The first event of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour series is coming to an end as the last round is underway in Bucharest. Levon Aronian and Wesley So headed into the last round in the co-lead scoring 5/8 points and none of them didn’t manage to score the full point in the last round. Two draws in the last round secure the co-lead for Aronian and So, meaning that the playoff match will determine the Winner of the Superbet Chess Classic 2022.
Levon Aronian drew against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with almost no chances for a better result after the quick trades of most of the pieces. Wesley So was playing Black against Leinier Dominguez. After a solid game, the players agreed to a draw, and even though Black had a slightly better position, it was questionable if the advantage can grow further.
According to GCT 2022 regulations, the playoff match will be played between all the co-leaders of the final standings. If Maxime Vachier-Lagrave manages to win a dramatic endgame against Firouzja who messed the equal position up before the time control, he will join Aronian and So in the playoffs. Follow the game live here
The playoffs will be played 15-30 minutes after the end of the last game of the final round. The players in the tie shall initially contest a Rapid Round Robin, with the pairing numbers determined by lot. If only two players are in the tie, they will contest a Double Rapid Round Robin (a mini-match consisting of two games) with time control 15 minutes with a 10 second increment per move from move 1. If three players are in the tie, the time limit for the Rapid Round
Robin will be game 10 minutes with a 5 second increment per move from move.
If there is still a tie after the Round Robin is complete, the players in the remaining tie will contest single “Armageddon” games on a knockout basis as required to split the tie and determine the winner of the event.
Live games from the playoffs will be broadcasted on Chessdom.com
Round 9, May 13, 13:00 CEST
Levon Aronian – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1/2-1/2
Richard Rapport – Ian Nepomniachtchi 1/2-1/2
Bogdan-Daniel Deac – Fabiano Caruana
Alireza Firouzja – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Leinier Dominguez Perez – Wesley So 1/2-1/2