WESLEY So and Alexander Grischuk roundly defeated erstwhile leaders Fabiano Caruana and Bogdan-Daniel Deac, respectively, in Round 4 to grab the solo leadership of the ongoing Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania.
Wesley capitalized on Caruana’s minor mistakes in the middle game and was two pawns up in a rook-bishop and pawn ending, when the world’s number two player resigned on move 52 of an English Opening. Grischuk, on the other hand, patiently nursed a pawn advantage against Deac to reel in the point after 62 moves of a QGD Dutch-Peruvian Gambit Variation. The rest of the Round 4 games were drawn.
Close pals and compatriots Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Teimour Radjabov quickly drew their King’s Indian Defense in just 21 moves, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bucked a pawn minus versus Constantin Lupulescu, and held the drawn after 45 moves of a French Defense. Anish Giri and Levon Aronian also split the point after 34 moves of a Catalan Opening. The Round 5 pairings will be: Deac-So, Radjabov-Grischuk, Lupulescu-Mamedyarov, Aronian-Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana-Giri.
Standings after Round 4: 1-2. So, Grischuk, 2½; 3-8. Mamedyarov, Caruana, Aronian, Radjabov, Lupulescu, Deac, 2; 9-10. Vachier-Lagrave, Giri,1.
So, Wesley (2770)-Caruana, F (2820) [A20]
Bucharest (4.1) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bc5 4.d3 c6 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 a5 8.d4 exd4 9.Nxd4 a4 10.Rb1 Re8 11.e3 Qa5 12.Bd2 Bg4 13.f3 Bh5 14.Ne4 Qd8 15.Nxc5 dxc5 16.Ne2 Qd3 17.Nf4 Qxc4 18.b3 axb3 19.axb3 Qb5 20.e4 Bg6 21.Bc3 Na6 22.h4 h5 23.Qc1 Kh7 24.Rd1 Rad8 25.Qb2 c4 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Qxf6 Rxd1+ 28.Rxd1 Qc5+ 29.Kh2 Qe7 30.Qxe7 Rxe7 31.bxc4 Kg7 32.Bh3 Nc5 33.Rd6 f6 34.Ne6+ Nxe6 35.Bxe6 Be8 36.c5 Bf7 37.Bc8 Re5 38.Bxb7 Rxc5 39.Rxc6 Rb5 40.Ba6 Rb2+ 41.Kg1 Be8 42.Rc5 Kh6 43.Kf1 Bd7 44.Be2 Be8 45.Kf2 Rb3 46.Rd5 Ra3 47.Bd3 Kg7 48.Ke3 Rb3 49.Kf4 Rb4 50.Rc5 Bf7 51.Rc7 Kg6 52.g4 1-0
Grischuk, A (2776)-Deac, B-D (2627) [D41]
Bucharest (4.2) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Qd3 h6 11.Bh4 Be6 12.0-0 Qb6 13.a3 Rfd8 14.Rfd1 Ne4 15.Bxe7 Nxe7 16.Nd4 Nxc3 17.Qxc3 Rac8 18.Qd2 Nf5 19.Bf3 Rc4 20.Nxf5 Bxf5 21.Bxd5 Be6 22.e4 Bxd5 23.exd5 Qb5 24.h3 Rd6 25.b4 Rc7 26.Qf4 Rcd7 27.Rac1 Rxd5 28.Rxd5 Qxd5 29.Qb8+ Kh7 30.Qxa7 Qd2 31.Qc5 g6 32.Qc3 Qf4 33.Re1 Rd2 34.Qe3 Qd6 35.Qf3 Qc7 36.Qf6 Rd6 37.Qe7 Rd7 38.Qe5 Qd8 39.g3 b6 40.a4 Rd4 41.Re4 Rd1+ 42.Kh2 Qa8 43.b5 Rf1 44.Qd4 Qb7 45.Qe3 Ra1 46.Qd4 Rf1 47.Qe3 Ra1 48.g4 Rd1 49.Qf3 Rd4 50.Re3 Qc7+ 51.Qg3 Qd7 52.Qb8 Rxa4 53.Qxb6 Rf4 54.Kg3 g5 55.Rf3 Rb4 56.Qc6 Qe6 57.Kg2 Kg8 58.Qa8+ Kh7 59.Qf8 Rf4 60.Rxf4 gxf4 61.Qa8 h5 62.Qc6 1-0
Giri, A (2780)-Aronian, L (2781) [E04]
Bucharest (4.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.dxc5 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Nbd2 c3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.Nb3 Be7 12.c4 Bd7 13.a4 Rad8 14.Bb2 Bc8 15.Nfd4 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 b6 17.a5 Nd7 18.axb6 axb6 19.Bc6 Bf6 20.Bb5 g5 21.f4 gxf4 22.gxf4 Bxd4+ 23.Rxd4 Nf6 24.Ra7 e5 25.fxe5 Ng4 26.Ra8 Rxd4 27.Nxd4 Nxe5 28.Rb8 Be6 29.Rxb6 Bxc4 30.Bxc4 Nxc4 31.Rc6 Ne5 32.Rb6 Nc4 33.Rc6 Ne5 34.Rb6 Nc4 ½-½
Mamedyarov, S (2770)-Radjabov, T (2765) [E60]
Bucharest (4.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 cxd4 6.Nxd4 0-0 7.Nc3 Qc7 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.cxd5 d6 10.0-0 Qb6 11.Nb3 Qa6 12.Re1 Nd7 13.e4 Ne5 14.Bg5 Bg4 15.f3 Bd7 16.Bf1 Qb6+ 17.Be3 Qb4 18.Bd2 Qb6+ 19.Be3 Qb4 20.Bd2 Qb6+ 21.Be3 ½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2760)-Lupulescu, C (2656) [C11]
Bucharest (4.5) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.Bb5 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 a6 13.Bxd7+ Bxd7 14.Rxb7 Bb4 15.0-0 Bc8 16.Rb6 0-0 17.Rb1 Bc5 18.R6b3 Qa5 19.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 20.Qf2 Qxf2+ 21.Kxf2 Bd7 22.Ne2 Ba4 23.Rc3 Rfc8 24.Rxc8+ Rxc8 25.Nd4 g6 26.Ke3 Rc4 27.a3 Bxc2 28.Rc1 Bd3 29.Rxc4 Bxc4 30.g4 Kf8 31.Nc2 Bb3 32.Nb4 Bc4 33.g5 Kg7 34.Kd4 h5 35.Nc6 Bb5 36.Na5 Kf8 37.Kc5 Ke7 38.Nb3 Bc4 39.Nd4 Bd3 40.a4 Bf1 41.a5 Bd3 42.Kc6 Bc4 43.Kc5 Bd3 44.Kc6 Bc4 45.Kc5 Bd3 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bd7, Rd5, Bd6 2.Q(x)d5#; 1…Be6, Re5, Be7 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…Bf5/b7, Rd7, Re6 2.N(x)f5#; 1…Rd6 2.Qxb4#; 1…Bc5 2.Qa1#./PN
