Niemann Leads After Rapid Segment, 18 Blitz Games To Go
GM Hans Niemann leads the 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Poland after nine rounds of rapid chess, with 18 rounds of blitz to come in the next two days. A win against GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda in round eight, accompanied by two draws, was enough to break ahead of second-place GM Wesley So, who made three draws.
The tournament looks, so far, to be a race between Niemann, So, and GM Vladimir Fedoseev. The closest trailers are GMs Fabiano Caruana, Duda, and Gukesh Dommaraju, a full four points behind the tournament leader. Even further behind are GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Javokhir Sindarov, Alireza Firouzja, and Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
Day four, featuring blitz rounds 1-9, starts Friday, May 8, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.
Niemann is the sole leader, and in the next two days players will receive just 1 point per win—not the 2 they received in rapid.
Super Rapid & Blitz Poland Standings After Day 3
The 22-year-old American has showed no signs of slowing down as he's finished nine rounds with four wins and five draws. With no losses to speak of, he called his performance "incredibly stable." What's more, he said that he considers himself to be better in blitz than in rapid, and he specifically trained in blitz for one week before this event.
The day started with a well-timed clash of leaders, So defending the black side of an Italian Opening. One could say that both players missed chances, but each case required finding a brilliant move in the constraints of rapid game. 30.g4!! would have given Niemann a slightly better endgame, with best play, whereas So was winning for precisely one move. He had to find the stunning 34...e3!!, and then in one potential line, the only moves 35....Ne8! and 36...Qe6!.
The game, instead, petered out to a draw.
From there, Niemann went on to score one more win in the tournament, against Duda. The Polish star opted for the Damiano Variation of the Petroff Defense, a line that is perhaps playable but dubious. And he'd already played it in round four, so Niemann, who was thoroughly prepared to meet the opening, commented, "I don't really know why you would subject yourself to such suffering."
I don't really know why you would subject yourself to such suffering.
—Hans Niemann
GM Rafael Leitao reviews that suffering in the Game of the Day annotations below.
With a solid and uneventful draw against Wojtaszek in the last round, Niemann maintained his position in the tournament, a point ahead of his closest rival, So, a point behind. Asked how he'll prepare for the next day, Niemann said without a smile, "Maybe I'll play some tennis to get the adrenaline going."
After that round-seven clash of leaders, So had a smooth and relatively short day at the office. Missing 34...e3!! against Niemann did bother him, and he said, "I was slightly disappointed, but it's very hard to win games here. If you have a big chance like that, winning against Hans would be a big deal for the standing of the tournament."
If you have a big chance like that, winning against Hans would be a big deal for the standing of the tournament.
—Wesley So
A Sicilian against Vachier-Lagrave quickly liquidated and ended with So having nearly 18 minutes left, and Vachier-Lagrave nearly 22. And the final game, against Duda, ended in 14 moves and both players with over a minute more than their starting time.
Regardless of the tepid last two games, So's strategy has nevertheless left him in sole second place—close enough to Niemann and far ahead of most other players.
Fedoseev, who's one point behind So, had a rough start to the day, but it got better as it went on. He lost against Sindarov, could have lost against Gukesh but drew, and then against Vachier-Lagrave and went on to win what was supposed to be a "two-results endgame" for his opponent.
Unfortunately for Fedoseev, the round-seven game was simply a remarkable showing by Sindarov, who despite losing three games in a row on the previous day, didn't shy away from a brawl. True to his style, he went for complications with 11.Nxe5 and his bravery was rewarded, in an endgame with a rook and two pawns for two minor pieces.
Gukesh had a much better position against Fedoseev in round eight but couldn't find the knockout blow (even if it existed). Finally, Vachier-Lagrave was pressing in what looked like a game only he could win or draw against Fedoseev—until, that is, he lost. There was a sense of deja vu; on the previous day, Fedoseev also finished the day by winning what in that case was a lost position against Wojtaszek.
As for Sindarov, he didn't have the same "uphill" trajectory. After that first victory, he made draws against Caruana and Firouzja to end on 8 points. In the game against Caruana, he played a lovely exchange sacrifice in the style of ninth World Champion Tigran Petrosian for domination of the light squares (check out his famous 26...Re6!! against GM Samuel Reshevsky, though as a defensive idea rather than attacking). It led to an advantage, but no knockout blow.
Caruana, Gukesh, and Duda—all on 9 points now—suffered one loss, made one draw, and scored one win. Caruana's win over Wojtaszek was a nice reminder that it's not the quantity but quality of pawns that matters, even in the endgame. With a pawn less but the better minor piece and pawn structure, Caruana's knight easily outclassed White's "bad bishop," even if a computer defense existed.
Gukesh started with a loss to Vachier-Lagrave in a holdable rook endgame (one wrong king move and it was curtains), but then drew Fedoseev and beat Caruana in the last round. White was already better, but Caruana's 38...g4?? was a decisive mistake met with a two-move tactical refutation.
Gukesh called his performance "a bit inconsistent," assessing that he was playing well but missing several chances. "I felt it could have been better," he concluded about the misses. Looking to the faster segment, however, he cheerfully said, "In blitz, all you have to do is play fast and pray!"
In blitz, all you have to do is play fast and pray!
—Gukesh Dommaraju
Duda scored his victory against Firouzja in round seven, sinking in a nasty and thematic piece sacrifice 26.Nd5!! to rip open the black king. It was a somewhat slow, yet irresistible attack from there.
Vachier-Lagrave still sits at 8 points, though it could have been 9 if he had at least drawn Fedoseev in that final game. Meanwhile, Firouzja's nightmare continues as he sits on 6 points—that's one win, four draws, and four losses. Wojtaszek is one point further back.
The double round-robin in blitz starts on Friday, with Firouzja playing the white pieces against the tournament leader. Will Niemann to stay in the lead, or do you expect someone else to catch up in the next nine rounds? Let us know in the comments!
Blitz Round 1 Pairings:
The live broadcast was hosted by GM Yasser Seirawan, IM Nazi Paikidze, GM Maurice Ashley, GM Cristian Chirila, IM Irine Sukandar, and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich.
The 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Poland is the first event on the 2026 Grand Chess Tour and runs May 5-9 in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. The 10 players first compete in a single rapid round-robin with a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, followed by a blitz double round-robin with a 5+2 time control. The event has a $200,000 total prize fund.
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