GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan is quickly gaining ground on GMs Alexander Grischuk and Wesley So going into the fifth round of the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest with a score of 7.5 to So’s 8 and Grischuk’s 7.75.
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After getting off to a sleepy start, the games have started to get more interesting as well. It’s obvious that Anish Giri’s loss the other day affected him severely as he’s fallen to 8th place in the standings with a score of 5. Mamedyarov’s game and performance from Round 4 has certainly been of interest given his quick rise and challenge to the tournament’s current leaders.
[pgn initialHalfMove=65] [Event “Superbet Classic 2021”] [Site “Bucharest ROU”] [Date “2021.06.09”] [Round “5.3”] [White “Lupulescu, Constantin”] [Black “Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar”] [Result “0-1”] [WhiteTitle “GM”] [BlackTitle “GM”] [WhiteElo “2656”] [BlackElo “2770”] [ECO “A06”] [Opening “Reti opening”] [WhiteFideId “1207822”] [BlackFideId “13401319”] [EventDate “2021.06.05”] 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 e6 3. c4 Be7 4. b3 Bf6 5. Nc3 Ne7 6. Bb2 c5 7. Qc2 Nbc6 8. Na4 b6 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. cxd5 Qxd5 11. Nc3 Qh5 12. Ne4 Qg6 13. Nh4 Qh6 14. Nd6+ Kf8 15. Nxc8 Rxc8 16. g3 Rd8 17. Be2 Kg7 18. a3 Rd6 19. f4 Rhd8 20. Rd1 f5 21. Nf3 Nd5 22. O-O Kg8 23. Rb1 a5 24. Bb5 Nce7 25. Rfd1 Nf6 26. Bf1 Ng4 27. h3 Nf6 28. d3 Nc6 29. Re1 Qg7 30. Qf2 Kh8 31. Kh2 Rg8 32. Be2 Nd5 33. Bf1 e5 34. fxe5 Rg6 35. Nh4 Rxg3 36. d4 Qg5 37. Ng2 cxd4 38. exd4 Nxd4 0-1 [/pgn]
Today was a rest day for the players, but tomorrow we get back to business as So and Grischuk work to maintain their leads. But…in chess, like life, anything can happen. You can read more in-depth analysis on Chess.com or The Week in Chess.