.jpeg)
After a round with five draws, in which a couple of players missed rather big winning chances, the fourth day of action in Bucharest saw two games ending decisively at the Superbet Chess Classic. Fabiano Caruana and R Praggnanandhaa scored full points with white in their games against Bogdan-Daniel Deeac and Anish Giri, respectively.
Caruana had started the event with a win over Alireza Firouzja in a topsy-turvy game. The US star then failed to make the most of a clear advantage against Wesley So, and signed a rather quick draw with black against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. His convincing win over Deac, the rating underdog in Bucharest, allowed him to grab the sole lead as the only player with a +2 score. In a 34-move game, Caruana was better prepared than his Romanian opponent, obtained an early advantage and skilfully converted it into a full point.
Tied for second place are Indian prodigies Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa. While Gukesh scored in the first round and then collected three draws in a row, Pragg kicked off the event with three draws and then scored his first win of the event. The 18-year-old from Chennai defeated Anish Giri with the white pieces in a tense-filled game lasting 80 moves on Saturday.
In Sunday’s fifth round, the last one before the rest day, Caruana will play black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Pragg will also have the black pieces, against So, while Gukesh will play white against the ever-dangerous Abdusattorov — their dramatic confrontation in the last round of the 2022 Olympiad is one to remember!
Results - Round 4
Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Analysis by Klaus Besenthal
Bogdan-Daniel Deac | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Analysis by Klaus Besenthal
Praggnanandhaa v. Giri | Photo: Lennart Ootes
