Fabiano Caruana edged out a quartet of elite rivals by half a point in the Superbet Classic at Bucharest, as the US champion added to his long list of international victories. The first stage of the Grand Chess Tour was a low scoring tournament, where the 30-year-old won two games and drew seven.
It was a subdued performance compared to Caruana’s youthful peak at the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, where he won seven games in a row and recorded a 3098 rating result, which is still the best in history at elite level. The 30-year-old was never under pressure, and missed winning chances against his main rival, Alireza Firouzja, before and even just after the move 40 time control. Firouzja said he would have been losing after 41 Rc7! instead of 41 Nc4?
