Bucharest (Romania): Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh started off on a positive note, beating Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania in the first round of the Superbet Classic chess tournament here.
Set to challenge reigning World Champion Ding Liren of China later this year, Gukesh got a bit lucky in the middle game as the both players missed a tactical nuance but the Indian emerged on top soon after to give his campaign a positive start in his first classical game since winning the Candidates tournament.
The other Indian in fray R Praggnanandhaa tried hard but had to settle for a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in a keenly-contested game. The other winner of the round was Fabiano Caruana of the United States, who beat Firouzja Alireza of France, while the other two games in the 10-player round-robin tournament ended in draws.
It was a Nimzo Indian defense by Deac Bogdan-Daniel that led to a complicated middle game. The Romanian was up to the task in finding counter-attacks and won a sacrificed pawn in the middle game. The position looked promising when Gukesh erred and allowed a tactical skirmish.
However, Bogdan-Daniel failed to spot the best move and ended up trading his rook for a minor piece. The position remained complicated but Gukesh converted it with ease. Praggnanandhaa faced the Ruy Lopez with black against Abdusattorov and, after initial opening duel, won a pawn to reach a rook and pawns endgame.