A lively start

The 2025 Grand Chess Tour opened on Saturday with the first three rounds of rapid chess at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, taking place at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. A balanced field of experienced and young players provided a lively start to the event, which combines rapid and blitz formats.

Russian-born grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev, who now represents Slovenia, emerged as the sole leader after the first day. Fedoseev scored two wins and one draw, collecting 5 points under the Grand Chess Tour's rapid-chess scoring system (2 points for a win, 1 for a draw). He began with a draw against Alireza Firouzja before defeating David Gavrilescu and Polish star Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

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One point behind Fedoseev are Grand Chess Tour defending champion Alireza Firouzja and Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, each with 4 points. Praggnanandhaa had taken an early lead after winning his first two games - convincingly beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and then prevailing in a sharp battle against his compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram. However, his momentum was halted in round three by Bogdan-Daniel Deac. The Romanian grandmaster, despite frequently falling into deep time trouble (à la Alexander Grischuk or Ray Robson), managed to upset the then tournament leader.

Deac is part of a four-player group currently on 3/6 points, which also includes Duda, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Saturday. As for 50-year-old Veselin Topalov, the former FIDE world champion had a slow start with back-to-back losses - however, he recovered in round three, defeating Vachier-Lagrave with the black pieces after a 54-move battle.

Three more rounds of rapid chess will be played on Sunday as the tournament continues in Poland's capital.

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu first saw his opponent, Aravindh Chithambaram, failing to convert a clearly winning position in the endgame, and then even managed to score a win himself | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Living legend Veselin Topalov | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Fedoseev ½-½ Firouzja

Fedoseev, Vladimir2739

½–½

Firouzja, Alireza2757

GCT Superbet Rapid Poland 2025 Warsaw26.04.2025[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.Qd3 b6 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Rd1 c5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.Bf4 Up to this point, the players were following a blitz game from 2019 between Firouzja and Aronian. Perhaps more remarkably, this line was also seen in a game from the 1974 Candidates match between Korchnoi and Karpov (that game ended in a draw). Qb6 13...Nf6 was Karpov's continuation, and there followed 14.Qc2 Qb6 15.Nd2 Rfe8 16.Qb3 Qa6 with a structure similar to the one reached in Warsaw on Saturday. 14.Qb3 Nf6 15.Ne5 Rfe8 16.Bf3 Bf8 17.Nc4 Qa6 18.Ne3 c4

A major mistake by Firouzja, probably provoked by a miscalculation - given the fact that Fedoseev had played Nc4 previously, highlighting the pin along the light-squared diagonal. There might have followed 18...Rad8 with a massive simplification after 19.Nxd5 Bxd5 20.Bxd5 Rxd5 21.Rxd5 Nxd5 22.Qxd5 Qxe2 23.Qd2 19.Nxc4 Bc6 20.Ne3 Ba4 21.Qd3 Bb5 22.Qd2 Rad8 White emerges with a clean extra pawn - but a player of Firouzja's calibre will surely make the conversion difficult. 23.a4 Bc4 24.Nxc4 Qxc4 25.Qd3 Qb4 26.Qb5 h6 27.Qxb4 Bxb4

The queens leave the board, and White is still a pawn up - moreover, he is now the only contender who has the bishop pair. 28.a5 Rc8 29.Rd3 g5 30.Be3 Bc5 31.Bd4 Bxd4 32.Rxd4 Rc2 33.b4 Rb8 34.Rb1 Ra2 35.Rc1 Rb2 36.Bxd5 R2xb4 37.Rxb4 Rxb4 38.Rc8+ Kg7 39.Bc4 Rb1+ 40.Kg2 Rc1 41.Kf3 Rc3+ 42.e3 g4+ 43.Kf4 Rc2 44.Ke5 White is about to give up his extra pawn, but in exchange he has greatly improved his king's position. Nd7+ 45.Kd4 Rd2+ 46.Kc3 Rxf2 47.Rc7 Ne5 48.Bd5 a6 49.Re7 Rf5 50.e4 Rg5 51.Ra7 Rg6 52.Bb7 Rd6 53.Rxa6 Rd3+ 54.Kb4 Rd2 55.Bd5 Rxh2 56.Rd6 Rh1 57.a6 Ra1 58.Bb3 h5 59.Ba4 Rb1+ 60.Kc5 Rb8 61.Rd5 Kf6 62.Bc6 Rc8 63.Rd6+

White's conversion of his extra material has not been without mistakes. Here he is still winning though - and his advantage only increases after Black's next move. 63...Ke7 A mistake, which allows White to grab the rook by promoting the a-pawn. In this line, Black's counterplay on the kingside is not quick enough. 63...Kg5 is the only move that draws, and in case of 64.a7 there is h4 65.a8Q Rxa8 66.gxh4+ Kxh4 67.Bxa8 g3 68.Rd1 g2 which is drawn. 64.a7 h4 65.a8Q Rxa8 66.Bxa8 hxg3 67.Rd2 Kf6 The king is too far away from the passers now. 68.Rg2 Kg5 69.Rxg3 Kf4 70.Rg1 g3 71.Bd5

This move throws away the win. The one winning move is 71.Kd6 and e.g. Nf3 72.Rf1 g2 73.Rxf3+ since Kxf3 fails to 74.e5+ Kf2 75.Bxg2 Kxg2 with a winning pawn endgame for White. 71...Nf3 72.Rg2 Nh4 73.Rg1 Nf3 74.Rc1 g2 75.e5 g1Q+ 76.Rxg1 Nxg1 77.Kd6 Nf3 78.Bxf3 Kxf3 79.e6 fxe6 Firouzja escapes with a draw, in what might turn out to be a deciding result for the final standings. ½–½

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Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 3 (win = 2pts; draw = 1pt)

All games

Links

• Grand Chess Tour website
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• Alireza Firouzja conquers Saint Louis, again!