Superbet Classic 2024 R1: D Gukesh defeats Bogdan-Daniel Deac
D Gukesh played his first Classical game at Grand Chess Tour Superbet Classic 2024 after winning FIDE Candidates a couple of months ago. He won the game against the Romania no.2 - Bogdan-Daniel Deac. However, it was not a smooth victory. In fact, at one point in the middlegame, Gukesh captured his opponent's centralized knight incorrectly. It gave his opponent a chance to gain a substantial advantage. He missed it and Gukesh went on to capitalize on his material advantage eventually. Fabiano Caruana (USA) scored the only other win of the round against Alireza Firouzja (FRA). R Praggnanandhaa had a well contested draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). It will be Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the second round. Round 2 starts today from 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Grand Chess Tour/Lennart Ootes
Caruana also scores a win
Grand Chess Tour Superbet Chess 2024 is off to a great start. The first round had two decisive games and a couple of intriguing draws.
Firouzja - Caruana: 0-1
The last two Classical encounters at 12th Norway Chess between Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2737) and Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2805) ended in draws. Firouzja got himself a better position out of the opening.
17.g5 certainly makes White's position look promising and Black seems to be slightly in trouble. 17...hxg5 18.Bxg5 instead 18.Nxg5+ Kg8 19.a4 is what White should have played to prevent Black from breaking the queenside via b5 which is what happened in the game. 18...b5 19.h4 Bg4 20.Bd1 Qd7 and Black is back. White never got the attack that he wanted and instead landed himself in an inferior queen and minor piece endgame.
34.Qf3? prompted f5 35.Qxg4 fxg4-+ only accentuated Black's advantage and he went on to win the game.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) had an exciting draw against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Gukesh - Deac: 1-0
D Gukesh (2763) faced Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU, 2680) for the first time in a Classical rated game as far as I could find. Things were not so easy for him as the World Championship Challenger made an incorrect decision in the middlegame.
What is the correct way to capture on e4? It turns out 23.Nxe4 Rxe4 24.Qxh5 was the best continuation for White. Instead, 23.Bxe4? invited trouble Qxd1 24.Rxd1 b4 25.axb4 Ba4 would have given Black a decisive advantage. Black missed his chance and played 23...Rxe4 24.Nxe4 Qxe4 25.Re1 and White eventually won the game utilizing his material advantage.
Find out Black's last opportunity to get back in the game after 40.Ra4.
Solve questions posed by IM Sagar Shah on our interactive platform at ChessRanga.
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Schedule and Format
Superbet Chess Classic will have one round played each day from 26th June to 5th July 2024. Each round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Except the last round on 5th July which will start at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. The sole rest day is on Monday 1st July. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control will be 120 minutes KO + 30 sec./move.
Prize
The total prize fund of each Classical event is the double of Rapid and Blitz events - US$ 350000.
Replay Round 1 games
Round 1 results
Standings after Round 1
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2805 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | So, Wesley | 2757 | 6 | ||
| 2 | 7 | 2680 | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | GM | Giri, Anish | 2745 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 8 | 2770 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | GM | Gukesh, Dommaraju | 2763 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 9 | 2747 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, Rameshbabu | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2732 | 3 | ||
| 5 | 1 | 2737 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2766 | 2 |
