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?
As it was, Firouzja proved the most significant gainer from the event. The Iran-born 19-year-old began rustily following his break to follow an alternative career in fashion design, then surged to lead before dropping back. Only 12 of the 45 games at Bucharest were decisive, and Firouzja was involved in five of them. He also jumped to No 2 in the live ratings.
Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi competed in Bucharest just a week after their bruising world title match in Kazakhstan, and fatigue badly affected their results. Ding even got within one game of becoming the first reigning world champion to finish last in a tournament, only escaping the bottom with a good final-round win against the Romanian wildcard Bogdan Deac.
On Sunday the action moves to the Superbet Rapid and Blitz at Warsaw and the return of the world No 1 and now ex-world champion, Magnus Carlsen. Recently, Carlsen has been competing mainly at the poker table, but he also kept in shape for chess last week with an impressive victory in Chess.com’s Titled Tuesday.
The Norwegian, 32, has abandoned his classical title, but has several other targets to attack or defend. He is the world champion in rapid and blitz so a strong performance is expected in Warsaw. There will be no showdown with Ding, however, as the classical world champion has withdrawn, citing fatigue after his gruelling marathon in Astana and his disappointing result in Bucharest.
One week further on, and on Tuesday 30 May Carlsen will play his first classical game since January, when he is top seed at the traditional Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger. The Stavanger event actually starts a day earlier, when a blitz tournament decides the pairings.
Stavanger will be a serious test for Carlsen. His nine opponents include the US trio of Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So; Anish Giri, who won at Wijk aan Zee in January defeating Carlsen en route; and a trio of ambitious teenagers. Firouzja, 19, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 18, and Dommaraju Gukesh, 16, all have outstanding results which make them serious future contenders for the world crown.
There will be another incentive for Carlsen on his home turf, pointed out by the Norwegian journalist Tarjei Svensen, who closely follows Carlsen’s career. The gap on the live ratings between Carlsen and the No 2, Firouzja, is 67 points. His largest gap on an official list is 74 points, so a strong result in Stavanger could set a new record. This modest target is much more realistic than the Everest of a 2900 rating, which Carlsen has abandoned as too difficult.
Sue Maroroa Jones, who died tragically at age 32 on 11 May, shortly after giving birth to her second child, Daniel, was the wife of GM Gawain Jones. She represented New Zealand in five Olympiads, England in one, held the WIM title, and scored 6/9 at the 2019 Reykjavik Open. A page has been set up where those who wish to do so can donate to help support her children.
3868: 1...R1h3! 2 Qe2 (other moves lose at least a rook) Qa4+! and White resigned because of 3 Rxa4 Rxa4+ 4 Kb1 Rh1+ and mates.
