RRI Sports Club – Chess tournament in Bucharest

Over May 4-16, Bucharest plays host to the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2023, one of the msot prestigious chess tournaments organized at world level

Ștefan Baciu, 10.05.2023, 13:45

10 of the world’s top players have
arrived in the Romanian capital, including the new world champion, China’s Ding
Liren. Two of them represent Romania – Richard Rapport, world no. 13, a chess
player born in 1996 in Hungary who last year chose to represent Romania, and
Bogdan Deac, world no. 38, a 21-year promising player.

The Superbet Chess Classic is the
first stage in the Grand Chess Tour, a competition created in 2015 which has
been held every year with the exception of 2020, the year of the COVID
pandemic. The circuit is made up of several classic, rapid and blitz chess
tournaments. The legendary player Garry Kasparov inspired the setup of Grand
Chess Tour, contributing to the development and consolidation of this tour,
which starting 2019 has included the tournament in Romania. Attending the
opening ceremony, Garry Kasparov referred to the evolution of this tournament.

I expect the competition to get
better every year, players to put up performances to match the scale of this
event. Whenever I visit Bucharest, I feel great because I understand this is
where chess is treated with respect and honor. It’s fantastic to have to best
players of the world in this Grand Chess Tour, such as Ding Liren, the new
world champion, or Nepomniachtchi. The
two have just competed for the world title. Magnus Carlsen will also take part
in two of the stages, and even the former world champ, Vishavanathan Anand, so
we have quite a collection of world champions. That doesn’t make all the
other players any less brilliant. Therefore, the Grand Chess Tour has now
become a professional network attracting the best players in the world. It is
very important for world-class chess to have an organization to match its
quality.

Taking
part in the tournament in Bucharest will be Ding Liren of China, Ian Nepomniachtchi who will compete under the flag of the
International Chess Federation after Russia was suspended from chess competitions, as well as Alireza Firouzja,
world no. 4, an Iranian-born French player. Other top players include Anish
Giri of the Netherlands, world no. 6, Fabiano Caruana of the USA, world no. 7,
as well as Wesley SO, also of the USA. Other topc players include Richard
Rapport representing Romania, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, world no. 14,
the winner of last year’s edition, Jan Krzysztof Duda of Poland, world no. 24
and Bogdan Deac, world no. 38. Total prizes stand at $350 thousand. (VP)