Maxime Vachier – Lagrave wins the playoffs and becomes the Winner of the Grand Chess Tour Romania 2022!
The first event of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour series is coming to an end as the last round concluded 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 secured the co-lead for Aronian and So, meaning that the playoff match was needed to 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 is played between all the co-leaders of the final standings. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave managed to win a dramatic endgame against Firouzja who messed the equal position up before the time control, and joined Aronian and So in the playoffs. Replay the game here
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won both the games of the playoffs, becoming the winner of Grand Chess Tour Romania 2022.
Replay the PLAYOFFS Games:
Game 1: Wesley So – Levon Aronian 1-0, R1 of TB
Game 2: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Wesley So 1-0, R2 of TB
Game 3: Levon Aronian – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0-1, R3 of TB
Playoff rules:
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. With three players 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 were broadcasted on Chessdom.com
Replay Round 9:
Levon Aronian – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1/2-1/2
Richard Rapport – Ian Nepomniachtchi 1/2-1/2
Bogdan-Daniel Deac – Fabiano Caruana 1/2-1/2
Alireza Firouzja – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0-1
Leinier Dominguez Perez – Wesley So 1/2-1/2
