World champion D Gukesh might have taken a sabbatical from classical chess, but his commitment to major events remains intact and he will be up against some of the worlds best players in the Zagreb Rapid and Blitz Tournament beginning here on Wednesday.

The event is part of the Grand Chess Tour or GCT, which is the biggest platform to bring together top players. This will be the third event under the GCT brand this year with three more to come. This event will also feature Indian star R Praggnanandhaa, who is fresh from his victory at the Norway Chess ahead of none other than world number one Magnus Carlsen. The event will feature nine rounds of rapid and 18 rounds of blitz chess.

Each rapid victory will be worth two points and a draw will fetch one point while in blitz, one point will be awarded for a win and a half for a draw. Gukesh had surprisingly walked out of the GCT, citing his recent performances. The reigning world champion has to defend his title against Javokhir Sindarov later this year and opinions are split as to who would come out on top.

Despite saying no to main events, Gukesh has committed to playing the rapid and blitz sections as wild card. For Praggnanandhaa, what remains to be seen is his proficiency in the faster version as he won the Norway chess with sheer will and perfectly executed plans. He also became the first Indian to do so.

Vincent Keymer of Germany has been in high demand alongside Anish Giri of Holland and Alireza Firoujza of France for mainstream events and these three will start as the rating favourite.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France is another dangerous opponent and complementing him is Jorden van Foreest who was included as a last minute participant on the tour. Nodribek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, Ivan Saric of Serbia and Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania complete the line-up of this impressive field that will have the chess world glued to the screens over the next week.

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