THE FIRST of four tournaments in the 2021 Grand Chess Tour – the Superbet Chess Classic – unfolded at the Sheraton Hotel in Bucharest, Romania, June 5, and started quietly with all games ending in draws.
The Category 21 (average Elo: 2751) competition is a classical 10-player, all-GM, single round robin event with a prize fund of $325,000. The players are Fabiano Caruana (2820), Levon Aronian (2781), Anish Giri (2780), Alexander Grischuk (2776), Wesley So (2770), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2770), Teimour Radjabov (2765), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2760), Constantin Lupulescu (2656), and Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2627). Deac, Romania’s No. 2 player, is a last-minute replacement for GM Richard Rapport who withdrew due to illness.
After the Superbet Chess Classic, the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz will be played from June 17 to 22 also in Romania before the tour moves to France for the third leg with the GCT Paris Rapid & Blitz, and then finally to the United States of America for the GCT Sinquefield Cup in August.
Caruana, Aronian, Giri, Grischuk, Wesley, Mamedyarov, Radjabov, and Vachier-Lagrave are full Grand Chess Tour players and will compete in all GCT legs.
Radjabov, T (2765)-Caruana, F (2820) [D38]
Bucharest (1.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Bd7 12.Qb3 Nc6 13.Nxc6 Bxc3 14.Rxc3 Bxc6 15.Bb5 Bd5 16.Bc4 Bc6 17.Bb5 Bd5 18.Bc4 Bc6 ½-½
Mamedyarov, S (2770)-So, Wesley (2770) [D27]
Bucharest (1.2) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 a6 6.0-0 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Be2 Ke7 10.Rd1 Nbd7 11.Nd4 Ne5 12.b3 Bd7 13.Bb2 Nc6 14.Nxc6+ Bxc6 15.Rc1 Bb4 16.Na3 Nd7 17.Nc4 Bd5 18.a3 Bc5 19.b4 Ba7 20.Na5 Rhc8 21.Bd3 f5 22.Bc4 Bxc4 23.Nxc4 b5 24.Na5 g6 25.Kf1 Bb6 26.Nb3 e5 27.Ke2 Rxc1 28.Rxc1 Ra7 29.e4 Rc7 30.Rxc7 Bxc7 31.f3 Ke6 32.Bc1 f4 33.g3 g5 34.g4 Bb6 35.h3 Kd6 36.Kd3 Bf2 37.Ke2 Bb6 38.Kd3 Bg1 39.Bb2 Nb6 40.Na5 Na4 41.Ba1 Bb6 42.Nb3 Be3 43.Bc3 Bb6 44.Ba1 Be3 45.Bc3 Bb6 46.Ba1 Be3 ½-½
Grischuk, A (2776)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2760) [D85]
Bucharest (1.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Rxb7 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Bxd4 15.e5 Na6 16.Rxe7 Rad8 17.e6 fxe6 18.Qe1 Bf6 19.Rxa7 Rxd2 20.Rxa6 Qxa6 21.Qxd2 Qb6 22.g3 Bd4 23.Qe2 Rf6 24.Kg2 Qb2 25.Qxb2 Bxb2 26.Rd1 Kg7 27.Rd8 Rf8 28.Rd6 Kf6 29.h4 Re8 30.Be2 Be5 31.Rc6 Rd8 32.f4 Bd6 33.Bg4 e5 34.fxe5+ Kxe5 35.Rc8 Rxc8 36.Bxc8 Kf6 37.g4 g5 38.hxg5+ Kxg5 39.Kf3 h5 40.gxh5 Kxh5 41.Ke4 Bf4 42.Bd7 Kh4 43.Bh3 Kxh3 44.Kxf4 ½-½
Lupulescu, C (2656)-Aronian, L (2781) [E39]
Bucharest (1.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 0-0 6.Nf3 Na6 7.g3 Nxc5 8.Bg2 Nce4 9.0-0 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Be7 11.e4 d6 12.e5 dxe5 13.Nxe5 Qc7 14.Qe2 Nd7 15.Bf4 Nxe5 16.Bxe5 Bd6 17.Bxd6 Qxd6 18.Qe3 Qc7 19.Rfb1 Qxc4 20.Bxb7 Bxb7 21.Rxb7 h6 22.Rxa7 Rxa7 23.Qxa7 Qxc3 24.Rb1 Qc2 25.Rb8 Qd1+ 26.Kg2 Qd5+ 27.Kg1 Qd1+ 28.Kg2 Qd5+ 29.Kg1 Qd1+ ½-½
Deac, B-D (2627)-Giri, A (2780) [D43]
Bucharest (1.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.Qc2 Nh5 11.Rd1 Nxg3 12.hxg3 Na6 13.a3 Bg7 14.e5 Qe7 15.Ne4 0-0-0 16.Nd6+ Rxd6 17.exd6 Qxd6 18.0-0 g4 19.Ne5 Bxe5 20.dxe5 Qxe5 21.Bxg4 h5 22.Rfe1 Qf6 23.Bf3 h4 24.b3 cxb3 25.Qxb3 hxg3 26.fxg3 Qg7 27.Qd3 Nc7 28.Qd6 c5 29.Qd7+ Kb8 30.Bxb7 Kxb7 31.Rxe6 Qxg3 32.Qc6+ Kb8 33.Qd6 Qxd6 34.Rexd6 Kb7 35.Rf6 Rh7 36.Rd7 b4 37.axb4 cxb4 38.Kf2 a5 39.Ke2 Rg7 40.Rfxf7 Rxg2+ 41.Kd1 Rg1+ 42.Kc2 Rg2+ 43.Kb1 Rg1+ 44.Kb2 Rg2+ 45.Kb1 Rg1+ 46.Kb2 Rg2+ 47.Kb1 Rg1+ ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nd7/e6/g6 2.Q(x)e6#; 1…Nf6/g5, Qg4/f4/e4/d4/c4/a4/e1 2.Ne7#; 1…Kxd5 2.c6#; 1…Qg5/f6/d8 2.Nb4#./PN
