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Superbet Classic 2023 R8: Duda beats Firouzja, helps Caruana regain sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/05/2023

Jan-Krzysztof Duda has achieved a lot of things. One thing he hadn't done yet was to beat Alireza Firouzja in a Classical rated game. That changed yesterday. The current world no.2 suffered his second loss of the event when he once again went wrong in the endgame. Time and again, the area which has proved to be Firouzja's recurring weakness in any format of the game is endgame. Once he improves that area, he can be the next World Cup winner as that is a little over two months away. This draw helped Fabiano Caruana emerge as the sole leader once again. He drew against Anish Giri in 26 moves. Final Round 9 starts today from 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Endgame is Firouzja's Achilles heel

The penultimate round witnessed four draws. All of them were over in 30 moves or less. Fabiano Caruana (USA) needs to beat Richard Rapport (ROU) in the final round to become a clear champion. He is followed by four players at 4.5/8. They are - Alireza Firouzja (FRA), Wesley So (USA), Anish Giri (NED) and Richard Rapport.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda scored his first Classical victory over Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Duda - Firouzja: 1-0

Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL, 2724) has never beaten Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2785) in a Classical game. Both of their games at the Candidates 2022 ended in draws. Their last decisive game was in 83rd Tata Steel Masters in 2021.

Position after 30...Ba4?

30...Ba4? does no good for Black. The bishop can neither stop the pawn promotion, nor it does anything else useful. 30...Kg7 would have kept the fight going. 31.a6 Bb5 32.Ng5 Bxa6 33.Nxe6+ Ke7 34.Ng5 f6 35.Nh7 and Black loses another pawn, eventually the game too.

Alireza Firouzja suffered his second loss of the event | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) - Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

There was no surprise in the result between Ding Liren (CHN) and Richard Rapport (ROU) | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Fabiano Caruana (USA) - Anish Giri (NED): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
Caruana: Anish did everything... | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
Giri: All the mocking over the years  | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Ian Nepomniachtchi - Wesley So (USA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
Victor Bologan: It's more about... | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
Replay Round 8 Live Commentary and analysis by GMs Varuzhan Akobian, Cristian Chirila, Yasser Seirawan, and IM Nazi Paikidze | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Duda defeated Firouzja | Photo: Grand Chess Tour

Details

Standings after Round 8

Duda beating Frouzja helped Caruana to become the sole leader | Photo: Grand Chess Tour

Details

Prize

The total prize fund for each of the classical event is US$ 350000 with the first prize being US$ 100000.

Schedule

2023 Superbet Chess Classic schedule | Photo: Grand  Chess Tour

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations