On Friday, July 5, Fabiano Caruana won the Superbet Chess Classic Romania after defeating Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, and Alireza Firouzja in the playoff. The American grandmaster retained the title in the tiebreaker after Alireza Firouzja missed his chance to secure the championship win when Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa held him to a draw from a worst position.
In the final round of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, Fabiano Carunana, who was in a sole lead, suffered a defeat with the black pieces against Anish Giri. With that, he opened the door for Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, and Alireza Firouzja, to win their respective matches to get ahead of him, and potentially win the title.
When Dommaraju Gukesh drew his match against Wesley So, the fate of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania came down to the match between Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja. After going up the exchange in the Sicilian Najdorf, Firouzja failed to convert his chance of winning the match and the championship, getting held to a draw by Praggnanandhaa.
Following the Superbet Chess Classic Romania win, Fabiano Caruana was quoted as saying, “Maybe we were making it a bit boring, but on the final day at least we added some excitement.”
“I feel good at the moment but, overall, of course it was a pretty bad day. I played terribly. Anish punished me; I played a poor game but he played well and then I wasn't even thinking about winning the tournament anymore,” he added.
