Praggnanandhaa began with an impressive victory over Vincent Keymer before drawing against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Gukesh, meanwhile, suffered an opening-round defeat to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave but responded immediately with a win over Ivan Saric.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The two then faced each other in the final round of the day, where they split the point. As a result, Praggnanandhaa finishes Day 1 tied for 2nd place with 4\/6, while Gukesh is tied for 6th on 3\/6, with six rapid rounds still to play. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
Round 3 wrapped up an exciting opening day of the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia, with Alireza Firouzja remaining the man to catch, with a sole lead with five points.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Just a few weeks ago, Firouzja was forced to withdraw from the Grand Chess Tour event in Romania after suffering an ankle injury, even playing two of his games from a separate room before making the difficult decision to withdraw from the event. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
In the Croatia leg, the clash between tournament leader Firouzja and Anish Giri ended peacefully, allowing Firouzja to keep the sole lead. Keymer continued his comeback after an opening-round loss by defeating Nodirbek Abdusattorov, while Bogdan-Daniel Deac scored his first victory of the event against Ivan Sari, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave split the point with Jorden van Foreest. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
Just a few weeks ago, Firouzja was forced to withdraw from the Grand Chess Tour event in Romania after suffering an ankle injury, even playing two of his games from a separate room before making the difficult decision to withdraw from the event. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rapid wins count for 2 points and draws for 1 point, while Blitz wins count for 1 point and draws for half point.<\/p>\r\n\r\n