Superbet Classic: The calm before the storm?

Six players still with chances

Since sole leader Fabiano Caruana only has a +2 score with one round to go at the Superbet Chess Classic, no fewer than six players still have chances of winning the event on Friday. Standing a half point behind the leader are Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ian Nepomniachtchi — standing a half point further back — still have outside chances of claiming the title.

For MVL or Nepo to win the tournament, Caruana would need to lose his game with black against Anish Giri and neither of the players belonging to the chasing trio should score more than a half point — i.e. the game between Pragg and Firouzja must end in a draw.

As per the Grand Chess Tour regulations, in case of a tie for first place — a likely scenario given the tournament situation — a rapid and blitz (if necessary) playoff will take place once the ninth round is over on Friday.

Remarkably, all round-9 games are pertinent to the fight for first place:

• Anish Giri v. Fabiano Caruana
• Praggnanandhaa v. Alireza Firouzja
• Wesley So v. Gukesh
• Ian Nepomniachtchi v. Nodirbek Abdusattorov
• Bogdan-Daniel Deac v. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Players in bold have chances to win the event.

Standings after round 8

Results - Round 8

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.

Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Firouzja ½ - ½ Nepomniachtchi

Firouzja, Alireza2737

½–½

Nepomniachtchi, Ian2770

GCT Superbet Romania 2024 Bucharest04.07.2024[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Nh5 6.dxc5 Nxf4 7.exf4 a5 8.Bb5 e6 9.Ne5 Bd7 This position emerging from a London System has been seen in the past. Firouzja continued to blitz out his moves, much like his opponent, showing how deeply elite GMs prepare these setups. 10.Nxd7 10.Nd3 Nb4 11.Bxd7+ Qxd7 12.Nxb4 axb4 had been played previously. 10...Qxd7 11.Qf3 Qc7 12.0-0-0

Only here did Firouzja spend a considerable amount of time beofre making a decision (18 minutes). White can castle on either side of the board or play Qe3, protecting c5, to keep the tension. Firouzja's decision to castle queenside leads to an interesting battle. 12...Be7 Nepomniachtchi rejected to enter the following lines: 12...Bxc5 13.Qc3 Bxf2 Or 13...Qb6 14.Qxg7 0-0-0 14.Bxc6+ Qxc6 15.Qxg7 0-0-0 13.f5 0-0 Nepomniachtchi blitzed out all his moves up to this point! 14.Qg3 14.fxe6 is not great due to Nd4 15.exf7+ Rxf7 16.Qd3 Nxb5 17.Qxb5 with chances for both sides. 14...Qxg3 15.fxg3 Nd4 16.Bd3 Bxc5 17.fxe6 fxe6 18.Rhe1 Rae8

The stage is set for a complex manoeuvring struggle. Material is equal, but there are plenty of imabalances both in terms of structure and piece configuration. 19.g4 Rf2 20.c3 Nc6 21.Nf3 g6 After 21...Rxg2 White has 22.Bf5 Nd8 23.Rxd5 which is still equal according to the engines - Black does not need to enter such complications though. 22.Ng5 Bd6 23.Rxe6 Rxe6 24.Nxe6 Kf7 25.Ng5+ Kf6 26.Nf3 Bf4+ 27.Kb1 Rxg2 28.Bb5 Ne7 A sensible decision, given the time situation. Nepomniachtchi, who has drawn all his games so far in the event, wants to keep his (small) winning chances alive. The Russian GM had 53 minutes to Firouzja's 22 at this point. 29.h3 Rg3 30.Rf1 g5 31.Nd4

31...Ng6 This turned out to be too much a subtlety. There was nothing wrong with grabbing the pawn on h3. 31...Rxh3 might be followed by 32.Bd7 Ng6 and Black can try to make the most of his extra pawn - though it will be very difficult to find the path to a potential victory. 32.Rh1 The h-pawn is no longer en prise. Rg2 33.Nb3 b6 34.Rd1 Ne7 35.Nd4 Be3 36.Nc6 Rg1 37.Rxg1 Bxg1 38.Nxe7 Kxe7 Rooks and knights have been traded and a completely drawn endgame with bishops of opposite colours has appeared on the board. 39.Kc2 Kd6 40.Kd3 Ke5 41.Bc6 Kd6 42.Bb5 Ke5 43.Bc6 Kd6 44.Bb5 Ke5 45.Bc6 ½–½

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.

Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 8

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)