India had a brilliant start to the 2025 World Rapid Championship, with two players, Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigiaisi, sharing the joint lead after Day 1 in Doha on Friday.
Arjun started the day with four consecutive wins and then played a draw against Magnus Carlsen in the fifth round to finish the day with 4.5 points.
Meanwhile, Gukesh played a draw in his first game, but then, with four consecutive wins, he joined Arjun, Magnus, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and Vladislav Artemiev (RUS) in a joint lead.
A memorable Day for 15-year-old Goutham Krishna
The star of the opening day was 15-year-old Indian IM Goutham Krishna, who stunned three GMs – Aleksander Indjic (SRB), Aravindh Chithambaram (IND) & Teimour Radjabov (AZE) in his first three games.
Then he played two draws in the final two games, including one against current FIDE Candidate Anish Giri of the Netherlands, to remain unbeaten on the day.
In the process, he gained 60 rating points within a day and is now just half a point behind the five leaders, having 4 points from five games.
Following Goutham, Sandipan Chanda and Nihal Sarin have also scored 4 points on the day, whereas R Praggnanandhaa had a comparatively poor day wth just 3/5 points.
Good start for Harika in women’s category
In the women’s Category, Harika Dronavalli was the best-performing Indian on day 1, scoring 3.5 points from 4 games, trailing by just half-a-point behind the leader Zhu Jiner of China.
Meanwhile, six more Indian players – R Vaishali, Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh, Rakshita Ravi, Savitha Shri, and Padmini Rout – are currently in the top-30 with 3/4 points after first day of play.
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