It was a dream day for the Dutch as GM Jorden van Foreest brilliantly defeated GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac, while a slip on move 68 by GM Alireza Firouzja saw GM Anish Giri join his compatriot in the lead. The five-way tie for first in the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 includes GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Vincent Keymer, who played to bare kings on move 64, and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who made a 15-move draw against GM Javokhir Sindarov. The all-U.S. clash between GMs Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana stretched longer, but never sparked into life.
Round four is on Sunday May 17, starting at 9:10 a.m. ET / 15:10 CEST / 6:40 p.m. IST.
This is a flash report—come back later for full coverage of round three!
At times a slow third round looked destined to end in five draws, but the Dutch duo both found ways to win.
Round 3 Results
That makes it a five-way tie for the lead, with Caruana and So only a half-point behind.
Standings After Round 3
Our Game of the Day is Giri-Firouzja, which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze below.
With so many leaders, it’s no surprise we get two clashes between them in Sunday’s round four, in Van Foreest vs. Praggnanandhaa and Keymer vs. Vachier-Lagrave. The other leader, Giri, is Black vs. Sindarov, while the players who’ve lost two games in a row also have Black, with Deac facing So, while Firouzja is up against Caruana.
Round 4 Pairings
How to watch?
The 2026 Super Chess Classic Romania is the second event on the 2026 Grand Chess Tour and runs from May 13 to 23 at the Museum of the National Bank of Romania in Bucharest. It’s a 10-player round-robin with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. The prize fund is $475,000.
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