Superbet Chess Classic underway

The Grand Chess Tour, put off last year due to the pandemic, returns to action as the Superbet Chess Classic gets underway in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana headlines a formidable cast which brings together the game’s big stars and aspiring local talents.

Joining the American in the 10-player classical event are Levon Aronian (FIDE), Anish Giri (NED), Alexander Grischuk (RUS), Wesley So (USA), Shakriyar Mamedyarov (AZE), Teomour Radjabov (AZE), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), Constantin Lupulescu (ROU) and Bogdan Deac (ROU)

World champion Magnus Carlsen and his challenger Ian Nepomniachchi will not be appearing. However, the prestigious tournament will still showcase eight of the world’s top 12 and two local bets who are also eager to make their mark.

Total cash prize is $325,000 and format will be a single round robin, with time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves and 30 minutes to finish the game, plus 30 seconds increment.

The Grand Chess Tour is a series of monthly tournaments, culminating in St.Louis (USA) in August 2021. After Bucharest, the next event will be on June 17-22 in Paris, France.

Games can be followed live with commentaries at various chess websites.

* * *

Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen delivered two of the biggest pressure wins of his life, beating Wesley So in Armageddon tie-break, to capture the FTX Crypto Online Chess Cup.

The 30-year-old from Norway, who got what he bargained for, was forced to dig himself out of a one game deficit, taking the final two games to win his second consecutive tour title.

Carlsen pocketed the $60,000 top prize and locked down a grand final spot in the $1.5 million Meltwater champions tour scheduled in September in San Francisco (USA).

The world’s top 10 players and six super GMs took part in the strongest and richest online chess tournament anywhere.