Superbet: Deac and Caruana strike first

by Klaus Besenthal
6/7/2021 – The first two decisive results of the Superbet Chess Classic were seen in Sunday’s second round, as the top seed and the bottom seed won their games and are now sharing the lead. Fabiano Caruana defeated Constantin Lupulescu, while Bogdan-Daniel Deac [pictured] stunned Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Two winners on day 2

Playing black against top seed Fabiano Caruana, Constantin Lupulescu was on the defensive from the start. Objectively speaking, the Romanian was not in a bad position, but the two or three small mistakes he made were duly punished by the latest challenger for the World Championship.

GM Karsten Müller demonstrated why, in the endgame, a mobile queen majority is often a strong asset.

 

Fabiano Caruana scored his first win on Sunday | Photo: Lennart Ootes

On move 30, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave made a mistake that suddenly shifted his position from a nice middlegame with the initiative into an endgame a pawn down. The Frenchman then defended somewhat carelessly, so a rather quick defeat followed.

 

A dream start for Bogdan-Daniel Deac | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Grandmaster draws

In Round 1 we got to see three ‘grandmaster draws’ (of the modern type), while the second day of action was not all that different. It is perhaps no coincidence that this phenomenon was seen on the boards which faced players from the very top against each other.

You can compare it with cycling: the top riders scramble up the steepest mountains together, and then, when the opportunity is favourable, at some point there are a few ‘attacks’, which are decisive for the outcome of the race.

 

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk in a good mood | Photo: Lennart Ootes

 

Wesley So and Levon Aronian are waiting for the right time to attack | Photo: Lennart Ootes

 

Teimour Radjabov and Anish Giri | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 2

 

All games

 

Links

Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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