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In round three of the Super Chess Classic in Romania, Vincent Keymer played black against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Together with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, they were leading the standings after two rounds with 1½ points. The direct encounter between Keymer and Praggnanandhaa ended in a draw. MVL drew against Javokhir Sindarov, while Anish Giri beat Alireza Firouzja and Jorden van Foreest defeated Bogdan-Daniel Deac. As a result, five players now share first place with 2 points each.
In the game between Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer, the Indian grandmaster reached a position with an extra pawn. The question of whether Praggnanandhaa could convert the extra pawn persisted all the way into a rook endgame, with rook against rook and pawn. The game ended with two bare kings and a draw.
The previous day, Keymer had sacrificed two pawns for a kingside attack. Against Pragg, the pawn sacrifice gave him active piece play. However, he could not achieve more than a draw.
On move 68, Anish Giri and Alireza Firouzja were playing only with the time added by the increment on each move. Firouzja was fighting with a bishop and three pawns against Giri's rook and two pawns. Firouzja still had a trick available to secure a draw, but with little time on the clock he did not find it.
With the correct move order, a mating net would have been threatened, which would have forced Giri to allow his opponent to take the b-pawn with the bishop after ...Be1 and a white rook move. Black would then have been able to continue fighting for a draw.
Anish Giri vs. Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Bogdan-Daniel Deac v. Jorden Van Foreest | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Round 3 results
