Radio Romania International Sports Club

One of the world's strongest chess tournaments, underway in Bucharest

Eugen Nasta, 26.06.2024, 13:45

One of the world’s strongest chess tournaments, the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2024, is underway in our country these days, actually over June 25 and July 5th.

The tournament is the second stage as part of the Grand Chess Tour circuit, initiated in 2015 and staged one year after the next ever since, save for 2020, the year of the pandemic breakout.
The circuit is made of several tournaments, of classic chess, speedy chess and blitz. Chess legend Garry Kasparov is the one who inspired the creation of the Grand Chess Tour also contributing to the development and the strengthening of this tournaments circuit worldwide which, beginning 2019 , also had a stage in Romania.

Attending the opening ceremony were leading names of Romanian sports, among whom many-time world champion and Olympic medalist, fencer Ana Maria Brinza. Joining Ana Maria Brinza were former international footballers Ilie Dumitrescu and Florin Radu Raducioiu.

Also attending the opening ceremony of the super tournament in Bucharest was the Indian Vishvanathan Anand, a former world champion and current president of the International Chess federation, FIDE, who said the following:

“It’s great to be back in Romania and I want to congratulate the Grand Chess Tour and the Superbet Foundation for putting together an excellent tournament. As a chess fan I can assure you that this is a very, very exciting thing that they assembled for this year and we’re all really looking forward to someone who gains.

I know that the Superbet Foundation is working on a theme, Uniting Minds, Uniting Sports, Uniting People and this is a particularly good initiative this year when we have both the Chess Olympics and the Paris Olympics.

I like to welcome our colleagues from other sports, sporting legends, chess players try ever more sports in order to stay competitive in chess and I hope some of you will find that playing chess helps you stay ahead of your opponents in whatever field you’re working in.”

Coming to Bucharest are 10 of the world’s best chess players, among whom the world’s number 6 player, and the recent winner of the Candidates Tournament, the Indian Gukesh Dommaraju. For the world title confrontation, Dommaraiu this year goes against holder Ding Liren of China.

Proving their mettle in the Bucharest tournament are the world’s number two chess player, Fabiano Caruana, the winner of the Grand Chess Tour circuit in 2023 şi the world’s number 9 player, Wesley So, both of the US, the world’s number 4 player, Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, the world’s 5th player, the leader of the team of Uzbekhistan, and the current Olympic champion, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the Dutch Anish Giri, the world’s number 15 player, the representatives of France, the world’s number 15 tennis player and the winner of Grand Chess Tour 2022, Alireza Firouzja and Maxine Vachier-Lagrave, the world’s number 20 player as well as the Indian Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, the world’s number 14 player.

Representing Romania is 23-year-old grand master Bogdan Deac, 50th-placed according to world rankings.

For each game the players are granted two hours as thinking time, added to which are 30 seconds for each move they make. According to the tournament’ s regulations, the draw proposals are forbidden. The Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest has 350,000 USD in prize money all told. The winner will receive 100,000 USD. After the Bucharest tournament, the Grand Chess Tour continues with a tournament staged in Zagreb. The tournament’s last two stages are scheduled in Saint Louis, the United States.