2023 Superbet Chess Classic: Day 5 Recap
Fabiano Caruana retained his half-point lead after Round 5 of the 2023 Superbet Chess Classic, as Alireza Firouzja inflicted the first loss to World Champion Ding Liren while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored a victory over Ian Nepommniachtchi. Going into the rest day, Caruana remains in first with 3.5/5, while Firouzja, So, and Rapport are tied for second with 3.0/5. DUDA – CARUANA | 1/2-1/2, 31 moves A well-prepared Caruana had few issues equalizing in the Arkhangelsk Ruy Lopez, as he forced a series of trades in the center before sacrificing a knight on the kingside to secure a perpetual. 23…Nxh3+! forced a draw after 24.gxh3 Qg5+ 25.Kh1 Rxe5 26.f4 Qf5 27.Rxe5 Qxh3+=, with a perpetual. Caruana showed great preparation today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams FIROUZJA – DING | 1-0, 52 moves In a double-edged middlegame arising from a 4.d3 Berlin, Firouzja suddenly took on a lot of risks, sacrificing the e4-pawn in order to create pressure on the kingside. Things looked good for Black, but at the critical moment, Ding blundered, allowing Firouzja a combination to win a queen in exchange for a rook and bishop. The resulting endgame wasn’t immediately lost but quite difficult, as Ding quickly went wrong, and the French No. 1 scored the full point. Here 30…Nde4 would have kept a large advantage for Black. Instead 30…Nfe4? was played, allowing Firouzja to win material with 31.Bxd6 Nxd6 32.Bxf7 The World No. 2 was the first to defeat the new world champion. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes NEPOMNIACHTCHI – VACHIER-LAGRAVE | 0-1, 58 moves After surprising MVL with the 2.c3 Sicilian, Nepomniachtchi managed to get a slightly better position as the players exchanged queens early on. Nepo’s advantage was starting to grow while Black looked for counterplay along the h-file. After a few nonchalant moves, Nepo was suddenly in serious trouble and then simply lost as MVL’s rooks and knight became decisively active. After 58…a3, Black was winning in view of 59.Rxb3 Rh3+ MVL was worse out of the opening but managed to fully turn things around. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes GIRI – RAPPORT | 1/2-1/2, 49 moves Once again, Rapport opted for the French Defense but didn’t seem to face difficulties out of the opening in the 3.Nd2 Tarrasch Variation. Giri tried to create some initiative on the kingside in a roughly equal middlegame but misplayed the position, soon giving Black a clear advantage in the endgame. At the key moment, Rapport missed his chance to break through, allowing Giri just enough counterplay to survive. A solid 3.0/5 for Rapport so far, who’s tied for second. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes SO – DEAC | 1/2-1/2, 62 moves Coming out of an Italian Game, So was able to gradually build up a space advantage in the center of the board as Deac’s position became quite passive. However, in the endgame Wesley slipped, allowing Black counterplay with the f5 pawn-break, which saved Deac the game. Wesley So had some chances against Deac, but couldn’t fully capitalize. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams The 2023 Superbet Chess Classic continues Friday, May 12, with tournament action live starting at 7:20 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetChessClassic Venue: Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, RomaniaMay 6 – May 15, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org
2023 Kyrgyzstan Championship: Eldiar Orozbaev and Nurai Sovetbekova win titles
FM Eldiar Orozbaev and WFM Nurai Sovetbekova are the new chess champions of the Kyrgyz Republic. The Open and Women’s Kyrgyzstan championships organized by the Kyrgyz Chess Union (Kyrgyzstan Chess Federation) took place from April 27 to May 9 in the conference hall of the Kyrgyz Chess Union’s office. Both tournaments were 12-player round robins with classical time control. Eldiar Orozbaev (pictured below) turned in a commanding performance in the open event scoring 9/11 and finishing a full point ahead of IM Semetei Tologon Tegin, who took silver. Both the champion and the runner-up completed the event undefeated. FM Ruslan Sezdbekov and IM Mikhail Markov tied for third place on 6.5/11 with the former taking bronze thanks to the direct encounter win. Final standings Open: 1 FM Orozbaev, Eldiar 2313 9 2 IM Tologon Tegin, Semetei 2372 8 3 FM Sezdbekov, Ruslan 2285 6½ 4 IM Markov, Mikhail 2347 6½ 5 IM Abdyzhapar, Asylbek 2293 6 6 FM Zhakshylykov, Erzhan 2274 6 7 MK Teiitbaev, Aktilek 2018 5 8 NM Degenbaev, Aziz 2196 4½ 9 FM Maznitsin, Andrei 2209 4½ 10 MK Sharshenbekov, Emir 1924 4 11 MK Iunusov, Nuriddin 1888 3½ 12 MK Tapaev, Totuhan 1885 2½ The women’s competition turned into a race between WFM Nurai Sovetbekova (pictured below) and WCM Assel Lesbekova. Despite losing to her main rival in Round 6, Nurai came to the final round a full point ahead of Assel. Sovetbekova played it safe and clinched the title by drawing her game against Aiiza Orozbekova. Lesbekova finished a half-point behind and claimed silver. Three players tied for third place, with Aiana Abaeva taking bronze as the winner of both direct encounters. Final standings Women: 1 WFM Sovetbekova, Nurai 1764 9 2 WCM Lesbekova, Assel 1772 8½ 3 WMK Abaeva, Aiana 1662 7½ 4 WFM Zairbek Kyzy, Begimai 1891 7½ 5 WMK Sezdbekova, Aizhan 1622 7½ 6 WMK Zhanybekova, Begimay 1671 7 7 WMK Zhunusbekova, Aimonchok 1577 5 8 WNM Omurbekova, Diana 1782 4½ 9 WMK Orozbekova, Aiiza 1539 3½ 10 Abdurahmanova, Ramina 1239 2½ 11 Tursunalieva, Nurelina 1432 2½ 12 Kasymova, Eliza 1248 1 Photos: 2023 Kyrgyzstan Championship Telegram channel
Kazakhstan to host inaugural FIDE World Schools Team Championship
FIDE Events Commission is happy to announce that the first-ever World Schools Team Championship (WSTC) becomes a part of the FIDE Chess Calendar starting from the year 2023. Currently, more than 25 million kids worldwide are involved in scholastic chess, and FIDE’s goal is to double that number. Increasing the number of scholastic events and creating a coherent system of annual tournaments will contribute to this goal. The new flagship event, the World Schools Team Championship, a competition among the teams of general educational institutions, will see its inaugural edition held in Kazakhstan from August 3-8, 2023. WSTC will consist of two stages. The first stage is the national championships among general educational institutions. The strongest teams will advance to the second stage, the Final, which will determine the best team in the world. The Finals will be played in two age groups: Under 12 and Under 18. The registration deadline is July 3, 2023. The first 50 National Federations to enter can nominate one of their teams for “invited team” status. The teams with this status are entitled to: Free accommodation (2 twin rooms and 1 single room for children plus 1 single room for the captain) Travel grant (from Asia and Europe up to $5,000 and from Africa and the Americas up to $10,000) to cover the cost of economy class flights and some internal travel expenses Each team will consist of four main players, one reserve, and one captain. For the Stage 2, it is very important that all members of the team obtain FIDE IDs. For Stage 1, we recommend that each federation holds local and regional competitions before organizing the national final, and encourage participation of both boys and girls. The time control for the National Championships shall be 45 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move starting from move one. The World Final will be held as an 8-round Swiss team tournament, played with two games per day over 4 days. The time control is the same, 45 minutes plus a 10-second increment. All Final Stage participants will receive Participation certificates; players and captains of 3 top teams will receive trophies, gold, silver and bronze medals, and other memorable gifts. In addition, there will be special board prizes for players who played six or more games. And of course, the winners earn the prestige as the best school chess team in the world! We will announce the city host of the Finals shortly and hope to see you there! WSTC Entry Form Regulations of the World Schools Team Championship (pdf) The official email: wstcc@fide.com
2023 Superbet Chess Classic: Day 4 Recap
The tie at the top was broken today as Fabiano Caruana won a critical game against Ian Nepomniachtchi to emerge as the sole leader with 3.0/4. Meanwhile, Rapport drew with So, while Firouzja picked up his first win of the event, defeating Deac with Black. DING – DUDA | 1/2-1/2, 38 moves Once again, the new World Champion did not achieve much with White, as he tried a rare idea in the Catalan. Duda had few problems equalizing as he forced several trades, with the players eventually landing in a drawn bishop endgame. Ding came up with an interesting idea, though it was quickly neutralized by Duda. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes VACHIER-LAGRAVE – GIRI | 1/2-1/2, 40 moves In a unique choice, Vachier-Lagrave went for the Scotch Opening, and perhaps got a small edge as the players reached the endgame early on. Despite his slightly worse structure, Giri defended well, as MVL couldn’t create any real chances with his rook and knight against Black’s rook and bishop, and the game was soon drawn by repetition. MVL surprised Giri with the Scotch, but it only earned him an edge on the clock. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes RAPPORT – SO | 1/2-1/2, 48 moves In one of two battles between the leaders, Rapport opted for the English Opening but was not able to generate much pressure in a reverse Sicilian structure. So mostly played in the center, made several exchanges, and then comfortably held the ensuing endgame. So was never in trouble today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes DEAC – FIROUZJA | 0-1, 41 moves Coming out of a Slav Defense, there were a few issues with Deac’s position, but heavy time trouble caused him to slip and allow serious counterplay going into the first time control. Firouzja seized his chance nicely as he activated his pieces to swarm around White’s king. 41…Qf3! forced resignation, as 42…Rc2-+ is coming next. Firouzja was ruthless in his execution today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes CARUANA – NEPOMNIACHTCHI | 1-0, 70 moves The marquee game of the round saw Caruana run into a well-prepared Nepomniachtchi in a typical isolated queen pawn position. Although the position was objectively equal, Nepo started to drift into problems as he ended up on the worse side of a queen + bishop against queen + knight endgame. From there Caruana started to show excellent technique, grinding Nepomniachtchi down as he first picked up a pawn, and then a second pawn before giving the material back to force a winning counter-attack. After 68.Qc1, Caruana got the decisive advantage as 68…Bxb5 is met with 69.Qc7++-, winning a piece. “This is a very, very important game,” said Caruana. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2023 Superbet Chess Classic continues Wednesday, May 10, with tournament action live starting at 7:20 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetChessClassic Venue: Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, RomaniaMay 6 – May 15, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org
FIDE World Youth Championship 2023: Registration is open
FIDE and the Italian Chess Federation, together with UniChess, invite all national chess federations to participate in the World Youth Chess Championships 2023, which will take place in Montesilvano, Italy. The dates are November 12 (arrivals) to November 25 2023 (departures). Every National Federation can register one official player in each category (under 14, 16, 18 years old, open and girls). The organizers invite six official players plus one accompanying person (captain/trainer) from each national federation. The players placed 1-3 in the previous U14, U16, and U18 World Youth Championships, and the respective Champions of the last Continental Youth Championships have the personal right to participate in the corresponding age category. The registration deadline is on September 20, 2023. Invitation letter and regulations (pdf) FIDE World Youth Chess Championships 2023 official website E-mail: worldyouth2023@fide.com Photo: FIDE World Youth Chess Championships 2023 official website
2023 Superbet Chess Classic: Day 3 Recap
Fabiano Caruana was the sole winner of the third day of the 2023 Superbet Chess Classic, defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to join Nepomniachtchi, So, and Rapport in the leaders group, all with 2.0/3 points. The other games of the round were drawn, including a rematch of the 2023 FIDE World Championship, in which Nepomniachtchi squandered a big advantage out of the opening against Ding Liren. FIROUZJA – RAPPORT | ½-½, 33 moves Despite opting for the sharp 5.Nc3 variation and castling queenside against Rapport’s Petroff Defense, Firouzja could not get any edge out of the opening and even had to be careful not to fall worse as White. As the pieces all got traded in the center, the players soon found themselves in a drawn bishop ending. A tough day for Firouzja, who couldn’t get anything with White. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes CARUANA – VACHIER-LAGRAVE | 1-0, 23 moves Looking for a sharp battle Caruana tried the trendy 3.h4 anti-Grunfeld, to which Vachier-Lagrave responded with a Benko Gambit type of sacrifice. But MVL played way too riskily in the early middlegame, giving up a second pawn in search of piece activity. Caruana found a nice way to counter Black’s attack, forcing resignation in view of heavy material losses. After 23.Ne2, the final position of Caruana – MVL. Black resigned in view of White’s threat Rxd3 as well as an eventual Nf4, trapping Black’s queen. Caruana was ruthless in his execution today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes NEPOMNIACHTCHI – DING | ½-½, 54 moves In a rematch of the recent World Championship, Nepomniachtchi deviated from his usual 1.e4 and instead started with 1.d4, against which Ding chose the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Soon into the queenless middlegame, Ding blundered, allowing Nepomniachtchi to get a huge strategic advantage thanks to a subtle backward knight move. But a couple of moves later, Nepo returned the favour, letting Ding back into the game, who would go on to hold a somewhat worse rook ending. After 14…Bb3, Nepo found the strong move 15.Nb1!, heading to d2 to harass Black’s bishop. As it often occurred in the title match, Nepo was better, but Ding escaped! | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes SO – GIRI | ½-½, 57 moves After going for the Berlin endgame it seemed like So was slightly better in an ending with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops, but his winning chances were quite slim as Giri was able to calmly hold the position. Despite achieving a passed pawn, So could not make further progress as Black’s pieces simply got too active. So far, a quiet start – three draws – for Anish Giri. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes DUDA – DEAC | ½-½, 57 moves The final game of the day to finish saw Duda achieve a considerable advantage out of the opening in a Rossolimo Sicilian, with extra space and a better structure. The Polish No. 1 then transformed his edge into an extra pawn in the endgame, but patient defence by Deac kept him in the game until Duda slipped in his conversion, allowing Black to force a draw. The wildcard and lowest-rated player, Deac, showed great resilience today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2023 Superbet Chess Classic continues Tuesday, May 9, with tournament action live starting at 7:20 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetChessClassic Venue: Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, RomaniaMay 6 – May 15, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org
Chess in Schools seminar held in Doha, Qatar
The Qatar Chess Association FIDE Chess in Education Commission teamed up to organize the “Chess in Schools” seminar. The event was held from May 3-4, 2023, in Doha as the first step in implementing an agreement between the Ministry of Sports and Youth and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Qatar. As many as ten Qatari primary public schools are participating in the project. The project will be launched in schools with the start of the academic year 2023-2024 next September. The lecture by the Chairman of FIDE Chess in Education Commission, Jerry Nash from the USA, and his assistant, IM Ismail Karim, a newly enrolled coach of the Qatar Chess Association, was presented both in Arabic and English. The seminar was attended by FIDE Executive Director Victor Bologan. At the closing ceremony, Mohammed Al-Mudhahka, President of the Qatar Chess Association, stated that this course was considered one of the main pillars of developing and spreading the game of chess in schools. It creates a broad base of female referees to provide training, manage and officiate various chess activities, with the aim of expanding the number of school students participating in individual and team sports on national and Arab levels.
FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 2023: Registration is open
FIDE and the Royal Dutch Chess Federation (KNSB) have the pleasure of inviting all national chess federations to participate in the FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad, which will be held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, from August 12-19, 2023. All FIDE member federations have the right to send one team as their invited team. Each team shall comprise four players, with boys and girls represented and also the captain. The registration deadline is June 15, 2023. The tournament will be held at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven. Players and coaches will be accommodated at the Van Der Valk Hotel. The hotel is situated less than 3 kilometers from the playing location at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven (5 minutes by car, 25 minutes by foot). During competition dates, there will be shuttle services for players and coaches. Photo: High Tech Campus Eindhoven official website The event is a 9-round Swiss tournament. Please note: if less than 40 teams are present, only seven rounds will be played. Each match between teams will be played over four boards. The pairings, scoring and tiebreak regulations are in accordance with the Pairing Rules for the Chess Olympiad. The time control is 45 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds per move starting from move 1. The default time for all rounds is 20 minutes. Please consider that the airports might be crowded during summertime, and it may take longer to get your luggage and check out of the airport. Registration for FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 2023 FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad official website: youtholympiad.fide.com Invitation letter and regulations (pdf) E-mail: youtholympiad@fide.com
2023 Superbet Chess Classic: Day 2 Recap
Day 2 of the Superbet Chess Classic saw Ian Nepomniachtchi and Richard Rapport join Wesley So in the lead, with Nepomniachtchi defeating Deac with Black while Rapport ground down Duda in an opposite-coloured bishop endgame. DING – CARUANA | ½-½, 21 moves Facing Ding’s Catalan, Caruana opted for a tricky line starting with 8…Nc6. It seems Ding was caught off-guard as he started to spend time, but he chose a reasonable continuation to trade off his bishops and establish a strong knight on c6. However, Caruana had a tactical way of evicting White’s knight, which equalized the position on the spot, prompting Ding to repeat moves. 17…Nc5! was an equalizer from Caruana, with idea 18.dxc5 Qxc6. Instead the players repeated moves with 18.Nb4 Nb7 19.Nc6 Nc5, etc. Two whites and two draws for the World Champion. | Photo Courtesy Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes VACHIER-LAGRAVE – SO | ½-½, 22 moves In a bit of a surprise, Vachier-Lagrave went for the London System, but failed to achieve any edge against So, who played accurately out of the opening. The players traded queens soon after, and if anyone stood better in the endgame, it was Wesley with the slightly healthier structure. But it wasn’t enough of an advantage to really press, as the game quickly ended in a three-time repetition. So perhaps could have pushed for more but decided not to risk it. | Photo Courtesy Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes GIRI – FIROUZJA | ½-½, 36 moves Despite playing the solid Exchange Slav, Giri fell under certain pressure as he got a slightly worse position in the middlegame. Firouzja tried to increase his advantage by piling up on the c-pawn but didn’t have quite enough to generate real winning chances. From there, the pieces were soon liquidated, and the players entered a dead-drawn endgame. Firouzja was somewhat better against Giri but couldn’t make much out of it. | Photo Courtesy Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes DEAC – NEPOMNIACHTCHI | 0-1, moves A sharp variation in the Queen’s Gambit Declined saw Deac sacrifice an exchange out of the opening, getting a lot of compensation in the form of the two bishops. The ensuing middlegame was quite tricky to play, as Nepomniachtchi slowly activated his rooks and managed to outplay Deac. From there, Deac did not manage to find the best way to defend as Nepo traded into a completely won endgame to pick up his first point. Nepo’s 33…h5 left White without any good options, as the threat of 33…h4 is highly unpleasant. A clean win as Black from Nepo, as he joins the lead. | Photo Courtesy Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes RAPPORT – DUDA | 1-0, 52 moves While Rapport did not achieve much out of the opening, with the players reaching an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops, a dubious decision by Duda (21…b5) suddenly allowed White some play. Despite trading all the rooks off to enter a pure opposite-coloured bishop endgame, Rapport won a pawn and generated serious winning chances thanks to his much healthier structure. The position could have still been held with perfect defence, but Duda ultimately failed as Rapport eventually broke through and scored a victory. Here Rapport played 24.Bxd1!, with the idea to meet 24…cxb5 with 25.b4!, fixing Black’s weakness on a light-square and guaranteeing White a long-term advantage. An excellent endgame win for Rapport, who squeezed water from a stone. | Photo Courtesy Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2023 Superbet Chess Classic continues Monday, May 8, with tournament action live starting at 6:50 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetChessClassic Venue: Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, RomaniaMay 6 – May 15, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org
2023 Superbet Chess Classic: Day 1 Recap
The 2023 Grand Chess Tour kicked off on May 07 with Round 1 of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, a 10-player elite round-robin taking place in Bucharest, Romania, featuring newly crowned World Champion Ding Liren as well as challenger Ian Nepomniactchi. After the first round of action, Wesley So jumped into the sole lead as he managed to score the only decisive result of the day, defeating Alireza Firouzja with the Black pieces. A festive opening ceremony took place last night and featured the drawing of lots, artistic performances, talks by prominent figures and a simul featuring the players along with the 13th World Champion, Garry Kasparov. “The game has a great future because we know we have solid supporters that are making sure that our game will always be treated as it deserves.” – Kasparov. | Photo Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes DING – VACHIER-LAGRAVE | ½-½, 34 moves In his first game as the new World Champion, Ding encountered the Queen’s Gambit Accepted played by Vachier-Lagrave. Ding essayed the solid 7.b3 line but failed to get much pressure. MVL was well-prepared and successfully liquidated all the material to force a drawn endgame. From one champ to another – Garry Kasparov made the opening move for Ding Liren. | Photo Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes NEPOMNIACHTCHI – RAPPORT | ½-½, 42 moves An interesting match-up featuring the recent World Championship challenger Nepomniachtchi, facing off against the main second of his match opponent, Ding Liren. Repeating one of Ding’s openings, Rapport opted for the French Defense, against which Nepomniachtchi once again chose the 3.Nd2 variation (as he played in the match). Soon after Nepo managed to reach a pleasant endgame where he could play against Black’s isolated queen pawn, but sturdy defence by Rapport allowed him to equalize and force a three-time repetition. Nepo had a clear edge out of the opening but couldn’t increase his advantage. | Photo Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes DUDA – GIRI | ½-½, 39 moves The players entered a sharp variation of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted (3.e4 e5), where it seemed like Giri was the better-prepared player, as Duda started to spend lots of time out of the opening. The Polish No. 1 then found a concrete path to force a series of trades and reach an equal middlegame, where more exchanges left the players in a dead-drawn rooks and opposite colored bishops endgame. After 16.Kf2 White’s rook on a1 is hanging, but the threat of b6-b7 will allow him to win the material back. It seemed like Duda was under pressure, but he found his way out. | Photo Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes CARUANA – DEAC | ½-½, 49 moves A rare line in the Nimzo-Indian Defense saw the players reach a complicated but balanced endgame, with two bishops but worse development for Caruana. For the most part, Deac defended well, but in time trouble, he gave Caruana a chance to get a nearly decisive advantage. Unfortunately for Fabi, he missed this opportunity, and the game soon petered out into a drawn rook ending. After 33…Bh5, Caruana missed the chance to play 34.Bxc5 Rxc5 35.g4! Bg6 (35…Bxg4 Rg1+- is the main point, where Black loses a piece) 36.Bd5+-, with a huge strategic advantage as Black’s light-squared bishop is shut out. Caruana had a brief chance to win the game, but he let Deac off the hook. | Photo Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes FIROUZJA – SO | 0-1, 72 moves At first, the game started off rather quietly with a fairly typical Italian position. But after a few trades and a lot of manoeuvring, So seized the initiative with 37…g5, a tremendous kingside advance with the idea of displacing White’s knight. The problems were too tricky for Firouzja to handle, as So quickly won a pawn and took control over the position. In mutual time trouble, So didn’t find the most decisive path to victory but rather took the game into an endgame, where he created two passed pawns on the queenside and gradually converted his advantage. After 37…g5!, So put heavy pressure on Firouzja’s position, threatening to play g5-g4 next. Good technique earned Wesley So the early lead. | Photo Courtesy Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2023 Superbet Chess Classic continues Sunday, May 7, with tournament action live starting at 6:50 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetChessClassic Venue: Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, RomaniaMay 6 – May 15, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org