MVL beats Gukesh, shares lead @ GCT Superbet Romania
GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2.5) inflicted a heavy defeat on world champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju (1.5) in the fourth round of the GCT Superbet Chess Classic Romania at Grand Hotel, Bucharest. The win takes the Frenchman to the top of the table with 2.5 points along with Caruana Fabiano (USA) and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (India).
The Scotch game victory of MVL today reminded one of Capablanca for sheer simplicity. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave extracted the full point from Gukesh thanks to some dynamic middle-game play. The idea of pushing the “h” pawn to the sixth rank after execution seemed similar to the one seen in the previous round (Pragg-Abdusattorov). MVL never let off his grip and tightened the noose when the world champion slipped with 22…c5? after which the position slowly crumbled. While the win took MVL to the shared lead position, the loss placed Gukesh in a minus one position needing urgent recovery.
Another spectacular win of the day came from Levon Aronian who showed controlled aggression in overcoming Polish GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof. Just yesterday Aronian had quipped, “I’m here, I might as well try to win games” and the very next game his words came true. In the ancient Italian game Two Knights Defense Aronian weaved his magic, wherein the black pieces became menacing as the game wore on. With king and a rook getting cut-off for a major part of the game, Duda had to work on continuously for equality. And by the time he extricated the white king and rook Aronian had the game well sewn up. An elegant 40…Ra1 from Aronian forced the resignation of Duda.
Other three games between Caruana – Abdusattorov, Deac – Praggnanandhaa and Firouzja – So ended in draws. With a high stake of $ 350,000 prize money one can expect a fight through the whole tournament. This nine round GCT classical event concludes on 16th May, 2025. The fifth round is scheduled to begin by Sunday, 11th May 2025, at 3 PM local time.
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2723) beat Gukesh Dommaraju (2787) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 Qf6 7. Qe2 Nge7 8. Be3 O-O 9. O-O-O d6 10. Qd2 Be6 11. Bb5 Qg6 12. h4 f5 13. h5 Qf7 14. h6 g6 15. Bg5 a6 16. Bxc6 Nxc6 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Ne5 19. Rh4 Rfe8 20. f3 Ba7 21. Kb1 Bb6 22. Na5 c5? (better was 22…Rab8)
23. dxc6 bxc6 24. Qc3 Bc5 25. Ra4 Qc7 26. a3 Ra7 27. Bf4 Qb6 28. Nb3 a5 29. Nxc5 Qxc5 30. Qxc5 dxc5 31. Re1 1-0
Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2739) lost to Aronian Levon (2747) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 Be7 9. Bd3 O-O 10. Nc3 h6 11. Nge4 Nd5 12. Ng3 Nb4 13. Nf5 Nxd3+ 14. Qxd3 c5 15. Qxd8 Bxd8 16. Ne3 f5 17. b3 f4 18. Ned1 Nc6 19. Ba3 Nd4 20. Rc1 Rf6 21. Nb2 Rg6 22. Kf1 f3 23. g3 Bf5 24. Bxc5 Nxc2 25. h4 Rc8 26. Bxa7 Ba5 27. Nc4 Bxc3 28. dxc3 Ra6 29. Be3 Rxa2 30. Kg1 Be6 31. Bb6 Rc6 32. Ba7 Bxc4 33. bxc4 Rxc4 34. Bb8? (Loses immediately. 34.Kh2 might still hold)
34…e4 35. Bf4 Rxc3 36. Kh2 e3 37. g4 e2 38. Kg3 Rd3 39. h5 Kh7 40. Rhg1 Ra1 0-1
Results (Round 4): Caruana Fabiano (2.5) drew with Abdusattorov Nodirbek (1.5), Firouzja Alireza (2.0) drew with So Wesley (2.0), Deac Bogdan-Daniel (2.0) drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2.5), Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2.5) beat Gukesh Dommaraju (1.5), Duda Jan-Krzysztof (1.5) lost to Aronian Levon (2.0)
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Picture Courtesy: FIDE (International Chess Federation)
