The GCT Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 begins tomorrow at the National Bank of Romania, Bucharest, running from May 14 to 23. First matches start at 1:10 PM UTC. The tournament features 10 players from 7 countries.

Pairings for the first round:

1. 🇳🇱 Jorden van Foreest 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana
2. 🇺🇸 Wesley So 🇩🇪 Vincent Keymer
3. 🇷🇴 Bogdan-Daniel Deac 🇺🇿 Javokhir Sindarov
4. 🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa R 🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja
5. 🇫🇷 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 🇳🇱 Anish Giri

The event features a 90+30 time control for the first 40 moves and 30+30 for the rest of the game over one Round-Robin between 10 players. In case of a tie for first place, the winner will be determined by Tiebreaks.

The Grand Chess Tour is an annual circuit of international tournaments, featuring Classical, Rapid, and Blitz formats. The GCT Super Chess Classic Romania is the second event in the 2026 Tour. The 2025 edition of the tournament was won by Indian GM Praggnanandhaa R.

Credit: Lennart Ootes