So & Firouzja off to winning start @ GCT Superbet Chess Classic Romania
GMs Wesley So & Alireza Firouzja started with wins over GMs Deac & MVL in the opener of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania. The first classical tournament of the Grand Chess Tour took off at the elegant Grand Hotel, Bucharest, where the nine tour regulars along with a wildcard will fight for $ 350,000. This GCT classical event runs from 7th to 16th May, 2025.
GMs Wesley So (USA) and Alireza Firouzja (France) were the only ones securing the full point in the inaurgural round. So showed a nice finesse in the minor pieces ending defeating the local star Deac. In an all-French game Firouzja overcame the more experienced MVL with a timely knight sacrifice. The games between Duda – Caruana, Aronian – Abdusattorov, Gukesh – Praggnanandhaa ended in draws.
Emerging from a sober Sicilian the Firouzja vs MVL middle-game suddenly burst into action thanks to younger Frenchman’s timely knight sacrifice. Subsequent to 44.Nxd5 rest of white pieces viz., queen and two rooks swung in tandem fixing the black monarch caught in the centre. Faced with checkmate or heavy loss of material MVL gave up on the 51st move.
Local star GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel suffered a moment of chess blindness as he blundered away to a loss in 40 moves. The English opening saw some steady play by Deac even as trade-offs were happening in regular intervals. By move 21 the game was down to a rook and two minor pieces end game. When the double knights of black appeared to be holding fort, So’s probing play triggered a fatal mistake from Deac one move before the completion of the first time-control. With 39…Nxf3 Deac brought upon himself an imminent collapse, resigning the very next move. It just goes to remind a famous quote from the past, “Chess is not for the faint-hearted”.
So Wesley (2751) – Deac Bogdan-Daniel (2668) 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5 Be7 4. Nf3 d6 5. g3 c6 6. Nxe7 Nxe7 7. b4 f6 8. Bg2 Be6 9. d3 Qd7 10. O-O a5 11. bxa5 Rxa5 12. Qc2 c5 13. Rb1 Nbc6 14. Qb2 O-O 15. Qxb7 Rxa2 16. Qxd7 Bxd7 17. Nd2 Nd4 18. Re1 Bc6 19. Rb2 Rxb2 20. Bxb2 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Ne6 22. Ra1 Rb8 23. Bc3 Kf8 24. e3 Ke8 25. Kf3 Rb7 26. Ke2 Kd7 27. f4 h5 28. Ne4 Nc6 29. f5 Nc7 30. h3 Ra7 31. Rxa7 Nxa7 32. g4 hxg4 33. hxg4 Nc6 34. Kf3 Ne7 35. Ng3 g6 36. Ba5 Ne8 37. Bd2 Ng7 38. g5
38…Ngxf5 39. gxf6 Nxg3?? (39…Nc6 was the best) 40. f7 1-0
Firouzja Alireza (2757) – Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2723) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 d5 4. Qe2 Nf6 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Be7 7. a4 b6 8. O-O Bb7 9. Bf4 h6 10. h4 O-O 11. e5 Nh7 12. c3 Qd7 13. Re1 Rae8 14. Nbd2 f5 15. exf6 Bxf6 16. Bh3 g5 17. hxg5 hxg5 18. Be5 Qg7 19. Bxf6 Rxf6 20. Nh2 Rh6 21. Bg2 Nf6 22. Ng4 Nxg4 23. Qxg4 Ne5 24. Qe2 Nc6 25. Nf1 g4 26. a5 b5 27. a6 Ba8 28. Rad1 Rf8 29. Nh2 Rg6 30. Qd2 Nb8 31. d4 c4 32. Ra1 Bc6 33. Re5 Nd7 34. Rh5 Nf6 35. Rh4 Bd7 36. Re1 Bc8 37. Nf1 Rg5 38. Re5 Rg6 39. Ne3 Kf7 40. Qe2 Re8 41. b3 Bxa6 42. bxc4 bxc4 43. Qa2 Bc8? 44. Nxd5
44…exd5 45. Qxa7+ Bd7 46. Bxd5+ Nxd5 47. Qxd7+ Ne7 48. Rf5+ Rf6 49. Rxg4 Qh8 50. Rxf6+ Kxf6 51. Rh4 1-0
This 10 player round-robin is a nine-round tournament with one round per day. Each player faces off against the rest throughout the tournament. Games are played at classical time controls and could last up to 6 hours each. Eight of the ten players are from top 20 with just MVL out at 26th rank in the world. The 2nd round is scheduled to begin by Thursday, 8th May 2025, at 3 PM local time.
Results (Round 1): Duda Jan-Krzysztof drew with Caruana Fabiano, Firouzja Alireza beat Vachier-Lagrave Maxime, So Wesley beat Deac Bogdan-Daniel, Aronian Levon drew with Abdusattorov Nodirbek, Gukesh Dommaraju drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.
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Picture Courtesy: Official Site
