Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
Keymer Extends Lead Without Playing After Firouzja Drops Out
GM Vincent Keymer increased his lead to a full point over the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 field after GM Alireza Firouzja's withdrawal from the event gave him a forfeit win. All the other games in round six were drawn, with GMs Wesley So (vs. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave) and Fabiano Caruana (vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov) getting an edge with White but no clear-cut chances. The all-Dutch clash, GM Jorden van Foreest vs. GM Anish Giri, was offbeat but balanced, while GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu's Dutch Defense didn't manage to unsettle GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac.
Round seven is on Thursday, May 21, starting at 9:10 a.m. ET / 15:10 CEST / 6:40 p.m. IST.
The best result of round six was for a player who didn't set foot in the playing hall.
Round 6 Results
Keymer now leads by a full point with three rounds to go, with Caruana, Giri, Van Foreest, and Praggnanandhaa forming a four-player chasing pack.
Standings After Round 6
The most interesting game since our last full report on events in Romania took place on the rest day, with Caruana picking up his first win while Firouzja slumped to a third loss.
Caruana 1-0 Firouzja
This game was supposed to take place in round four, but was postponed after Firouzja damaged his ankle. Caruana explained that the delay was actually to his benefit, since he'd had health issues of his own:
Over the last few days, I’ve been really, really sick, so I just stopped thinking about the tournament, for the most part. I was in bed 14 hours a day. It started with my game against Wesley and then it got progressively worse, so when I heard the news that Alireza wasn’t playing the next day, when I was supposed to play him, and I would have a rest day, there was almost a bit of relief that I wouldn’t have to play.
"It’s very bad luck for him," said Caruana, who described their game: "This was a very weird experience. To play in a hotel room, it feels like we’re playing casual chess. It had vibes of a world championship match... except my opponent was on the bed in a cast."
It had vibes of a world championship match... except my opponent was on the bed in a cast. —Fabiano Caruana
Fabiano Caruana defeated Alireza Firouzja on the rest day. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
The game, meanwhile, was a great battle, even if Caruana described it as "maybe not the best game." Firouzja went all-out for an attack with the black pieces, but Caruana defended well and then smoothly converted his extra material when his opponent overpressed. That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.
In a way all that effort was in vain—except for gaining 4.6 points on the live rating list—since Firouzja's withdrawal after completing more than half the tournament meant his future opponents would all get a point without playing.
On the other hand, as Caruana pointed out, the win was vital: "From a tournament situation I kind of needed to win not to fall behind the others, but it doesn’t leave me anywhere because Vincent now is +3—it’s very far."
Round 6: Four Draws And One Forfeit Win
Keymer, already the sole leader, was the player to benefit from a forfeit win in round six, and things went perfectly for the German number-one as all the other games were drawn. In fact, although all the games were hard-fought, there were no obvious missed chances in any of them—players at times had around a +1 computer evaluation, but it was the kind of edge that tends to evaporate the further you look into the lines.
More people were in attendance for Caruana's game in round seven! Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
Caruana got to wrap things up early after his rest-day exertions, with a 34-move draw by repetition against Sindarov, who has yet to win a classical game since winning the Candidates. The game was a Giuoco Piano, with the world number-three saying he "decided to play something rather modest, which was popular many years ago." The opening went well, but Caruana couldn't really believe in the computer's optimistic evaluation of his position, even when seeing the suggested moves. Things fizzled out fast.
Javokhir Sindarov has had a quiet "return to reality" since winning the Candidates. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
Next we got a draw in the all-Dutch clash, where Van Foreest sprang a surprise early on by going for a very rare 4.h3.
A surprise for chess fans, that is, since Giri, one of the world's foremost theoreticians, replied almost instantly, and we got a curious Reversed Sveshnikov on the board, i.e. it was as if White was playing that Sicilian with an extra tempo, and Black took over White's role.
Lucas van Foreest, seconding his brother, and Jan Smeets, seconding Anish Giri, must have had a lot of notes to compare after this game! Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
The computer stubbornly preferred Black's position, at least up to a point, and the game remained dynamically balanced until a sharp line with exchanges liquidated to a draw.
Jorden van Foreest came armed with an interesting idea, but couldn't shake Anish Giri. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
So is the only player to have drawn all his games so far in Bucharest, a sequence that it seemed at times he might be able to break against Vachier-Lagrave.
Wesley So has made six draws so far in Bucharest. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
The more you look at it, however, the less obvious it is that anything was missed, with the French star known for adopting seemingly miserable but hard-to-break defensive setups.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is also on 50 percent, after one win and one loss. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
So at least knows it won't all be draws, since he still has to "play" Firouzja.
The final and longest game of the day started with Praggnanandhaa making it very clear he was out to try and beat the tournament's lowest seed. The Indian star chose the Dutch Defense, a rare choice in classical games at the very top level.
Black takes real strategic risks in the hope of taking over in a complex struggle.
Praggnanandhaa succeeded at least in getting Deac into time trouble, since the Romanian number-one was down to just over a minute by move 25, but White's position was fine. When Praggnanandhaa won a pawn near the end it was never more than a nominal advantage, at least against good play, which is what Deac showed.
Deac has stabilized with three draws after two losses in a row. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.
So it was a quiet day in Bucharest, but we can hope for more in round seven. Praggnanandhaa vs. Caruana is a much-anticipated battle, while leader Keymer has Black against Sindarov. One player who'll close the gap if Keymer doesn't win is Van Foreest, who was due to play Firouzja and will get a forfeit win instead.
Round 7 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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