Caruana Wins Superbet Chess Classic Romania In Playoff After Dramatic Final Day

GM Fabiano Caruana ended up winning the $68,750 first prize at the Superbet Chess Classic Romania after a dramatic final day in Bucharest. Although he lost his classical game to a strong-playing GM Anish Giri, the American GM won all three games in the playoff to retain last year's title.

The grapes were sour for GM Alireza Firouzja, who was on the brink of beating GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and finishing in clear first place without needing a playoff but then failed to win an exchange-up position.

The games GM Wesley So vs. GM Gukesh Dommaraju, GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac vs. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi vs. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov ended in draws.

Superbet Chess Classic Romania Round 9 Results

Superbet Chess Classic Romania Final Standings

"Maybe we were making it a bit boring, but on the final day at least we added some excitement," Caruana noted after receiving the trophy for winning another Superbet Chess Classic. Indeed, after what was not the most exciting classical tournament in the history of the game, the final day made up for it with dramatic results in the classical portion and an exciting playoff to produce the tournament winner.

A big part of all this comes from the fact that Caruana suffered his first loss of the tournament on the last day. "I feel good at the moment but, overall, of course it was a pretty bad day," the tournament winner also said, but with a big smile on his face. "I played terribly. Anish punished me; I played a poor game but he played well and then I wasn't even thinking about winning the tournament anymore."

I played terribly. Anish punished me; I played a poor game but he played well and then I wasn't even thinking about winning the tournament anymore.
—Fabiano Caruana

So let's look at that key game from the final round first.

Giri 1-0 Caruana

Giri and Caruana played a Catalan, which transposed into a Queen's Indian. After some trades in the center, Caruana ended up with an isolated queen's pawn, but his activity provided ample compensation. Then, on move 20, he made a big mistake that cost him a pawn, and from that moment, Giri was in the driver's seat. The Dutchman was up to the technical task and left his opponent without a chance.

Welcome back everyone. In todaaaaaay's video we are going to look at my game against Fabiano Caruana.

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) July 5, 2024

Here's the game annotated by GM Rafael Leitao:

Praggnanandhaa ½-½ Firouzja

In this dramatic final round game, Firouzja was winning for many moves but eventually failed to beat an incredibly resilient Praggnanandhaa. The 18-year-old player from Chennai wasn't feeling very much at home in a Sicilian Najdorf, played several inaccuracies, and got a terrible position out of the opening. Sacrificing an exchange was an excellent practical decision, though, after which he delivered a fantastic defensive play that left Firouzja with the huge disappointment of missing out on a direct tournament victory.

Playoff: Caruana wins all three

Before we wrap up the classical games, let's first discuss that tournament-deciding playoff. Because Gukesh had drawn his game, he had also qualified, together with Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa. With four players in first place, an all-play-all was contested with a 10+5 time control.

Whereas 38 out of 45 games in the main tournament ended in draws, the playoff didn't see a single draw but rather six decisive games (all for replay here). Firouzja beat Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa but lost to Caruana, who ended up winning all three rapid games. Those times when the American GM was supposed to be bad in faster time controls are far behind us!

In hindsight, the key playoff game was the following, where Caruana could use a nice tactic:

This small change in the 2024 @GrandChessTour Tiebreak Regulations, a small way to reward fighting chess, came to the fore during the playoffs for the Superbet Chess Classic Romania. Caruana & Firouzja earned 2W/1B for their 3 playoff games, the White pieces scored 5 out of 6. pic.twitter.com/k5vvjD8WLj

— Chris Bird (@ChrisBirdIA) July 5, 2024

Nepomniachtchi ½-½ Abdusattorov

Nepomniachtchi was one of the six players who could theoretically qualify for a playoff, and for that, he needed a win against Abdusattorov. Nepomniachtchi was not without chances, it seemed.

The game saw a theoretical line of the 5.Bf4 Queen's Gambit Declined that was very topical a decade ago. What we get is a blocked pawn formation on the queenside where Black usually controls the a-file while White, in the meantime, tries to create possibilities for an attack on the kingside.

Nepomniachtchi might be surprised to see the engine's promising evaluation for White around move 25. When it's more than a pawn, that's quite something! He might have traded a pair of rooks a bit too late, after which Black's a-pawn guaranteed enough counterplay.

Deac ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave

We have seen quite a few exciting games ending in draws (with So vs. Abdusattorov as the absolute highlight), but some draws are just as boring as watching paint dry. All we saw in the game between Deac and Vachier-Lagrave was pawn and piece trades, while the pawn structure remained symmetrical.

This way, the Frenchman finished his tournament with nine draws–not bad, but not great either. Deac lost twice and drew seven games, with a performance rating identical to his actual rating: 2680.

So ½-½ Gukesh

This was the quickest draw, lasting under two hours. Gukesh played somewhat strangely in the opening (a Rubinstein Nimzo-Indian) as he first played his queen to e7 and two moves later switched it to c7. So wasn't particularly interested in trying to refute it and instead went for some exchanges, after which Gukesh also didn't mind the early move repetition that followed.

"I apologize today for the quick draw. It’s not what I wanted, but I wasn’t feeling very well the last few days. I was feeling a bit sick," So commented. I just wanted to finish the tournament. It’s not exactly what I hoped for; usually, I play much better in Romania, but this year has not been very good. I think I could start much better if we could do the tournament all over again."

Wesley So on his one loss, to Firoujza: "I just played unreconizable against him — I blundered everything!' #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/R5DtFohFJS

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 5, 2024

So is one of the players who will be playing the next event of the Grand Chess Tour, starting in just five days: the SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz. Seven of the 10 players will travel from Bucharest to Zagreb, where GMs Magnus Carlsen, Vidit Gujrathi, and Ivan Saric will be the wildcards replacing Abdusattorov, Deac, and Praggnanandhaa. (This event starts Wednesday, July 10, at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 18:30 p.m. IST and will be covered daily here on Chess.com.)

After a disappointing event in Bucharest, So showed resilience in his attitude toward this next tournament as he quoted Vivien Leigh (playing Scarlett O'Hara) in the final scene of that classic 1939 movie: "Tomorrow is another day with new hope, as they say in the very famous movie Gone with the Wind. Tomorrow is another day, tomorrow will be better and as long as I have life I have hope."

The 2024 Superbet Chess Classic Romania was the second leg of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour. The event was a 10-player round-robin with classical time control (120 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment per move). The tournament ran June 26-July 5 and featured a $350,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

• Round 8: Caruana Keeps Slim Lead Ahead Of Final Round
• Round 7: Caruana Misses Chance To Increase Lead In Bucharest
• Round 6: Firouzja Beats So; Joins Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa In 2nd Place
• Round 5: Missed Chances Mark Another Day Of Draws In Bucharest
• Round 4: Caruana Sole Leader, Back To World #2 After Beating Deac
• Round 3: Vachier-Lagrave, Praggnanandhaa Let Opponents Off The Hook On Day of Draws
• Round 2: Firouzja Bounces Back, Caruana Spoils Win In Bucharest
• Round 1: Caruana, Gukesh Score In Opening Round Of Superbet Chess Classic Romania