2022 Superbet Chess Classic Romania

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA AND SAINT LOUIS, MO. (May 16, 2022) – The first leg of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour (GCT) has concluded with Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-LaGrave taking the first place crown of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania. The tournament included all nine full tour players and one local wildcard player, Romanian Grandmaster Bogdan-Daniel Deac, all of whom competed over nine rounds for the $350,000 total prize fund. 

After an intense and final day of the Superbet Chess Classic Bucharest, three players tied for first with 5.5/9. However, it was the French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the “Dark Knight”, winning his last round game, catching up with the two former leaders GM Wesley So and GM Levon Aronian, and in the end taking them both down in an exciting playoff round-robin. The French grandmaster was ultimately declared the winner of the event, winning 10 GCT points and pocketing over $77,000. GM’s Wesley So and Levon Aronian each got 10 GCT points as well, and a check for $67,667. Tying for the fourth place with 4.5/9 were GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Leinier Dominguez and Romanian star GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac who was the only wild card in this event and has had a brilliant tournament.

Day 8 of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania was another eventful day, despite it only providing one decisive result in the game between GM’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Leinier Dominguez, which ended in favor of the latter. The most thrilling game of the round was the one between GM’s Ian Nepomniachtchi and Levon Aronian, which brought a topsy-turvy rollercoaster of emotions for the spectators. The game turned out in yet another lucky save by the Armenian American GM Aronian who saved yet another lost endgame to maintain his co-lead next to GM Wesley So, going into tomorrow’s final round.

The stakes are heating up for Superbet Chess Classic Romania, as the tournament is quickly coming to an end with only two more rounds left to play. Today’s Round 7 brought once again entertaining games with key dramatic moments as three of the five games were decisive. GM’s Wesley So and Levon Aronian maintain their co-lead in the event, being trailed by half a point by GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who won his game today, taking advantage of a tragic blunder by GM Richard Rapport. GM Mamedyarov and GM Firouzja won their first game in the event, taking down GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and GM Leinier Dominguez.

After yesterday’s rest day the players seemed fresh and ready for a day of exhilarating chess on Day 6 of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania. Today’s round brought entertaining games with plenty of drama and even some disaster, along with a few tenacious and close battles. Two games were decisive in this round, bringing American GM Leinier Dominguez his first win of the event against Romanian sensation, GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac, while American Grandmaster Levon Aronian took advantage of a blunder by his opponent GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to catch up to GM Wesley So in the lead after 6 rounds.

Day 5 of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania came with an exciting finish with GM Fabiano Caruana taking down Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to get back to fifty percent. Today’s games brought some surprise lines and missed opportunities, but was overall a peaceful day. Going into tomorrow’s rest day, Grandmaster Wesley So has drawn his game and maintains half a point advantage from his competitors sharing 2nd place.

Day 4 of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania was projected to be another eventful day and it did not fail to disappoint. With three decisive games, and quickly approaching the halfway point of the tournament we can only expect to see more thrilling games in future rounds. After an exciting game to take down one of his co-leaders, Grandmaster Wesley So has taken the sole lead with 3 points out of 4, distancing himself by half a point from his competitors sharing 2nd place.

Day 3 of the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest did not fail to entertain the audience. It has been the most exciting day by far, but at the same time heartbreaking for some of the players, commentators, and fans. While we have been used to only seeing one decisive result per round, today could have been completely different. The most unexpected results of today happened in the game of Aronian-Firouzja, which could have finished in favor of the French-Iranian Grandmaster, instead it ended in a draw. The other unpredictable result happened in the game of Rapport-Deac, where the Hungarian GM blundered on move 40, allowing his opponent to avoid the repetition and win in the endgame. With today's win, GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac has joined GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Wesley So as the co-leaders of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania.

Round 2 started in an interesting fashion with a surprising opening choice by GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL) who chose the QGA (Queen’s Gambit Accepted) against GM Wesley So. Although four of the five games ended in a draw, Mamedyarov - Rapport and Firouzja - Nepomniachtchi were fiery dynamic games that did not disappoint the fans or commentators. The day ended with a win for GM Ian Nepomniachtchi who was able to convert a topsy-turvy game against the talented GM Alireza Fiouzja. The audience also had the chance to see an interview with Legendary World Champion, Garry Kasparov, who was delighted with the organization and the progress of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania thus far. 

With today's win, Ian Nepomniachtchi joins Wesley So as a co-leader of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania after the conclusion of Round 2. 

The Grand Chess Tour kicked off with its first event of the tour -  the 2022 Superbet Chess Classic - a 10-player classical round-robin event taking place in Bucharest, Romania. While most fans and the commentators were keeping their eyes on the game between GM Caruana (World Number 4) - GM Firouzja (World Number 3), it was GM Wesley So who became the early leader of the event after beating GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the 2021 Superbet Chess Classic Romania defending champion. The rest of the games of the day were drawn.