In the third leg of the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb, Croatia, sometime around a month after their now-viral encounter at Norway Chess, world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and current world champion Gukesh D will square off once more.

The star-studded, 10-player field in the blitz and rapid tournament, which began on Wednesday and includes three of the top five players in the world, features another Indian contender, Praggnanandhaa R, who won the Bucharest leg.

Between July 3 and 6, the competition will see three matches between Carlsen and Gukesh: one in rapid and two in blitz. Gukesh will face Carlsen for the first time since his victory in the sixth round of Norway Chess on July 3, a win that went viral on social media after the Norwegian visibly expressed his anguish by pounding the table and scattering the pieces after a spectacular mistake and loss from a winning position. Additionally, this was the first time the Indian youngster had defeated Carlsen in a traditional match.

Carlsen remarked, "I believe Gukesh performed well here last time, but it remains to be proven that he's one of the best players in this format. We have a very, very strong field. Gukesh hasn't done anything to indicate that he's going to do well in such a tournament. For his sake, I hope he can improve. However, in this competition, I will treat him as if he were one of the ostensibly weaker players (in the competition).

Carlsen called Alireza Firouzja a clear "second favorite" when asked to identify the tournament's front runners: "It will take something special to beat me if I'm in good shape."

Former world champion Garry Kasparov warned Gukesh on the eve of the tournament, saying, "In reality, the moment you stop improving, the moment you stop thinking about improving, it's over." Because I understood that your own excellence is the primary competition, I was able to stay at the top for so long. You know you'll start to fall if you rest.

Gukesh said that he had taken the months following his title victory to get acclimated to the pressure of expectations: "Now I've kind of settled into the new life. I'm once again concentrating on giving my all and performing at my best in every competition.

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