Superbet Classic R4: MVL joins Caruana and Praggnanandhaa at the top
R Praggnanandhaa drew against Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) to maintain his lead at Grand Chess Tour Superbet Chess Classic 2025. Fabiano Caruana (USA) had an uneventful draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). In a battle of World Champions, World Blitz 2021 champion, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave prevailed over the reigning World Champion, D Gukesh. Thus, MVL joined Caruana and Praggnanandhaa in the lead 2.5/4. Levon Aronian (USA) scored the only other win of the round against Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) who played uncharacteristically passive. Round 5 starts today from 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
Two decisive games for the fourth consecutive round
The first four rounds when two decisive games in each round. The point range between all players is between 1.5 and 2.5. It certainly shows that the tournament is a closely fought event among the strong top players.
Bogdan-Daniel - Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5
R Praggnanandhaa (2758) drew against Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU, 2668) last year at the very same event. This time also the outcome was the same, only the colors were reversed.
Vachier-Lagrave - Gukesh: 1-0
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723) played two Classical rated games against D Gukesh (2787), before this one. Both ended in draws. However, this time the World Blitz 2021 Champion got the better of the reigning World Champion.
22...c5? turned out to be a crucial positional mistake by Black. 22...Rab8 is what Black needed to play 23.dxc6 bxc6 24.Qc3 Bc5 25.Ra4 Qc7 26.a3 Ra7 27.Bf4 White kept improving his pieces whereas Black could not do much due to the lack of space and harmony among the pieces Qb6 28.Nb3 a5 29.Nxc5 Qxc5 30.Qxc5 dxc5 31.Re1 and White won as Black is going to lose his queenside pawns.
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Schedule and Format
Superbet Chess Classic will have one round per day from 7th to 16th April. Rest day is on Monday 12th April. Each round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST, except the last round which starts at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control will be 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Prize
The total prize fund for each Classical event is US$ 350000. The top three prizes are US$ 100000, $65000 and $48000.
Round 4 results
| Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | USA | 2776 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | ½ - ½ | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2771 | 7 | |||
| 2 | 2 | FRA | 2757 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | ½ - ½ | GM | So, Wesley | USA | 2751 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 8 | ROU | 2668 | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | ½ - ½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2758 | 6 | |||
| 4 | 9 | FRA | 2723 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 1 - 0 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2787 | 5 | |||
| 5 | 1 | POL | 2739 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 0 - 1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2747 | 4 |
Standings after Round 4
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2723 | 2,5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4,50 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2758 | 2,5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4,50 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2776 | 2,5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4,75 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | So, Wesley | USA | 2751 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3,75 | |
| 5 | 8 | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | ROU | 2668 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4,00 | |
| 6 | 4 | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2747 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3,50 | |
| 7 | 2 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | FRA | 2757 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4,25 | |
| 8 | 7 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2771 | 1,5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3,00 | |
| 9 | 5 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2787 | 1,5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3,00 | |
| 10 | 1 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2739 | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3,25 |
Round 5 pairings
| Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | USA | 2747 | GM | Aronian, Levon | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | FRA | 2757 | 2 | ||||
| 2 | 6 | IND | 2758 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2723 | 9 | ||||
| 3 | 5 | IND | 2787 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2739 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | 7 | UZB | 2771 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | ROU | 2668 | 8 | ||||
| 5 | 3 | USA | 2751 | GM | So, Wesley | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2776 | 10 |
