Romania, 15 May (H.S.):

India’s young grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa drew a hard‑fought game against France’s Alireza Firouzja in the first round of the Super Chess Classic Romania. The encounter, part of the first classical tournament of the Grand Chess Tour, was an exciting and closely contested affair.

Playing with the black pieces, Firouzja chose the Queen’s Gambit Declined in the opening. After some minor‑piece exchanges in the early phase, the game seemed to be drifting towards a draw, but Praggnanandhaa decided to complicate matters. Instead of maintaining a strong central grip, he allowed Firouzja to gain connected passed pawns on the queenside.

In the middlegame, Firouzja produced some fine moves and built steady pressure on the kingside against the Indian player. However, the position was so complex that it was difficult for either player to find the objectively best continuation.

After a mistake on the 35th move, the game entered a pawn endgame, where Praggnanandhaa, despite being a pawn down, managed to hold on for a draw. The game ended in a hard‑earned draw after 60 moves.

In other games, the encounter between France’s Maxime Vachier‑Lagrave and the Netherlands’ Anish Giri also finished in a draw. Giri had moments of advantage, but chose a safe route and agreed to a draw after 32 moves.

Romania’s Bogdan‑Daniel Deac secured an easy draw against World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov.

Meanwhile, the game between America’s Fabiano Caruana and the Netherlands’ Jorden van Foreest also ended in parity.

The fifth game of the day, played between America’s Wesley So and Germany’s Vincent Keymer, concluded in a draw after 56 moves. Thus, all matches of the opening round ended in draws.

The nine‑round tournament, being played among 10 players, offers a total prize pool of 350,000 US dollars, with the winner set to receive 100,000 US dollars.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar