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:
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Venue: 
Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
May 6 - May 15, 2023 

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