Romania’s two representatives, Richard Rapport and Bogdan Deac, ended in draws on Monday in the third round of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2023, the first stage of the Grand Chess Tour 2023, hosted by the Grand Hotel Bucharest, according to the tournament’s Facebook page, write Agerpres.
Richard Rapport (aged 27), ranked 13th in the world, finished tied with Iranian-born Frenchman Alireza Firouzja, the Grand Chess Tour 2022 winner, while Deac (aged 21), ranked 38th in the world, drew with Polish Jan Krzysztof Duda, the FIDE World Cup 2021 winner.
The only win of the round went to US Fabiano Caruana, ranked 7th in the world, in a duel with French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who ranks 14th in the world, after only 23 moves.
In a replay of the recent World Championship final, Chinese world champion Ding Liren drew with Russia’s Ian Nepomniaci. The US Wesley So and Dutch Anish Giri also ended in a draw.
So, Nepomniasci, Rapport and Caruana have 2 points each, Giri and Ding have 1.5 points each, Vachier-Lagrave, Firouzja, Deac and Duda have 1 point each.
The Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2023 tournament, the first stage of the Grand Chess Tour 2023, takes place at the Grand Bucharest Hotel, Ronda hall, between 6 and 15 May, with a rest day on 11 May, with total prizes of 350,000 USD.
