Fedoseev sweeps GCT Superbet rapid & blitz Poland, MVL & Pragg far behind
Wildcard GM Vladimir Fedoseev was on fire right through the first Grand Chess Tour event at Warsaw, the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland 2025 sweeping to a fine tournament win with 26.5 points, a whopping five points ahead of GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (21.5). GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu took the third spot with 20.5 points.
The rapids on the first part of the event saw a three way tie between Fedoseev, Aravindh and Firouzja. The duo of Aravindh and Firouzja while sharing the title in the rapid section were completely off-color in the 18-round-Blitz tournament. It was Fedoseev all the way in Blitz as he lost just a single game to local star Duda before winning a whopping 14 games out of 18 rounds.
A brilliant game played by GM Aravindh Chithambaram in the fourth round of the rapid section, goes to show that he’s maturing fast and is graduating into the elite with elegance.
Veselin Topalov (2632) – Aravindh Chithambaram (2550) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4 Bb6 9. a4 Bb7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 b4 13. h3 bxc3 14. bxc3 Re8 15. d5 Na5 16. Ba2 g5 17. Nxg5 hxg5 18. Bxg5 Kg7 19. Qf3 Rh8 20. Nd2 Bc8 21. Nf1 Kg6 22. h4 Rh5 23. Qg3 Bd7 24. Re3 Bxe3 25. Nxe3 Nxe4 26. Bb1 Rxg5 27. hxg5 Qxg5 28. Bxe4+ f5 29. Bc2 Qxg3 30. fxg3 Kg5 31. Rb1 f4 32. Nf1 Bf5 33. Bxf5 Kxf5 34. Nd2 Re8 35. Rb4 fxg3 36. Ne4 Rg8 37. Nd2 Rg4 38. Nf1 Rxb4 39. cxb4 Kf4 !!
40. bxa5 e4 41. Nd2 e3 42. Nf3 e2 0-1
GM Aravindh’s game above reminded one of the gems from the past, that of GM Veselin Topalov vs GM Alexei Shirov (Linares 1998) where Shirov came up with a stunning bishop sacrifice in the end game. And, it was former world champion Topalov who was on the receiving end of the brilliancy on both the occasions.
Veselin Topalov (2740) – Alexey Shirov (2710) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bb5+ c6 8.Ba4 O-O 9.Ne2 Nd7 10.O-O e5 11.f3 Qe7 12.Be3 Rd8 13.Qc2 Nb6 14.Bb3 Be6 15.Rad1 Nc4 16.Bc1 b5 17.f4 exd4 18.Nxd4 Bg4 19.Rde1 Qc5 20.Kh1 a5 21.h3 Bd7 22.a4 bxa4 23.Ba2 Be8 24.e5 Nb6 25.f5 Nd5 26.Bd2 Nb4 27.Qxa4 Nxa2 28.Qxa2 Bxe5 29.fxg6 hxg6 30.Bg5 Rd5 31.Re3 Qd6 32.Qe2 Bd7 33.c4 Bxd4 34.cxd5 Bxe3 35.Qxe3 Re8 36.Qc3 Qxd5 37.Bh6 Re5 38.Rf3 Qc5 39.Qa1 Bf5 40.Re3 f6 41.Rxe5 Qxe5 42.Qa2+ Qd5 43.Qxd5+ cxd5 44.Bd2 a4 45.Bc3 Kf7 46.h4 Ke6 47.Kg1 Bh3!!
48.gxh3 Kf5 49.Kf2 Ke4 50.Bxf6 d4 51.Be7 Kd3 52.Bc5 Kc4 53.Be7 Kb3 0-1
GCT caravan moves next to Bucharest for it’s first classical tournament of the year, Superbet Chess Classic Romania scheduled from 7-16, May, 2025. The mouth-watering line up includes world champion Gukesh, Caruana, Firouzja, Abdusattorov, Aronian, Praggnanandhaa, Duda, So, MVL and local star Deac.
Final Standings & Prize Money: 1 Vladimir Fedoseev (26.5) $ 40000, 2 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (21.5) $ 30000, 3 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (20.5) $ 25000, 4 Levon Aronian (20.0) $ 20000, 5 Alireza Firouzja (18.5) $ 15000, 6 Bogdan-Daniel Deac (18.0) $ 11000, 7-8 Jan-Krzysztof Duda & Aravindh Chithambaram (17.0) $ 9500 each, 9 David Gavrilescu (11.0) $ 8000 10 Veselin Topalov (10.0) $ 7000.
GCT standings after the first event in Poland along with GCT points are: 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (10), 2 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (8), 3 Levon Aronian (7), 4 Alireza Firouzja (6), 5 Jan-Krzysztof Duda (3.5),6-10 Fabiano Caruana, Gukesh Dommaraju, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So.
Picture Courtesy: Tata Steel Chess 2025
Official Site: Grand Chess Tour
