ROUND 2 of the Superbet Chess Classic now ongoing in Bucharest, Romania, saw two contrasting decisions resulting in the joint leadership of winners Fabiano Caruana and Bogdan-Daniel Deac.
Caruana had a rather easy win over Constantin Lupulescu, beating Romania’s top player in just 28 moves of a French Defense. Deac, on the other hand, upset Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 44 moves of an Open Ruy Lopez after the latter spurned a draw by repetition. The 20-year old Deac is Romania’s No. 2 player and, along with Lupulescu, represent Romania in the Category 2121 (average Elo: 2751) event.
The other games were drawn. Wesley So vs. Levon Aronian split the point after 30 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined; Teimour Radjabov equalized easily against Anish Giri and went on draw in 30 moves of a Catalan Opening; and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also halve the point after 31 moves of a Symmetrical English. The Round 3 pairings will see Grischuk vs. So, Deac vs. Mamedyarov, Radjabov vs. Vachier-Lagrave, Lupulescu vs. Giri, and Aronian vs. Caruana.
Standings after Round 2: 1-2. Deac, Caruana, 1½; 3-8. Giri, Radjabov, Mamedyarov, So, Aronian, Grischuk, 1; 9-10. Vachier-Lagrave, Lupulescu, ½.
Caruana, F (2820)-Lupulescu, C (2656) [C11]
Bucharest (2.1) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nbd7 6.Nf3 h6 7.Bxf6 Nxf6 8.Bd3 Nxe4 9.Bxe4 c5 10.Qe2 Qa5+ 11.c3 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Be7 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.Kb1 Rd8 15.Bc2 Bd7 16.Qe4 g6 17.h4 Ba4 18.Bxa4 Qxa4 19.h5 g5 20.Qxb7 Bc5 21.Qc6 Qxc6 22.Nxc6 Rxd1+ 23.Rxd1 Bxf2 24.Rd7 f6 25.Nd8 Bb6 26.Nf7 Rf8 27.Nxh6+ Kh8 28.Kc2 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Aronian, L (2781) [D38]
Bucharest (2.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Qc2 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.0-0-0 Qe7 13.Kb1 Be6 14.Bxe6 Qxe6 15.f3 Rad8 16.e4 Rd7 17.Bc1 Rfd8 18.Rxd7 Qxd7 19.Ne2 c6 20.Be3 Bc7 21.Rc1 Bb6 22.Bg5 Qe6 23.Qb3 h6 24.Qxe6 fxe6 25.Bf4 Nh5 26.Be5 Rd2 27.Rc2 Rd1+ 28.Rc1 Rd2 29.Rc2 Rd1+ 30.Rc1 Rd2 ½-½
Giri, A (2780)-Radjabov, T (2765) [E06]
Bucharest (2.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Nc3 Nbd7 12.Rfd1 Bxf4 13.gxf4 Nb6 14.Qd3 a5 15.Ne5 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Nbd5 17.Qf3 c6 18.e3 Qe7 19.h3 Nd7 20.Nxd7 Qxd7 21.Ne4 Qe7 22.Kh2 b6 23.Rac1 Rac8 24.Rc4 Rc7 25.Rdc1 Rfc8 26.b3 Qa3 27.Qd1 Qe7 28.Qf3 Qa3 29.Qd1 Qe7 30.Qf3 ½-½
Mamedyarov, S (2770)-Grischuk, A (2776) [A33]
Bucharest (2.4) 2021
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.e4 Bb4 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3 e5 9.0-0 0-0 10.Be3 Bxc3 11.bxc3 d6 12.c5 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Re1 Nxe3 15.Rxe3 Qd5 16.Bc2 Qxc5 17.Qh5 g6 18.Qxe5 Qxe5 19.Rxe5 a5 20.Rc5 Be6 21.a4 Rfc8 22.Be4 Bd5 23.Bxd5 cxd5 24.Rxd5 Rxc3 25.g3 Rc4 26.Kg2 Kg7 27.Kg1 Kg8 28.Kg2 Kg7 29.Kg1 Kg8 30.Kg2 Kg7 31.Kg1 ½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2760)-Deac, B-D (2627) [C80]
Bucharest (2.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.c3 0-0 11.Bc2 f5 12.exf6 Nxf6 13.a4 b4 14.Re1 Bg4 15.Nf1 Bc5 16.Be3 d4 17.cxd4 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Qxd4 20.Rad1 Qxb2 21.Re2 Qc3 22.Rd3 Qa1 23.Rd1 Qc3 24.Rd3 Qa1 25.g4 b3 26.Bxb3+ Kh8 27.g5 Ng8 28.Qd5 Bd6 29.Rh3 g6 30.Qd3 Rf5 31.Qc3+ Qxc3 32.Rxc3 Rxg5+ 33.Ng3 Nf6 34.Kf1 Rb8 35.h3 Re5 36.Bc4 Rc5 37.Rcc2 Ra5 38.Ne4 Nxe4 39.Rxe4 Rxa4 40.h4 Kg7 41.h5 gxh5 42.Re1 Rbb4 43.Be2 Rh4 44.Bf3 a5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bf8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bxb2 2.Bxh6#; 1…Kxb2 2.Qa3#; 1…Sc2 2.Qxc2#./PN
