Romanian grandmaster Bogdan Deac defeated Armenian-American Levon Aronian on Thursday in the second round of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2025, the second stage of the Grand Chess Tour 2025 circuit, hosted by the Grand Hotel in Bucharest.
After losing in his debut to American Wesley So, Deac managed to surprisingly win against Aronian, the winner of America’s Cup in 2024 and double winner of the World Cup.
The other victory on Thursday was obtained by Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave against So.
Indian Gukesh Dommaraju, the reigning world champion, drew with Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusatorov, the 2021 world rapid chess champion.
The matches between American Fabiano Caruana, world number two, and Indian Praggnanandha Rameshbabu, and between Frenchman of Iranian origin Alireza Firouzja, two-time champion of the circuit (2022, 2024), and Polish Jan-Krzysztof Duda also ended in draws.
Alireza Firouzja leads in the ranking with 1.5 points, followed by eight players with one point each, while Aronian has only 0.5 points.
In the third round, on Friday, Deac will face world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.
The Bucharest leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2025 circuit, with prizes worth $350,000, takes place from May 7 to 16, at the Grand Hotel in the capital.
