Gukesh loses to Vachier-Lagrave in Superbet Classic

Bucharest, Romania: World Champion D Gukesh suffered a shocking loss against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the fourth round of the Superbet Classic here.

Gukesh, the top seed and a huge favourite to win the tournament, was forced to keep looking for an elusive first victory in the event with five rounds still remaining in the $350000 prize money tournament.

On a day when R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with local hopeful Deac Bogdan-Daniel, Levon Aronian of United States was the only other winner scoring his first win at the expense of Duda Jan Krzysztof of Poland.

In other games of the day, Fabiano Caruana of United States played out a draw with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, while Iranian-turned-French Firouzja Alireza signed peace with American Wesley So.

Caruana, Pragg and Vachier-Lagrave shared the lead on 2.5 points from the first four rounds and they are followed by Alireza, Wesley, Aronian and Deac on two points apiece.

Gukesh is currently sharing the 8th spot on 1.5 points along with Abdusattorov and Duda.

It was the Scotch opening that proved to be a hurdle in Gukesh’s quest as black. The Indian went for a less popular variation and even though the position looked level in the ensuing middle game Gukesh was never really out of the muddy waters.

Vachier-Lagrave used his chances to significantly weaken Gukesh’s guard on the queen side by way of loose pawns and then the game suddenly ended abruptly as Gukesh realized the weaknesses were undefendable. It was all over in a mere 31 moves.

Praggnanandhaa did not get any chance as Deac was probably happy with a draw as white. The pieces got exchanged at regular intervals and the game was a bit boring for the chess buffs who were looking at a full-blown battle. Pragg could do little and drew in 35 moves.

Results round 4: Deac Bogdan Daniel (Rou, 2) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2.5) beat D Gukesh (Ind, 1.5); Duda Jan Krzysztof (pol, 1.5) lost to Levon Aronian (Usa, 2); Firouzja Alireza (Fra, 2) drew with Wesley So (Usa, 2); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 1.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 2.5).