Alireza Firouzja increased his advantage to three points after scoring five out of six on day two of the Super Rapid and Blitz Croatia in Zagreb. The 23-year-old now leads with 10/12 points ahead of the rapid section. Four players share second place on 7/12.
Firouzja defeated Vincent Keymer in round four and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in round six, both with the black pieces. He also drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Iranian-born French grandmaster has won all three of his games with black so far.
Gukesh Dommaraju and Bogdan-Daniel Deac joined the chase for second place after scoring 4/6 on Thursday. Deac beat Gukesh in round four before drawing his other games, while Gukesh recovered with wins over Jorden van Foreest and Anish Giri.
The rapid round-robin forms the first part of the third leg of the Grand Chess Tour. It is held at the Westin Hotel in Zagreb, with the blitz double round-robin scheduled to follow over the weekend. Firouzja and Gukesh are set to meet in round nine on Friday.
