with Frenchman Alireza Firouzja before losing to American Hans Moke Niemann in the earlier rounds.

Playing black, Gukesh was staring at a second defeat on the day before Duda made a blunder in the endgame. Gukesh seized the moment and played smartly to force a resignation after 45 moves.

Against Firouzja, Gukesh had squandered an advantage, while mistakes in the endgame led to his defeat against Niemann.

The tournament, featuring ten leading grandmasters, has rapid (25 minutes plus 10-second increment per move) and blitz (5+2) formats.

Each player will compete in a single-round-robin system in the rapid segment and in a double-round-robin system in the blitz event, which is set to begin on May 6.

Gukesh is the only Indian in the event. He will face Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov in round five on Wednesday, one of the most anticipated clashes, as the two are set to meet later this year in the classical World Championship match.

Sindarov became the challenger to the reigning champion, Gukesh, after winning the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus recently.