Day 3 of Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz saw the conclusion of the rapid segment. Chinese #2 Wei Yi continued his fantastic run to grab the lead at the tournament's halfway mark. Wei Yi netted 5/6 (rapid wins count as two points and a draw—one in this format) on the third day and came out on top with 13 points. The world #1 Magnus Carlsen netted 4/6, making two draws and scoring just a single win. He is trailing the leader by one point.  

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa kept his third position after drawing all three games on Day 3. 

Going into the tournament's next stage, the players will have two days of blitz in a double round-robin format (18 games in total).

Round 7

One of the most peaceful rounds in the competition saw four draws and just a single victory, which Wei Yi pulled off against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. 

The Chinese GM seized the initiative in a rare line of Vienna Hybrid early on and achieved a much better position with his dark-squared bishop dominating the opponent's knight. Playing in the last seconds on the clock, Wei made a crucial mistake in a winning queen endgame, but Nodirbek immediately returned the favor.

Wei Yi - Nodirbek Abdusattorov

White just captured Black's pawn with 49.gxh5? allowing 49…Qd5+ with some drawing chances. Abdusattorov, however, snatched a pawn with 49…Qxb4? but it failed to 50. Qg4+! After forced queen exchange Wei got a winning endgame as his a-pawn contains two black pawns on the queenside. 51…Qxg4 52. hxg4 Kf7 53. g5  1-0

After this victory Wei Yi became the sole leader for the first time. 

Round 8

Trying to catch up with the leader, Magnus Carlsen took a somewhat risky approach on the black side of the Anglo-Indian against Vincent Keymer and found himself in an inferior position. However, the world #1 gradually righted his ship and took full advantage of the opponent's blunder in a roughly equal position. 

Vincent Keymer - Magnus Carlsen

White has just played 28. Qa4?? Magnus almost immediately spotted 28…Nf3+! and after 28... Nf3+ 29. Bxf3 Rxe2 30. Bxe2 Qxf2+ 31. Kh1 Qxe2 32. Qa7+ Kh6 33. Qd4 Qf3+ Vincent capitulated. 

However, Wei Yi chalked up his fifth straight win in the tournament to preserve the one-point margin over Magnus. Gukesh D sacrificed a pawn on the white side of the Sicilian and got sufficient compensation but soon made a committed a serious inaccuracy on move 13. Wei managed to consolidate his position, traded the queens and converted his extra pawn in an endgame. 

All other games in Round 8 were drawn.

Round 9 

Wei's hot run ended in the day's final round after Praggnanandhaa comfortably drew with him on the black side of the English Opening. 

Facing Anish Giri with white Magnus did not achieve much in the Giuoco Piano. Moreover, with his 17th move, he got into trouble, missing a nice tactic. 

Magnus Carlsen - Anish Giri

After spending some time Magnus played 17. Be3? but Anish correctly reacted with 17…Nxe4! winning a pawn after 18. Nxe4 Bf5 19. Nfd2 d5! Unfortunately for him, Giri did not demonstrate accuracy at the critical juncture of the game allowing Magnus to liquidate into a drawish endgame and save a point. 

Check out Day 3 Recap Video by IM Kostya Kavutskiy

Day 4 of the Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz continues Saturday, May 11th, with live commentary from GM Yasser Seirawan, IM Jovanka Houska, and IM Nazi Paikidze starting at 6:00 AM CDT.

Photos: courtesy of Grand Chess Tour

Official website: grandchesstour.org/tours/2024/