Vachier-Lagrave Beats World Champion Gukesh, Joins Shared Lead

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave joined the three-way tie for first, with GMs Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, in the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2025 after round four. He won a surprisingly one-sided game against World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in 31 moves.

GM Levon Aronian won the other decisive game, with Black, against GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda to jump from last place to a half-point behind the leaders. GM Alireza Firouzja was winning against GM Wesley So but blundered a full exchange in one move—so he was lucky to even escape with a draw. The remaining two games,  Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac vs. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, were quieter affairs that ended in draws.

Round five is on Sunday, May 11, starting at 8:30 a.m. ET / 14:30 CET / 6:00 p.m. IST.

All four rounds of the tournament so far have featured two decisive results on each day, and in every round there have been missed opportunities. The biggest miss on Saturday was Firouzja's.

Round 4 Results

We are just about at the halfway point and, still, every player has a chance to win the tournament. The frontrunners are, of course, Caruana, Vachier-Lagrave, and Praggnanandhaa. 

Standings After Round 4

Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 Gukesh

Vachier-Lagrave's victory was, one can say, an instance of poetic justice. The French number-two lost his first game, won his second, and was about to win his third against Aronian when he let it slip. Earning the full point in round four made up for Friday's flub.

He explained that he'd not been feeling well since the start of the tournament but is better: "I was not feeling frustrated yesterday; I was just not feeling well. I've been struggling since the beginning of the event. Today I'm feeling better."

He felt he won the opening battle, and by 8.Be3 he said, "Here I thought I'm slightly better and just playing a game." The engine points out that Gukesh probably should have "waited" more patiently in a worse position, and his attempts to lash out backfired. The first example of this is 12...f5 (MVL said 12...h5 would be a slightly worse position), and the more extreme instance is 22...c5?, after which Vachier-Lagrave said, "This is just game over."

The French GM's technique was ruthless, which is why it looked like such a one-sided game. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes it below, and he incorporates comments made by GM Garry Kasparov on the broadcast.

Asked for his opinion about the tournament, Vachier-Lagrave was elated: "If you had asked me after the first round, not good, but now what can I say, it's going great!"

Duda 0-1 Aronian

After a rough first three rounds, Aronian finally pulled off his first win. He seemed to surprise himself, saying after he'd played the crushing 22...f3!, "I thought I might even win this one! What is happening to me!"

The opening was a deep theoretical duel in the Italian, and Aronian shocked the commentators when he committed an inaccuracy on move 13. In fact, he knew 13...Bg5 was the move, but intentionally avoided it, saying: "I thought this is very complicated business. And then I thought to myself, what if I just play chess?"

 I thought to myself, what if I just play chess?

—Levon Aronian

Curiously, Kasparov mentioned in the commentary that Aronian’s choice of 13…Nxd3 and the follow-up of 14...c5 are in an old file, something he'd analyzed decades ago.

After the queen trade, Black was equal, and after 18...Ned1?! ("That's way too crazy," said Aronian) Black was already better. He went on to win an outstanding game with the initiative, with 20...Rf6! being a star rook lift to up the pressure. 

Aronian could have suffered his second loss against Vachier-Lagrave on Friday, but drew, and now with a win he's in the chasing pack. Of his tournament, he said, "So far it's kind of turbulent in the openings, but I cannot say I'm playing too badly. I'm trying, but you know, I'm by far the oldest participant. Half of the tournament could be my children!"

Half of the tournament could be my children!

—Levon Aronian

Firouzja ½-½ So

No one's kicking themselves harder than Firouzja after a one-move blunder. The French number-one managed to outplay So in a Berlin Defense, after bravely but predictably declining a threefold repetition with 16.cxd4?!. It paid off, however, as his attack started gaining steam in a few moves.

The culminating moment was on move 33 in the endgame. Firouzja had to put it away with 33.f4!, strictly the only move to win, though it required finding a few more only moves. Instead, 33.Rce2? dropped a full exchange—as Svidler explained, "The idea is very sensible; it's just that it blunders an exchange in one move." Fortunately for him, Firouzja still had a draw in the pocket.

The idea is very sensible; it's just that it blunders an exchange in one move.

—Peter Svidler

Caruana ½-½ Abdusattorov

Neither player could be too upset with the half-point. Caruana remains tied in first, while Abdusattorov stopped the bleeding, so to speak, after Friday's loss. The Uzbek GM explained, "In general, I'm satisfied with my result today after yesterday's tough game."

In general, I'm satisfied with my result today after yesterday's tough game.

—Nodirbek Abdusattorov

The opening strategy was to play it safe: "I just wanted to play it solid.... I wanted to make sure that he would not get an opening advantage, and so I prepared some surprise for him in the Catalan." In fact, he revealed that his move 9...h6 (almost a novelty) is something he prepared for Tata Steel Chess 2025. 

Caruana achieved some space on the queenside with a pawn reaching a5, but no advantage to write home about. The players settled on a repetition of three moves that started on move 19.

Deac ½-½ Praggnanandhaa

This game never quite got off the ground. In a Ragozin Queen's Gambit Declined, the last critical moment was on move eight. Instead, 8.exd4, accepting an isolated pawn, was the way to create an imbalance. But the move played in the game, 8.Nxd5, was essentially a draw offer, and the players swapped off their pieces.

As we reach the halfway point, we have several critical matchups. Praggnanandhaa vs. Vachier-Lagrave is a clash of two leaders, while Caruana will have the black pieces against So. 

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.

Previous coverage:

• Round 3: Caruana, Praggnanandhaa Lead After Scoring 1st Wins
• Round 2: Vachier-Lagrave, Deac Bounce Back From Losses
• Round 1: Firouzja Cracks MVL's French Defense, Leads With Wesley So