Daijiworld Media Network – Warsaw
Warsaw, May 7: Wesley So and Hans Niemann emerged joint leaders after six rounds of the 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament, while India’s world champion Gukesh Dommaraju stayed firmly in contention following an impressive victory over Javokhir Sindarov.
Defending champion Vladimir Fedoseev remained just one point behind the leaders in sole second place, while Fabiano Caruana, Gukesh Dommaraju and local favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda trailed by two points.
After sharing the lead on the opening day despite admitting his play was “very poor”, Wesley So bounced back strongly on Wednesday with victories over Sindarov and Alireza Firouzja before settling for a quick 14-move draw against Gukesh.
So’s win over Sindarov highlighted his deep opening preparation, with the American grandmaster revealing that the first 21 moves followed a classic game played by former world champion Anatoly Karpov in Linares 1994.
Meanwhile, Gukesh registered an emotionally charged win against Sindarov in their first meeting since the Candidates tournament. The Indian star defended accurately after Sindarov sacrificed a piece and converted the advantage in the endgame. Gukesh celebrated the victory with a visible fist pump after the game.
Speaking later, Gukesh Dommaraju admitted the game carried extra significance and said emotions took over “in the heat of the moment”. Earlier in the day, however, he suffered a setback after losing to Poland’s Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who recorded his first win of the tournament.
Hans Niemann also enjoyed a productive day, defeating both Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja after opening with a draw against Fedoseev. Niemann described his performance in the tournament as a positive sign for his future while cautioning that the competition was still far from over.
Fedoseev maintained his strong campaign with draws against Niemann and Duda before escaping a difficult position to beat Wojtaszek in dramatic fashion.
French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave secured his first win of the event by defeating Sindarov, though he remained four points behind the leaders. Firouzja continued to struggle and ended the day near the bottom of the standings alongside Sindarov and Wojtaszek.
The tournament now heads into the crucial seventh round, where co-leaders So and Niemann are set to face each other in a highly anticipated clash.