Alireza Firouzja held on to win the Croatia Super Rapid and Blitz in Zagreb despite a disappointing final day in which he managed only 2/7 in the final rounds before securing victory in an Armageddon tie-break. The Iran-born French grandmaster, aged 23, had been far ahead at the start of the last day but his performance dipped sharply.
Firouzja's Career Challenges
Firouzja is currently ranked world No.12, a disappointment given he became the youngest ever 2800-rated player at 18 years and five months. His career has been hampered by below-par performances in the Candidates tournaments. In 2022, he spoiled his chances by playing blitz into the small hours; in 2024, he finished seventh out of eight. He made a major effort to qualify again in 2025, hiring the late Daniel Naroditsky as his coach for the Grand Swiss in Samarkand, but finished third when only two qualified. At the victory ceremony, the bronze medal podium was conspicuously uninhabited.
New Opportunities Ahead
There is now a fresh incentive for Firouzja. The new Norway-organised Total World Championship will include fast classical (45 minutes), rapid and blitz sections. A pilot event is scheduled for October 2026, followed by a full tour in 2027. This format should significantly improve Firouzja's chances of a global crown.
However, Javokhir Sindarov, who won the 2026 Candidates, has again reaffirmed that he is now ahead of Firouzja as the outstanding player of his generation by winning the rapid and blitz tournaments at the Naroditsky Memorial, held in Charlotte over the Independence Day weekend.
Carlsen's 15-Year Milestone
Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen reached another milestone in his stellar career last week as the Norwegian grandmaster, 35, completed an unbroken 15 years as world No.1 in FIDE's official monthly ratings. Carlsen's recent subpar result in Oslo, where he finished a disappointing fourth out of six, made hardly a dent in his lead of more than 30 rating points over his nearest rivals, the US pair of Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura.
That Carlsen's No.1 status over such a long period has remained continuous owes something to good fortune. During his 2018 world title match against Caruana, which was tied 6-6 with every classical game drawn before Carlsen won on speed tie-breaks, Carlsen had some inferior positions. In the sixth game the American actually had a forced checkmate on the board, although it was in 58 moves and therefore impossibly difficult to visualise by a human.
Comparing Carlsen and Kasparov
The overall picture of Carlsen's reign is that, after surpassing his predecessor Garry Kasparov's peak of 2851 rating points, he seriously attempted a new peak of 2900 on three occasions, only to be thwarted by its inherent difficulty. That was Carlsen's push for the equivalent of the South Pole in Antarctic exploration or of Everest in mountaineering. His closest approach, and the zenith of Carlsen's career, was in the first half of 2019. This win against Alexander Grischuk was one of several elegant demolitions during that period.
However, Kasparov's own claims cannot be simply dismissed. He was world No.1 continuously from 1986 to 2006, albeit with a blip in 1996 when Vladimir Kramnik had the same rating but had played more games. At London in 2000, Kramnik defeated Kasparov to become world champion.
Where Kasparov scores in comparison to Carlsen is in the quality of his world championship opponents. He played an epic five title matches against Anatoly Karpov in a period when Karpov was also at or near his peak form. Their 48-game series in 1984-85, when Kasparov was 1-5 down in the first to six games but held out during a long Moscow winter, was impressive, while Kasparov's victory in the 24th and final game of their next match was one of the best in world championship history.
It is rare in world championships for both contestants to be at or near their peak form. José Capablanca v Alexander Alekhine in 1927 was one example, and Mikhail Botvinnik v Vasily Smyslov was another. All five of the Kasparov v Karpov matches were of high quality, whereas only the Caruana series was of similar calibre for Carlsen.
So it seems likely that the debate about who is the greatest of them all will continue, even if Carlsen equals Kasparov's 20 years at the top in 2031. The Norwegian is probably at greater risk of a diminished legacy, since new challengers for the summit are likely to emerge in the next five years.
Obituary and Upcoming Event
Jimmy Adams, who was editor of Chess magazine for nearly 20 years and wrote acclaimed biographies of Johannes Zukertort, Mikhail Chigorin, Gyula Breyer, Paul Keres, Salo Flohr and Isaac Boleslavsky, has died aged 79. Other Lives has just published an obituary by his longtime friend Sarah Hurst.
Finally, a reminder that ChessFest in Trafalgar Square, a festival of British chess available completely free for everyone from beginner to expert, takes place on Sunday 12 July from noon to 7pm. England's top players and prodigies will be there and hopefully so will many readers of this column.
Puzzle Solution
4032: 1 Rbd1 Qc3 2 e6! fxe6 3 Qxe6+ Kh8 4 Qf7! Rf4 5 Qxf4! wins.
