FABIANO Caruana and Bogdan-Daniel Deac kept the joint leadership of the ongoing Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania, after drawing their respective games Monday in a rather quiet Round 3.
Except for the Anish Giri versus Constantin Lupulescu encounter, the rest of the matches were drawn. Giri, Netherlands’ top player, bowed down to Lupulescu, Romania’s Number 1 chesser, in 39 moves of a topical line in the English Opening. The see-saw battle saw the Dutch player making a couple or so errors that the Romanian pounced on to bring home the point.
Meanwhile, Levon Aronian drew with Caruana in a stimulating Queen’s Gambit Accepted, which saw a gradual piece culminating in a totally drawn ending after 34 moves. Deac also halve the point with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov after 48 moves of an Open Catalan, while Teimour Radjabov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave agreed to a truce after 25 moves of a Gruenfeld that ended in a perpetual. Alexander Grischuk and Wesley So split the point after a brief 25-move battle in a theoretical Ruy Lopez Berlin.
Standings after Round 3: 1-2. Caruana, Deac, 2; 3-8. Aronian, Mamedyarov, So, Grischuk, Radjabov, Lupulescu, 1½; 9-10. Giri, Vachier-Lagrave, 1.
Aronian, L (2781)-Caruana, F (2820) [D26]
Bucharest (3.1) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 8.Ne5 Qc7 9.Nxc6 Qxc6 10.d5 exd5 11.Nxd5 b5 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.Bd5 Rb8 14.e4 Be7 15.a4 0-0 16.axb5 Rxb5 17.Ra3 Rb6 18.Rf3 Qe5 19.Bd2 Rg6 20.Bc3 Qc7 21.Rg3 Bb7 22.Rxg6 hxg6 23.Bxb7 Qxb7 24.Qg4 c4 25.e5 Bb4 26.Bxb4 Qxb4 27.e6 Qxb2 28.Qxc4 Qf6 29.Qxa6 Qxe6 30.Qxe6 fxe6 31.Kh1 Kh8 32.Kg1 Kg8 33.Kh1 Kh8 34.Kg1 Kg8 ½-½
Deac, B-D (2627)-Mamedyarov, S (2770) [E04]
Bucharest (3.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Qa4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Nd5 8.Bxb4 Ndxb4 9.0-0 Rb8 10.Na3 0-0 11.Qb5 b6 12.Qxc4 Ba6 13.Nb5 Qe8 14.Rfc1 Nd5 15.e4 Na5 16.Nxc7 Nxc4 17.Nxe8 Rfxe8 18.exd5 exd5 19.b3 Nd6 20.Ne5 Bb7 21.Nc6 Bxc6 22.Rxc6 Nb5 23.Bxd5 Re7 24.Bc4 Nxd4 25.Rd6 Nf3+ 26.Kg2 Ne1+ 27.Kf1 Nf3 28.h3 g5 29.Rad1 Ne5 30.R6d5 h6 31.Ba6 Kg7 32.Kg2 Rbe8 33.a4 Rc7 34.a5 Re6 35.Re1 Kf6 36.axb6 axb6 37.Re4 Rc3 38.Rb5 Nd7 39.Rxe6+ Kxe6 40.Rb4 Kd6 41.Bc4 f6 42.Rb5 Ke7 43.f4 Rc2+ 44.Kf3 Rc3+ 45.Kg2 Rc2+ 46.Kf3 Rc3+ 47.Kg2 Rc2+ 48.Kf3 Rc3+ ½-½
Grischuk, A (2776)-So, Wesley (2770) [C67]
Bucharest (3.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Be7 10.Rd1+ Ke8 11.g4 Nh4 12.Nxh4 Bxh4 13.Nc3 h5 14.g5 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.Ne4 fxg5 17.Bxg5 Bxg5 18.Nxg5 Ke7 19.Re1+ Kf6 20.Ne4+ Kf7 21.Ng5+ Kf6 22.Ne4+ Kf7 23.Ng5+ Kf6 ½-½
Radjabov, T (2765)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2760) [D85]
Bucharest (3.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Rxb7 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Bxd4 15.e5 Na6 16.Rxe7 Rad8 17.e6 fxe6 18.Qe1 Nc5 19.Be3 Nd3 20.Bxd4 Nxe1 21.Rg7+ Kh8 22.Rd7+ Kg8 23.Rg7+ Kh8 24.Rd7+ Kg8 25.Rg7+ ½-½
Lupulescu, C (2656)-Giri, A (2780) [A28]
Bucharest (3.5) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 Qe7 7.d4 Ne4 8.Qd3 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nc5 10.Qd1 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 0-0 12.Be2 b6 13.0-0 Bb7 14.f3 a5 15.Bd2 f5 16.Rad1 d6 17.b3 Rae8 18.Rf2 Rf6 19.Bd3 Qf7 20.Re2 Qh5 21.Be1 Be4 22.Bb1 Rg6 23.Bg3 Bxb1 24.Rxb1 Ne4 25.Rbe1 Nxg3 26.Qd5+ Kh8 27.hxg3 Rxg3 28.e4 Qxf3 29.Qf7 Rg8 30.exf5 Qc6 31.Rf2 Qc5 32.Re7 Qd4 33.Re8 Rxg2+ 34.Kxg2 Qg4+ 35.Kh2 Qh4+ 36.Kg2 Qg4+ 37.Kf1 Qh3+ 38.Ke1 Qc3+ 39.Rd2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ra6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…gxf5, Nxf5 2.Bg5#; 1…Ng4 2.Qxg4#; 1…Rxf5 2.Rxa4#; 1…Ra2/a1 2.Qe4#; 1…Kxf5 2.Rf6#; 1…e2 2.Qf2#./PN
