70 moves plus

Round two of the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest saw the two players who had lost in round one recovering with determined victories. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Bogdan-Daniel Deac both returned to a 50% score, defeating Wesley So and Levon Aronian, respectively. Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja became the sole leader after signing a hard-fought draw in which he had winning chances against Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Vachier-Lagrave's win over So emerged from a sharp yet theoretically well-known line of the Ruy Lopez. With white, MVL gained a slight advantage out of the opening, though commentator Peter Svidler noted that this variation, once considered more promising for White, is now evaluated as tenable for Black due to resources shown by modern engines.

The players followed a predecessor game until move 20, entering a pure rook and knight versus rook and bishop endgame by move 28. MVL had an extra pawn on the a-file, but engines evaluated the position as close to completely equal still.

For a while, So appeared to be holding the balance. A strong technical player, the US star continued to keep his drawing chances alive until move 68, when he faltered with 68...Rg8+

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The correct defensive continuation, 68...Kb6, would have forced MVL to continue looking for ways to manoeuvre his pieces to finally make the most of his material advantage. In the game, though, So was forced to resign five moves later, allowing MVL to claim his first win of the tournament after a lengthy struggle.

The two decisive games of the second round featured lengthy, hard-fought battles | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Deac also recovered from a disappointing opening-round loss to So by defeating Levon Aronian in a grinding encounter. Deac, the local wildcard, played patiently and eventually converted a small positional edge into a full point after a complex technical endgame. This result provided a significant morale boost for the Romanian representative, who had lost following a one-move blunder in the previous round (see full analysis of the game below).

The remaining three games ended in draws, though not without excitement. Alireza Firouzja fought hard to maintain his winning chances against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, reaching a dynamic middlegame in which the French representative was running low on time. Firouzja, however, was unable to find the most precise continuations and had to settle for a 55-move draw. Still, he is now the sole leader in Bucharest with 1½ points.

Meanwhile, the clash between Gukesh Dommaraju and Nodirbek Abdusattorov saw the world champion deviating from mainline opening theory early on, leading to a strategically rich middlegame that eventually fizzled into a draw. Similarly, Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu departed from conventional opening ideas, with neither player managing to gain a decisive edge before agreeing to a draw.

Round 2 results

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Heading into round three, Firouzja will have the white pieces against Caruana in a crucial matchup, while Deac will look to build on his momentum when he faces Gukesh with black.

Alireza Firouzja tried hard but could not break through Jan-Krzysztof Duda's defences | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Deac 1-0 Aronian

Deac, Bogdan-Daniel2668

1–0

Aronian, Levon2747

GCT Superbet Classic Romania 2025 Bucharest08.05.2025[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 b6 Not the most fashionable line out of the Nimzo-Indian. Aronian looks for chances to create imbalances against the lowest-rated player in the field. The most popular variation goes 6...c5 7.0-0 Nc6 Also strong is 7...dxc4 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.exd4 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Qc7 7.0-0 Ba6 Again not the most frequently played. Deac answered quickly, as this is still well-known theory. 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bxa6 Nxa6 10.Bd2 Re8 11.Rc1 Bf8 12.Qa4 Qc8 13.Ne2 Qb7 14.Qc6 Qxc6 15.Rxc6

White has emerged with a slight positional edge thanks to his better structure - the black pawn on c7 is a vulnerability. 15...Ne4 16.Rfc1 Only this manoeuvre was the novelty in the game. 16.a3 Bd6 17.Rc2 Nb8 18.Rfc1 c6 had been tried in the past. 16...Rad8 17.Be1 Bd6 18.g3 f6 19.h4 Nb8 20.R6c2 c6 21.Nh2 Bf8 22.Nf4 Bd6 23.Ne2 Bf8 24.Kg2 Nd6 25.Nf4 Nb7 26.Nf3 Bd6 27.Nd3 c5 Black finally pushes his c-pawn to the fifth rank. White is still better positionally, but the queenless, strategic battle is still complicated. 28.dxc5 bxc5 29.Rd1 Nd7 An imprecision by Aronian. Stronger is 29...Nc6 though White still has 30.b4 and gets to keep his edge after Nxb4 31.Nxb4 cxb4 32.Rxd5 a5 33.Rc6 Re7 30.b4

The key idea! 30...c4 Aronian already was already facing a tough choice. He gets a passed pawn, but also allows White to get two strong connected pawns on the a and b-file - as the game will demonstrate, this trade-off favours Deac. An alternative is 30...cxb4 and after the close-to-forced line 31.Nxb4 Bxb4 32.Bxb4 Nb6 33.Rc7 Rb8 34.Nd4 White is visibly for choice, with a better structure and more active pieces. He still has to work hard to convert his advantage though. 31.Nb2 Nb6 32.a4 Bf8 33.a5 Na8 34.a6 Deac's straightforward play is approved by the engines. Nd6 35.Rxd5 And now White gets an extra pawn. Nb6 36.Ra5 Rc8 37.Nd4 Re5 38.b5 Deac has all but maximised his queenside army - but there is a long road ahead still, as the experienced Aronian is a resourceful defender. Rc7 39.Kf3 Re8 40.Na4 Nd7 41.Ke2 Kf7 42.g4 Rb8 43.f3 Re8 44.Bg3 Rcc8 45.Nc3 Nc5 46.Bxd6 Bxd6 47.Nc6 Rc7 48.Ra1 Bf8 49.Rd1 Nd3 50.Ne4 Ne5 51.Nd6+ Bxd6 52.Rxd6 Rec8 53.Nxe5+ Understandably, Deac decides to simplify into a pawn-up double-rook endgame - at this point both players had only a bit over 1 minute on the clock. Engines prefer 53.Nd4 and e.g. Rb8 54.g5 h5 55.f4 Ng4 56.Rc6 increasing the pressure while keeping more pieces on the board. 53...fxe5 54.b6 axb6 55.Rxb6 c3

56.h5 Rd7 57.h6 g5 58.Rb7 Rxb7 59.axb7 Rb8 60.Rxc3 Rxb7 Aronian has defended valiantly. Deac found nothing better than this clear-cut approach to converting his advantage. This is a two-result position, but Aronian remarkably managed to keep his chances of escaping with a draw. 61.Kd3 Ke6 62.Ra3 Kd5 63.Ra5+ Ke6 64.Ke4 Rb4+ 65.Kd3 Rb3+ 66.Ke2 Rb2+ 67.Kf1 Rb1+ 68.Kg2 Rb2+ 69.Kg3 Rb3 A crucial mistake. Necessary is 69...Kf6 approaching the h7-pawn to prevent White from getting an outside passer. 70.Ra7 Kg6 70.Kf2 Rb2+ 71.Kg3 Rb3 72.Ra7 After repeating the position, Deac finds the winning idea. e4 73.Rxh7

The outside passer will decide the day. Black's counterpart on the e-file does not grant enough compensation. 73...Rxe3 74.Rg7 Rxf3+ 75.Kg2 Rf8 76.Rg6+ Ke7 77.Rxg5 Ke6 78.Rg6+ Ke5 79.Rg7 e3 80.h7 Rh8 81.g5 Deac got a positional edge early on, and emerged victorious only after a long fight. 1–0

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Bogdan-Daniel Deac | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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