Teenager Krishna Goutham in joint lead with Carlsen after three rounds in World Fast Championships

Teenage Worldwide Grasp Krishna Goutham emerged an unlikely joint chief with three consecutive wins, whereas star Indian gamers D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa obtained their marketing campaign off to a sluggish however regular begin within the FIDE World Fast Championships right here on Friday (December 26, 2025).

The 15-year-old from Kerala, who has achieved important success together with ending runners-up on the Nationwide Championship, showcased his expertise by incomes full factors within the three opening rounds.

He shares the lead with the likes of world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, high Indian exponent Arjun Erigaisi, and Vladislav Artemiev, a number one Russian GM with a 2700-plus ranking.

With two extra rounds to go on the opening day, world champion in classical chess Gukesh (2.5 factors) too got here up with a few good wins however a draw pushed him down the order, whereas Praggnanandhaa was on two factors after a win within the opening spherical adopted by back-to-back attracts.

Nevertheless, the day belonged to Goutham, who overcame Serbian GM Indjic Aleksandar with black items, earlier than getting the higher of one of many high Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram with white after which outmanoeuvreing Azerbaijan’s Radjabov Teimour.

Gukesh, who stated throughout a media interplay on Thursday that he hasn’t come into the occasion with a whole lot of expectations, began sedately with a hard-fought draw towards Canadian GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, earlier than notching up full factors towards FIDE participant Sergey Drygalov and Petrov Nikita of Montenegro.

Praggnanandhaa, coming into the season-ending match after securing a berth in subsequent yr’s Candidates match, was off too a high quality begin with a win towards a lower-ranked FIDE opponent Tsaruk Maksim, following which he was held to a draw by country-mate Abhimanyu Puranik. His third-round sport towards one other lower-ranked FIDE Grandmaster Rakhmanov Aleksandr too led to a stalemate.

Younger Nihal Sarin, following wins within the opening two rounds, suffered a defeat by the hands of Iranian GM Sina Movahed.

The scenario might change drastically with two extra rounds to go on day one.

Within the ladies’s part, GM R. Vaishali precipitated a significant upset by defeating former ladies’s world classical and speedy champion Tan Zhongyi as she earned full factors after the primary three rounds.

Dronavalli Harika too was among the many early leaders, protecting her slate clear after three rounds, whereas reigning world speedy champion Koneru Humpy (2 factors) started strongly however drew her subsequent two video games to slide on the primary day.

The match will see the Fast occasion being performed throughout 13 rounds within the Open class and 11 rounds within the ladies’s part with a time management of quarter-hour and a 10-second increment per transfer.

The Blitz occasion can be divided into the Swiss Match (19 spherical in Open and 15 in ladies), the place the top-four gamers will advance to the 4-game knock-out matches.