Superbet Classic: Firouzja beats So, climbs to shared second place

A trio of young chasers

The ever-dangerous Alireza Firouzja has joined the fight for first place at the Superbet Chess Classic after beating Wesley So convincingly in Tuesday’s sixth round. Out of a double-edged Nimzo-Indian, Firouzja sacrificed a pawn to get a strong initiative and swiftly converted his positional advantage into a 31-move win. Firouzja had lost to Fabiano Caruana and defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov in his previous two decisive games in Bucharest.

The victory over So allowed Firouzja to catch up with Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh in the standings. The three youngsters are now tied for second place a half point behind sole leader Caruana. After drawing Ian Nepomniachtchi with white, Caruana remains as the only player with a +2 score in Romania’s capital.

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.

With three rounds to go in the second event of this year’s Grand Chess Tour, not only Caruana and the chasing trio have realistic chances of claiming overall victory. Standing a half point behind Firouzja, Pragg and Gukesh are Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Importantly, Caruana has yet to face Gukesh and Pragg. In round 7, the leader will play black against Gukesh. In round 8, he will play white against Pragg.

Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Lennart Ootes

While Firouzja put together a strong attack against So (see full analysis below), Gukesh showed great defensive abilities to hold the balance in his game with black against MVL.

Out of a Marshall Attack — MVL is known for his excellent preparation in sharp opening systems — Gukesh spent a whopping 44 minutes before playing 18...Rfe8 here. White’s 18.a4 had been played only a few times previously (18.Bd4 is the oft-seen continuation), and is very likely what Gukesh expected to see in this setup.

Despite having been surprised in the opening by one of the strongest theoreticians in the world and finding himself more than an hour down on the clock, the Indian prodigy managed to defend the position until signing a — crucial — 60-move draw.

Results - Round 6

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.

Dommaraju Gukesh | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Firouzja 1 - 0 So

Firouzja, Alireza2737

1–0

So, Wesley2757

GCT Superbet Romania 2024 Bucharest02.07.2024[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 A risky approach by Firouzja, who plays a line of the Nimzo-Indian (the Saemisch with 4.a3) in which White might lose the c-pawn in exchange for central control and the initiative. Nc6 Humpy Koneru tried 6...d6 against Lei Tingjie at the Women's Candidates in Toronto. 7.e4 Na5 8.c5

Giving up the pawn at once. Firouzja shows he was greatly prepared for this game. The more frequent 8.Bd3 was played by Sam Shankland against Leinier Dominguez at the American Cup. The game continued with Ba6 9.Qe2 c5 10.Nh3 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nb3 12.e5 Ng8 13.Rb1 8...bxc5 9.Rb1 cxd4 So had blitzed out his moves up to this point - here he spent a bit over 5 minutes. So might have been considering 9...Nxe4 10.fxe4 Qh4+ 11.Kd2 Qf4+ 12.Kc2 Qxe4+ 13.Qd3 with a double-edged position. 10.cxd4 c5 An over-optimistic move by So, who played it surprisingly quickly. Alternatives are: 10...0-0 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4 d6 Or: 10...h6 preventing Bg5, e.g.: 11.Bd3 0-0 12.Ne2 11.dxc5 Firouzja does not hesitate to play the correct refutation. 0-0 12.Bf4 Nb7 Not accurate. Better is the tough-to-find 12...Re8 though White is still better after 13.Qd4 Nc6 14.Qd2 e5 15.Be3 13.Qd4 Re8 14.Ne2 Qa5+ The idea behind 12...Nb7, giving a check while attacking the c5-pawn. 15.Nc3

15...a6 Unfortunately for So, grabbing the pawn is bad for Black: 15...Qxc5 16.Qxc5 Nxc5 17.Be3 and d6 fails to Better is the ugly-looking 17...Na6 and White is still better after 18.Nb5 Rd8 19.Nd6 Nc7 18.Nb5 16.Be3 Qxa3 Black struggles to develop his army and decides to grab the pawn. White completely dominates the position with his centralised pieces. 17.e5 Nd5 18.Nxd5 exd5 19.Kf2 Nd8 20.Qxd5 Bb7 An extreme attempt to create counterplay. Firouzja has no trouble finding the refutation. 21.Rxb7 Nxb7 22.Qxb7 Rab8 23.Qd5 Qb2+ 24.Be2 Rxe5 25.Qd4 a5 26.Rb1

A great move to force simplifications. White will win easily with his queen and bishop pair. 26...Qxb1 27.Qxe5 Kh8 28.Bd4 f6 29.Qd6 Qb7 30.Bxf6 White has "the material and the compensation". Black is doomed. Re8 31.Bc3 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.

Wesley So | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 6

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)