Superbet Chess Classic

The original plan for the Grand Chess Tour was for only the ten full tour players to compete in the classical event in Romania, but with Ian Nepomniachtchi choosing to become a wild card a spot suddenly opened up for Romanian no. 1 Constantin Lupulescu. How was it to face the world’s best players after the break imposed by the pandemic.

After a comfortable draw against Levon Aronian, Constantin then lost to Fabiano Caruana, and in Game 3 was facing another of the world’s Top 10, Anish Giri. He could have been forgiven for playing as solidly as possible, but 14.f3!? was the move of an ambitious man.

First MVL, now Anish Giri! The Romanian players in the Superbet Chess Classic continue to show their teeth, as Constantin Lupulescu withstood a powerful attack by Giri to hit back with a mating attack of his own. The win for the Romanian no. 1 was the only decisive game of Round 3, with Grischuk-So and especially Radjabov-MVL featuring little action. Levon Aronian gave Fabiano Caruana a scare, while Bogdan-Daniel Deac continues to lead with Fabi after showing no fear in his game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

In Tuesday’s Round 4 you would once again expect to see most action in the games featuring the Romanian players, who have the black pieces against opponents who outrate them to such an extent that “Elo logic” requires them to play for a win: Grischuk-Deac and MVL-Lupulescu.

You would be tempted to put your life savings on a draw in Mamedyarov-Radjabov, So-Caruana is a clash that at least online tends to end in a quick draw, while Giri-Aronian has potential. Levon Aronian has a shocking 7 wins to 0 classical score against Anish Giri!

Tune in to all the action live from 14:00 CEST here on chess24.

See also:

• Official website
• All the games with computer analysis on chess24
• Superbet Chess Classic Round 1: Giri’s gamble almost backfires
• Superbet Chess Classic Round 2: Deac shocks MVL