Superbet Classic: Caruana beats Deac, grabs the sole lead

Caruana and Pragg score

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

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Caruana 1 - 0 Deac

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Caruana, Fabiano2805

1–0

Deac, Bogdan-Daniel2680

GCT Superbet Romania 2024 Bucharest29.06.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Guenther]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.Rb1 d6 9.Ne2 e5 10.0-0 Re8 11.f3 b6 12.e4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 exd4 15.Bg5 Re5 16.Bh4

Judging this position was certainly no easy task. But the idea that the white isolated pawns on the queenside could be vulnerable seems to have occurred to Deac. Caruana could perhaps just defend them for the time being. As long as he can hold everything together, he would be able to capitalise on his space advantage and bishop pair in the long run. 16...Qe7 This ultimately amounts to an exchange of queens, which was perhaps not really in Black's favour. The question was whether 16...Ba6 17.Be2 Qe8 followed by 18.Qxd4? due to Nxe4 was a good idea. 17.Be2 Ra5 18.Rb3 The a3-pawn can easily be covered with this move. Ba6 19.Qxd4 Qe5?! 19...d5?? 20.e5+- Better was 19...Re8 and after 20.Rd1 d5 was actually playable. 20.Rd1 Qxd4+ 21.Rxd4 Ne8 22.Be1 Rc5 23.Bb4 Rc6 24.f4 Rac8 25.Rc3

White is clearly better, although not yet winning. 25...R8c7 26.Kf2 h5 27.h3 g6 28.a4 Rc8 29.Ke3 Bb7 30.f5

White has further strengthened his position with a series of quiet moves. Now he sees the time has come for a pawn break. 30...gxf5? And he promptly succeeds. 30...R8c7 would still have offered chances of a draw. 31.exf5 Nf6 Black covers his h5-pawn. 32.Kf4 White clears e3 for the rook. Black is almost paralysed. d5 33.Be7 Re8 34.Re3 The threat is simply cxd5. 1–0

Attack like a Super Grandmaster

In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

Bogdan-Daniel Deac | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Praggnanandhaa 1 - 0 Giri

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Praggnanandhaa R2747

1–0

Giri, Anish2745

GCT Superbet Romania 2024 Bucharest29.06.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Guenther]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.Nbd2 Be7 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Qc2 0-0 11.Rd1 Qe7 12.b3 b6 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Rb8 15.Bb2 Bb7 16.Qf4 Rbd8 17.Rac1 Nf6 18.Bd3

Giri made a mistake in this position, which his opponent first had to recognise as such. 18...Rd5? 19.b4! Bd6 Or 19...Qd8 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.bxc5 Rxd3 22.Rxd3 Qxd3 23.cxb6+- 20.Bxf6? This loses a large part of the advantage. Promising was 20.Qh4! h6 21.e4 20...Qxf6?! Better was 20...gxf6 21.Qg4+ Kh8 22.Qh4 f5 23.Qxe7 Bxe7 24.Rc7 Rfd8 25.Rxb7 Rxd3 26.Rxd3 Rxd3 27.g3 Bxb4 28.Ng5 with drawing chances. 21.Qxf6 gxf6 22.e4

Now White wins the exchange. 22...Rxd3 23.Rxd3 Bxb4 24.Rc4? Much better was 24.e5! Bxf3 The exchange of the bishop pair gives the white rook pair more room to manoeuvre. Leaving the knight on the board was not an alternative: 24...f5 25.Ng5! h6 26.Rc4 Bc5 27.Rg3+- 25.gxf3 fxe5 26.Rc4 Bc5 27.Rg4+ Kh8 28.Rd7± 24...a5?! 24...Bc5! would have kept the c4-rook out. 25.Rd7?! White had 25.e5!+- 25...Bc8 26.Ra7 e5 27.h3 Be6 28.Rc2 Rd8 29.g4 Bc5 30.Kg2 At this point White's advantage was largely gone. Kg7?! Necessary immediately was 30...h5 31.gxh5 Kg7 32.Nh4 Kh6 33.Nf5+ Bxf5 34.exf5 Kxh5 31.Nh4! h5 32.Nf5+ Bxf5 33.gxf5 Rd4 34.Re2 Rd3 35.h4 Rd1 36.Rc2 Rd4 37.f3 Kf8 38.Ra8+ Ke7 39.Ra7+ Kf8 40.Kg3 a4 41.Rg2 a3 42.Kh2 Rd8 43.Kh3 Bb4 44.Rb7 Bc5 45.Rc7 Be3 46.Rgc2 Bc5 47.Rc4 Ra8 48.Rb7 Ke8 49.Kg2 Kf8 50.Kf1 Ra5 51.Ke2 Ra8 52.Kd3 Rd8+ 53.Kc2 Kg7 54.Rc3 Bf2

Pragg wants to tire his opponent. It's difficult to say what White's plan would have been otherwise. 55.Rcc7 Rf8 56.Kd3 Bxh4 57.Ke2 Bg3 58.Kf1 h4 59.Kg2 He stays with the king near the h-pawn. Bf4 60.Kh3 Be3 61.Rd7 Bc5 62.Kxh4 Rh8+ 63.Kg3 Rf8 64.Kg2 Be3 65.Kf1 Bd4 66.Ke2 Bc5 67.Kd3 Bd4 68.Kc4 Rc8+ 69.Rbc7 Rf8 70.Kb5 Kg8 71.Ra7 Bc5 72.Rab7 Kg7 73.Kc6 Be3 74.Rdc7 Bd4 75.Kd7 Kh6 76.Rc8 Rxc8 77.Kxc8 Kg5 78.Kd7 Kf4 79.Kc6 Kxf3 80.Kd5 1–0

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Praggnanandhaa v. Giri | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 4

All games

Links

• Official site
• Fabiano Caruana outright winner at Superbet Chess Classic in Romania (2023)
• Vachier-Lagrave has a brilliant day, wins Superbet Chess Classic (2022)
• Shakhriyar Mamedyarov wins Superbet Chess Classic (2021)