Gukesh starts strong in Superbet Classic; Praggnanandhaa held

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh started off on a positive note, beating Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania in the first round of the Superbet Classic chess tournament in Bucharest, Romania.

Set to challenge reigning World Champion Ding Liren of China later this year, Gukesh got a bit lucky in the middle game as the both players missed a tactical nuance but the Indian emerged on top soon after to give his campaign a positive start in his first classical game since winning the Candidates tournament.

The other Indian in fray R Praggnanandhaa tried hard but had to settle for a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in a keenly-contested game.

The other winner of the round was Fabiano Caruana of the United States, who beat Firouzja Alireza of France, while the other two games in the 10-player round-robin tournament ended in draws.

It was a Nimzo Indian defense by Deac Bogdan-Daniel that led to a complicated middle game.

The Romanian was up to the task in finding counter-attacks and won a sacrificed pawn in the middle game. The position looked promising when Gukesh erred and allowed a tactical skirmish.

However, Bogdan-Daniel failed to spot the best move and ended up trading his rook for a minor piece. The position remained complicated but Gukesh converted it with ease.

Praggnanandhaa faced the Ruy Lopez with black against Abdusattorov and, after initial opening duel, won a pawn to reach a rook and pawns endgame.

While the position remained within the boundaries of a draw, the Indian tried hard for over sixty moves. However Abdusattorov did not give much as the two players eventually decided to split points.

Caruana was in a spot of bother in the middle game arising out of a London system but Alireza could not find the right attacking moves. The American exchanged pieces at regular intervals and his extra pawn came in handy in the ensuing queen and minor piece endgame.

In other games of the day, Dutchman Anish Giri played out a draw against American Wesley So, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France also had to sign peace against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Results after Round 1: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (IND); D Gukesh (IND) beat Deac Bogdan-Daniel (ROM); Firouzja Alireza (FRA) lost to Fabiano Caruana (USA); Anish Giri (NED) drew with Wesley So (USA).