Superbet Classic R5: Gukesh's Knight Sac almost gone wrong against Duda
For the first time at Grand Chess Tour Superbet Chess Classic 2025, all five games ended in draws. However, not all of them could have had the same outcome. The World Champion, D Gukesh sacrificed his knight in a queen, bishop and knight endgame. Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) missed his opportunity to prevent the perpetual check and the game ended in a draw. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) sacrificed an exchange in the final moments. His opponent, R Praggnanandhaa played correctly and gave no chance to his opponent. MVL, Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana (USA) maintain their lead 3/5 each. Today is the sole rest day. Round 6 starts tomorrow Tuesday 13th May from 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
Five draws
All five games of the fifth round ended in draws after the first four rounds had two decisive games in each round. The standings remained unchanged as everyone had the same score.
Praggnanandhaa - Vachier-Lagrave: 0.5-0.5
R Praggnanandhaa (2758) played three Classical rated games against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723). Three of them ended in draws and Praggnanandhaa lost one. Last year their battle at this event ended in a draw.
Black made things interesting by sacrificing an exchange 35....Rxc3+ 36.bxc3 Rxc3+ 37.Rd3 Rxc2 38.Rxd6 Nd4 39.Rb6 Bc8 40.g5 Be6 41.Rxa6 Rc3+ 42.Kd2 Rc2+ There wasn't much in the position to go on, so the players repeated moves and accepted a draw.
Gukesh - Duda: 0.5-0.5
This might come as a surprise but the World Champion, D Gukesh (2787) and FIDE World Cup 2021 winner, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL, 2739) has played only one Classical rated game against each other in February 2023 which ended in a draw.
27.Nc4 works because Black cannot take it immediately as Qxc4 28.Qe8+ Kg7 29.Be5# However, 27...Qf7 28.Qxh6 Qxc4 now White has to play accurately to ensure that he gets a draw.
43...Ke7 would have ended the perpetual check in a few moves 44.Qb7+ Kf8 48.Qa8+ Kf7 49.Qb7+ Qe7. Instead, Duda went 43...Kf7 44.Qd7+ Qe7 45.Qf5+ Qf6 46.Qd7+ the game ended in a draw by repetition.
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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 5 results
| Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | USA | 2747 | GM | Aronian, Levon | ½ - ½ | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | FRA | 2757 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 6 | IND | 2758 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | ½ - ½ | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2723 | 9 | |||
| 3 | 5 | IND | 2787 | GM | Gukesh, D | ½ - ½ | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2739 | 1 | |||
| 4 | 7 | UZB | 2771 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | ½ - ½ | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | ROU | 2668 | 8 | |||
| 5 | 3 | USA | 2751 | GM | So, Wesley | ½ - ½ | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2776 | 10 |
Standings after Round 5
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2723 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7,25 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2758 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7,25 | |
| 10 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2776 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7,25 | ||
| 4 | 8 | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | ROU | 2668 | 2,5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6,00 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | FRA | 2757 | 2,5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6,50 | |
| 6 | 3 | GM | So, Wesley | USA | 2751 | 2,5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6,25 | |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2747 | 2,5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5,75 | |
| 8 | 7 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2771 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5,00 | |
| 9 | 1 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2739 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5,00 | |
| 10 | 5 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2787 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4,75 |
Round 6 pairings
| Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | POL | 2739 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2758 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 3 | USA | 2751 | GM | So, Wesley | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2747 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | 2 | FRA | 2757 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2787 | 5 | ||||
| 4 | 10 | USA | 2776 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | ROU | 2668 | 8 | ||||
| 5 | 9 | FRA | 2723 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2771 | 7 |
