Firouzja beats Gukesh, four share lead @ GCT Superbet Romania
GM Alireza Firouzja (France) inflicted world champion Gukesh Dommaraju his second defeat in the GCT Superbet Chess Classic Romania at Grand Hotel, Bucharest. Alireza now joins Caruana, MVL and Praggnanandhaa in the lead with 3.5 points after the sixth round. GMs Wesley So, Deac Bogdan-Daniel and Levon Aronian stayed close by at 3.0 points each.
In the only game that produced a result Firouzja took the Indian Grandmaster to task for erring in the middle game. Firouzja played out the Italian that fetched him his first win after the first round. With 8…Ne7 Gukesh opted for a doubled pawn structure injecting imbalance into the position. Slowly but steadily white improved it’s edge, but when queens got traded black appeared to be pulling it back. Here, Firouzja missed a strong 30. Re4 giving Gukesh a half-chance. With the game slowly getting out of hand, the world champion gave up the exchange with 41…Rxf5, raising hopes of a fight-back draw. It went as per plan until 55…Bg5? saw the Frenchman wrapping it up as black bishop ran out of shelter.
The games between Duda – Pragg, So – Aronian, Caruana – Deac, MVL – Abdusattorov ended in draws. Three rounds to go, with four sharing the lead, one can expect further fight for the $ 350,000 prize money in stake. The seventh round is starts by 3 PM local time on Wednesday, 14th May, 2025 and the event concludes two days later.
Firouzja Alireza (2757) – Gukesh Dommaraju (2787) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. Bg5 d6 7. Nbd2 Ba7 8. a4 Ne7 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. O-O Ng6 11. d4 h5 12. Re1 Nf4 13. Nf1 c6 14. Ne3 d5 15. exd5 cxd5 16. Bf1 e4 17. Nh4 Be6 18. c4 Kf8 19. Qb3 Qd7 20. cxd5 Nxd5 21. Bc4 Nf4 22. Qa3+ Kg8 23. Nef5 Bb8 24. Qg3+ Ng6 25. Bxe6 Qxe6 26. Qe3 Ba7 27. Qxe4 Nxh4 28. Ne7+ Kg7 29. Qxh4 Qg4 30. Qxg4+ hxg4 31. Re4 Kf8 32. Rae1 Rd8 33. Rxg4 Bxd4 34. Nf5 Bxb2 35. Rge4 Bc3 36. Rb1 b5 37. axb5 axb5 38. h4 b4 39. g4 Kg8 40. Re7 Rd5 41. Kg2 Rxf5 42. Re8+ Kg7 43. Rxh8 Rxf2+ 44. Kxf2 Kxh8 45. Ke3 Kg7 46. Kd3 f5 47. gxf5 Kh6 48. Ke3 Kh5 49. Kf4 Kh6 50. Kg4 Kg7 51. h5 Kh6 52. f6 Bxf6 53. Rxb4 Bg5? (Losing move. 53…Ba1/Be5/Bc3 all helps black holding on to a draw)
54. Rb7 f6 55. Rf7 Bd2 56. Rxf6+ Kg7 57. Rd6 Bc1 58. Kf5 Be3 59. Rg6+ Kh7 60. h6 Bc1 61. Rg7+ Kxh6 62. Rg6+ Kh7 63. Kf6 Be3 64. Kf7 Ba7 65. Ra6 Bb8 66. Rb6 Bc7 67. Rb7 Bf4 68. Rb4 Bg5 69. Rb1 1-0
Caruana Fabiano (2776) – Deac Bogdan-Daniel (2668) 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qa4 Bc5 6. Nf3 d6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Bd7 10. O-O-O O-O 11. Qc4 Be6 12. Qe2 Re8 13. Qd2 Bb4 14. Bd3 d5 15. Nxg5 d4 16. Nxe6 Rxe6 17. Qxh6 dxc3 18. Qg5+ Kf8 19. Bc4 Qe7 20. f3 Bd6 21. Bxe6 cxb2+ 22. Kb1 Qxe6 23. Qb5 Be7 24. Qb3 Na5 25. Qxe6 fxe6 26. Kxb2 Nc4+ 27. Kb3 Na5+ 28. Kc3 b5 29. Rb1 a6 30. Rhd1 Nc4 31. Kd3 Rc8 32. Ke2 Kf7 33. Bf2 Rh8 34. h4 Bd6 35. g4 e5 36. h5 Nh7 37. a4 b4 38. c3 bxc3 39. Rdc1 c2 40. Rxc2 Na3 41. Rxc7+ Bxc7 42. Rb7 Rc8 43. Bb6 Nc4 44. Bxc7 Kf6 45. Kd3 Nb2+ 46. Rxb2 Rxc7 47. Rb6+ Kg5 48. Rxa6 Kf4 49. a5 Kxf3 50. Rg6 Kf4 51. h6 Rd7+ 52. Kc4 Ng5 53. a6 Nxe4 54. Rg7 Rd4+ 55. Kb5 Rd5+ 56. Kb4 Rd4+ 57. Ka3 Rd3+ 58. Kb2 Ng5 59. h7 Nxh7 60. Rxh7 Kxg4 61. a7 Rd8 62. Kc3 Kf3 63. Rd7 Rc8+ 64. Kd3 e4+ 65. Kd4 e3 66. Kd3 Kf4 67. Rf7+ Ke5 68. Kxe3 Ra8 69. Rh7 Kd5 70. Rg7 Kc5 71. Rh7 Kb6 72. Rg7 Rxa7 73. Rxa7 Kxa7 74. Ke4 1/2-1/2
Results (Round 6): Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2.5) drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3.5), So Wesley (3.0) drew with Aronian Levon (3.0), Firouzja Alireza (3.5) beat Gukesh Dommaraju (2.0), Caruana Fabiano (3.5) drew with Deac Bogdan-Daniel (3.0), Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (3.5) drew with Abdusattorov Nodirbek (2.5)
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