2021 Superbet Chess Classic – Day 1 Recap
All five games were drawn today as the 2021 Grand Chess Tour kicked off with its first event of the year, the 2021 Superbet Chess Classic, a 10-player classical round-robin taking place in Bucharest, Romania. While three of the games were drawn after just an hour of play, all eyes were on local favourite GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac, who missed a serious chance to upset one of the tournament favourites, GM Anish Giri. Garry Kasparov makes the first move of the game Radjabov – Caruana Grischuk – Vachier-Lagrave A theoretical Grunfeld in which MVL was able to rely on his home preparation to equalize comfortably and draw the game without any particular issues. After the game, Grischuk admitted, “there is nothing to analyze, it’s just a draw”. Lupulescu – Aronian Making his Grand Chess Tour debut, the Romanian No. 1 GM Constantin Lupulescu essayed a solid line (4.Qc2) against Aronian’s Nimzo-Indian defence. Despite facing a somewhat rare move in 18.Qe3, Aronian was able to neutralize White’s pressure and the game soon ended in a repetition. Radjabov – Caruana Another relatively quick draw took place in this match-up, as Radjabov, possibly surprised by Caruana’s use of the Ragozin Defense, opted for an ultra-drawish line, resulting in another repetition to end the game peacefully. Mamedyarov – So World No. 8 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov chose the solid but testing Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, opting for a queenless middlegame against Wesley So. Despite attempts from both sides, neither player was able to pose any particular problems for the opponent, and the game was drawn shortly after the time control. Deac – Giri In what was undoubtedly the game of the day, local hero GM Deac (who replaced Richard Rapport at the last moment) chose the sharp 5.Bg5 variation against Anish Giri’s Semi-Slav Defense, from where the players quickly reached a complex position with opposite sides castling. After a promising exchange sacrifice, Giri almost immediately faltered, allowing his opponent’s rooks to dominate the center. But at the critical moment, Deac slipped, missing a powerful continuation (29.Re5) and instead allowed his opponent to escape into a drawish endgame. The game was then drawn soon thereafter. The coverage of the 2021 Superbet Chess Classic continues tomorrow, June 6, at 7:00 AM CDT with live comments by GMs Alejandro Ramirez, Yasser Seirawan, and Maurice Ashley on grandchesstour.org/live. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo: Lennart Ootes Official website: grandchesstour.org/
Gulnar Mammadova wins Qualifier VI
IM Gulnar Mammadova (AZE) defeated WIM Ashritha Eswaran (USA) to win Qualifier VI and move on to the main event of the 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship. The Qualifier VI was a 13-round Swiss tournament (3+1 time control), with the top eight finishers advancing to the knockout playoff stage. In the semifinals, Ashritha Eswaran whitewashed Darya Belenkaya (RUS), whereas Gulnar Mammadova and Monica Socko (POL) exchanged blows and decided the winner in the sudden death game. The newly-minted Azerbaijani Women’s Champion won this critical encounter and advanced to the final. After an eventful draw in the first game of the final Gulnar prevailed in the second encounter with black pieces and deservedly earned her spot in the 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship. Qualifier VII will start on Sunday, June 6, at 10 a.m. Pacific / 19:00 Central Europe and will be followed by Qualifier VIII. The FIDE Chess.com 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship is an online competition for titled female players. The qualifiers for the event will happen from May 28-June 6, while the main event runs from June 10 to July 3. Players will battle for their share of a total prize fund of $66,000. One player from each playoff qualifier will move on to the main event. There they will be joined by eight invited players: GM Humpy Koneru (IND), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS), GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR), GM Irina Krush (USA), GM Kateryna Lagno (RUS), GM Lei Tingjie (CHN). Fans can follow the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship by watching the live broadcast with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com’s Twitch channel. They will also be able to enjoy the event through Chess.com’s Events page (https://www.chess.com/events). More info and a full schedule of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship can be found here.
Nana Dzagnidze wins Qualifier V
GM Nana Dzagnidze, fresh from FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Gibraltar, became the fifth player to qualify for the main event of the 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship after defeating IM Lilit Mkrtchian in the playoffs final. The Qualifier V was a 9-round Swiss tournament (5+1 time control), with the top eight finishers advancing to the knockout playoff stage. In the semifinals, Nana Dzagnidze took on Alicija Sliwicka whereas Lilit Mkrtchian squared off with another participant of the event in Gibraltar Elisabeth Paehtz. Nana played her match with great confidence and advanced to the final after beating Alicija in both games. In the second extremely tense semifinal Lilit won on-demand with black pieces after losing the first game and then prevailed in the Armageddon when Elisabeth mouse-slipped in a drawn position. The final was a close affair. The opponents the first game after exhausting all the resources. Mkrtchian obtained a promising position in the second encounter end even won a pawn but then the unthinkable happened – she made a terrible blinder and capitulated immediately. The next qualifier will be on Saturday, June 5 starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time/18:00 Central European Time. The FIDE Chess.com 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship is an online competition for titled female players. The qualifiers for the event will happen from May 28-June 6, while the main event runs from June 10 to July 3. Players will battle for their share of a total prize fund of $66,000. One player from each playoff qualifier will move on to the main event. There they will be joined by eight invited players: GM Humpy Koneru (IND), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS), GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR), GM Irina Krush (USA), GM Kateryna Lagno (RUS), GM Lei Tingjie (CHN). Fans can follow the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship by watching the live broadcast with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com’s Twitch channel. They will also be able to enjoy the event through Chess.com’s Events page (https://www.chess.com/events). More info and a full schedule of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship can be found here.