Blitz Lightning Round: Gukesh and Carlsen's Zagreb Clash Ends in Blazing 65-Second Draw

In a surprising turn of events at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia, the final face-off between reigning World Champion D. Gukesh and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen concluded in a blink-and-you-miss-it 14-move draw, clocking in at barely one minute and five seconds. The brevity of the encounter reportedly caught even Carlsen, known for his relentless style, off guard.

This rapid-fire draw stands in stark contrast to their initial clash in the rapid format of the Zagreb tournament, where Gukesh, defying all expectations, had delivered a stunning defeat to the five-time World Champion. That victory had propelled the youngest classical World Champion in history to the top of the leaderboard after the three-day rapid section. Gukesh's performance in the rapid portion was nothing short of revelatory, earning him effusive praise from former World Champion Garry Kasparov, who remarked that "playing Gukesh was like playing a computer because you needed to beat him five times in each game."

However, the tide shifted with the commencement of the blitz portion of the event on Saturday. Gukesh, who had demonstrated such commanding form in rapid chess, experienced a string of defeats. He notably lost to Carlsen in their first blitz encounter on Saturday. Sunday brought their second blitz matchup, which ended in the incredibly quick round 13 draw. When the draw was agreed, Gukesh still had a comfortable 5:10 minutes on his clock, remarkably more than he had at the start of the game, while Carlsen had 4:45.

Prior to the game, Carlsen admitted to being in "survival mode," explaining that he was merely "hustling" his way through games. The swift draw against the Indian prodigy marked his third draw out of four games on the day, with his sole victory coming against Alireza Firouzja. Carlsen also secured draws against formidable opponents Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana.

Despite his self-proclaimed "super shaky" state and "survival mode" mentality, Carlsen ultimately clinched the tournament title. Gukesh, meanwhile, finished in third place in the final standings.

"When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though!" Carlsen posted on his X (formerly Twitter) after securing his victory, a testament to his enduring competitive spirit even when not at his peak.

The Indian World Champion's day began with back-to-back defeats against Wesley So and Nodirbek Abdusattorov before he managed to secure a crucial win against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who had been ahead of him in the standings.

Interestingly, despite holding a significant lead in the tournament before facing Gukesh, Carlsen confessed to "feeling super shaky." He told "Take Take Take," "I feel like my play is not there at all so far. But there results are working out, so that's good! Now I'm kinda in survival mode. Obviously, the results are working out great in the other games for me. I really cannot get going so far. I'm managing to hustle it."