Both players who lost the previous day, GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Bogdan-Daniel Deac, bounced back with wins in the two decisive games of round two in the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2025. Deac scored his first white win in a Grand Chess Tour event when he outplayed GM Levon Aronian, while Vachier-Lagrave won a pawn-up endgame against GM Wesley So that should have been defensible.

Again, we had three draws, but they were far from dull. The spiciest was GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs. GM Alireza Firouzja, where Firouzja sought every way to keep the game going even when playing on a minute. GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu left popular theory as early as move five, while GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju was a fierce battle in the Italian, also leaving well-known paths on move nine.

Firouzja is in the lead by a half-point, with seven players tied behind him. Only Aronian is in last, with 0.5/2. Round three is on Friday, May 9, starting at 8:30 a.m. ET / 14:30 CET / 6:00 p.m. IST.

Vachier-Lagrave and Deac won the two games to catch up to the pack trailing Firouzja.

Round 2 Results


The standings remain close, with a comeback by Aronian still not out of the question.

Standings After Round 2


Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.

Deac 1-0 Aronian

It was a good day for the Romanian number-one who scored his first white win in the Grand Chess Tour on home soil. He told GM Cristian Chirila he wanted to get “a strategical game,” and that’s what he got: long maneuvering in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.


Deac put on a positional masterclass. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.

In the arising hanging pawns structure, Aronian’s critical mistake was the natural-looking 29…Nd7?, in a position that seemed to be somewhat innocuous. All it took was this one mistake and Deac dished out the punishment: 30.b4!, after which Aronian was clearly much worse. 

“Lev is in significant trouble!” says Peter Svidler after Deac finds the best move, 30.b4!.https://t.co/DsfhxaHXQi#GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/W8k9LT35Uc


— chess24 (@chess24com) May 8, 2025

The conversion was steady and more or less accurate until the rook endgame, where the Armenian-American GM had his chances to defend. The biggest opportunity was after Deac’s 64.Ke4? (Deac said his choice was “some sort of premove” that threw away the win). Aronian didn’t capitalize, however, and the local hero was back on track to winning by finding several only moves.

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.

How does Deac assess the tournament so far? Cautiously, he said: “Until right now, good, but we’ll see.”


There’s still time for Aronian to catch up as well. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.

Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 So

So equalized comfortably in a line of the Open Ruy Lopez that Svidler explained used to be considered better for White. But, as engines have gotten stronger, they have shown that lines once considered to be dubious are fully playable.

The key was to play dynamically with the bishop pair, and So did just that; he sacrificed a pawn but got an endgame that should be equal. Vachier-Lagrave said, “This endgame, it should be a comfortable draw for him… but as it turns out it’s not that easy. I managed to find some ways of putting pressure.”

This endgame, it should be a comfortable draw for him… but as it turns out it’s not that easy.

—Maxime Vachier-Lagrave


A convincing resurgence from the Frenchman with three names. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.

Duda ½-½ Firouzja

Firouzja achieved a winning position against the Polish number-one, but realizing the advantage was not so easy in practice. He found the right first move, 27…f4!, but after 28.exf4 Ree8! was the only winning move, and that one he missed. From there, Duda confused the situation with his active and annoying queen.


A great fight that showed the strengths of both players. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.

What was most notable about this game was that Firouzja, who was under five minutes by move 30 (against 20), kept declining ways to force a draw. As Svidler explained, “We are watching the proceeds of ambition. He could have made a draw by force on a number of moves in a row, when he was on less than a minute, in serious time trouble, but it’s just not the way this generation plays.”

He could have made a draw by force on a number of moves in a row… but it’s just not the way this generation plays.

—Peter Svidler

Abdusattorov ½-½ Gukesh

Gukesh was the first to surprise with 9…Bg4, a move that surprised his opponent as well as the commentators. The critical move to punish it was 10.Qb3, as Abdusattorov pointed out himself, but he didn’t want to find out what the world champion had prepared—so we don’t get to either.


A matchup we expect to see many more times over the coming years. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.

From there, Abdusattorov didn’t like his position because Black got in the maneuver …Ne7-g6 without ever having to play …g5. “I think in the opening he a little bit tricked me with the move order,” explained the Uzbek number-one. Despite not liking his position, Abdusattorov locked in and fended off any disaster. Much later in the middlegame, 24…Ng1! was a fantastic positional move to eliminate Black’s strongest minor piece, the knight on f4.

Caruana ½-½ Praggnanandhaa

The players deviated early from popular theory, though GM Viswanathan Anand mentioned he’d employed Praggnanandhaa’s opening himself—”I made a living from this six or seven years back. It was my main defense to the English,” he said. When Chirila asked him if he had “anything to do with” Praggnanandhaa’s opening preparation, Anand didn’t quite answer yes or no: “I have played a couple of games with the bishop on a7… I like the position,” he responded.


Caruana observes from a better angle. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.

First it was Caruana who maybe had chances, and he had the option to sacrifice an exchange in the line starting with 14.Qc2. But after 19.b5 (“a very stupid move… right after I played it, I regretted it so much,” said Caruana), it was Black who seemed to gain the upper hand. Objectively, however, there were no major swings in the evaluation, and the game took a turn toward simplification.

About the tournament so far, Caruana called his first two rounds, “Not the most eventful games. Like, there wasn’t a moment when I was in huge danger of either winning or losing either game… it’s like two stable games.”


The tournament is still anybody’s to win. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.

In the next round, the key matchup will be the game between Firouzja and Caruana. The tournament leader may look to extend his lead with the white pieces, while Caruana has yet to score his first win.

How to rewatch?

The 2025 Superbet Romania Chess Classic is the second event on the 2025 Grand Chess Tour and runs from May 7 to 16 at the Grand Hotel Bucharest in Romania. It’s a 10-player round-robin with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. The prize fund is $350,000.

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