Wesley So keeps share of Superbet Chess Classic lead

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov posted the lone win Wednesday night, June 9, and shared the lead with Wesley So and Alexander Grischuk in the Superbet Chess Classic at Sheraton Bucharest in Romania.

Showing his attacking prowess with the black pieces, Mamedyarov bested a time-troubled Constantin Lupulescu in 38 moves of an English Opening to gain ground as the four other matches ended in draws.

Also handling black, So split the point with wildcard Bogdan-Daniel Deac while Grischuk agreed to a truce with Teimour Radjabov to keep their distance from Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian.

Still smarting from the beating he got from So in round 4, Caruana drew with Anish Giri. Aronian was held to a standoff by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

So, Grischuk, and Mamedyarov have 3 points after five rounds, towing 2.5-pointers Radjabov, Deac, Aronian, and Caruana, the world No. 2, and tournament top seed.

At the bottom with 2 points each are Giri, Vachier-Lagrave, and Lupulescu, the five-time Romanian champion.

The over-the-board classical event serving as the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour took a break Thursday and will resume with round 6 on Friday.

According to So, he’ll use the rest day “to clear up the mind and open the second half of the tournament fresh.”

So, the reigning United States champion from the Philippines is pitted against Giri, Mamedyarov against Aronian, and Grischuk against Lupulescu. Caruana will tangle with Vachier-Lagrave, while Radjabov will battle Deac. – Rappler.com