Despite a quiet start to the round with two short draws, the action quickly heated up as Aronian secured an edge against Caruana and Giri looked to be on the initiative against Lupulescu. Aronian’s advantage was eventually liquidated, while Giri ended up overpressing the attack, and soon blundered into a vicious counterattack from the Romanian No 1.
After three rounds, Caruana and Deac remain tied for first with 2.0/3, with six rounds left to play.
Standings after Round 3
Check out the full replay of live coverage from the day here. The time control for the event is 90/40, SD 30, with a 30-second increment for both sides starting from move one.
Radjabov - Vachier-Lagrave
In a repeat of Grischuk - Vachier-Lagrave from Round 1, Radjabov utilized the same drawish line in the 8.Rb1 Grunfeld to force a draw by repetition against MVL. This caused some dissatisfaction among fans, though it was mentioned on the broadcast that Radjabov was not feeling well during today’s round.
World No. 10 Teimour Radjabov | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes
Grischuk - So
A rare move (14.g5) by Grischuk put Wesley So under some pressure in the Berlin Endgame, but So kept his cool and found a precise path to equalize. Having no advantage, Grischuk repeated moves, and the game was soon drawn.
Alexander Grischuk has had a slow start as well, with three draws so far. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes
Aronian - Caruana
Aronian was able to outplay Caruana in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, securing a strategic advantage thanks to his powerful bishop on d5. Although according to Caruana his own position was “sad”, he was able to slowly neutralize White’s pressure with correct exchanges, eventually trading down into a drawn queen and rook endgame.
Fabiano Caruana was under pressure, but managed to stabilize his position. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes
Deac - Mamedyarov
A solid game for the Romanian junior, who held a bit of an edge in an endgame arising from the Catalan, with a slightly superior bishop against Mamedyarov’s knight. However Mamedyarov defended well and didn’t give any chances to Deac, who notably defeated MVL the day before. The game was drawn shortly after the first time control.
The surprise of the tournament, 19-year-old GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac, remains tied for first after three rounds. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes
Lupulescu - Giri
In the only decisive game of the day, it was at first Anish Giri who was playing for the advantage in the middlegame, having given up the bishop pair in exchange for good control over the central light squares. While Giri’s attack looked promising, Lupulescu was able to defend with high accuracy, not giving Anish any chances on the kingside. After some exchanges, it was Giri who ended up worse, with his heavy pieces misplaced and unprepared for White’s play in the center. A further blunder in time-trouble gave Lupulescu a golden opportunity for a decisive attack against Black’s king, which he quickly pounced on, winning the game.
After 32. Re7! Qd4, Lupulescu soon played 33.Re8!, with forced mate against Black’s king
After losing to Caruana yesterday, Romanian No 1. GM Constantin Lupulescu seized his chance to upset Giri today. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes
Pairings for Round 4
Our coverage of the 2021 Superbet Chess Classic continues tomorrow, June 8, at 7:00 AM CDT with live coverage from GMs Alejandro Ramirez, Yasser Seirawan, and Maurice Ashley on grandchesstour.org/live.