The Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest concluded last weekend in a dramatic tiebreak between Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian, who all took wildly different paths to finish the main event on 5.5/9.
Wesley So was the tournament rock. He won two controlled games against Nepomniachtchi and Mamedyarov and otherwise never looked in danger. The other two certainly weren’t rocks, but they couldn’t decide whether to be paper or scissors. Vachier-Lagrave won two sharp battles, against Caruana and Firouzja. But when he met Aronian in round 6, it was Vachier-Lagrave who volunteered for a shredding.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave-Levon Aronian
Superbet Chess Classic, Bucharest, May 2022
The previous move, 25 Kc3-d4, placed the king on the worst possible square. Aronian cut him off with 25…Na4! This controls the flight squares on c3 and c5, so there is no proper defence to Rc8-d8 mate.
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