Deac Bogdan-Daniel
Ever since he was very young, Deac Bogdan-Daniel was very well known to be a talented young player and a real chess prodigy.
He acquired his FM title in 2014, probably upon reaching the mandatory rating qualification of 2300 in March 2014. He was awarded his first IM norm for his result at the Gibraltar Masters (2014), the second IM norm for his 7.5/11 at the Romanian Championship 2014 in May 2014, and his third IM norm for his result at the 29th Swarzach Open in Austria in August. As he had already achieved an official rating of 2400 in July 2014, his IM title took effect on 23 August 2014, at the 9th and final round of the Swarzacher Open when he clinched his final IM norm by drawing with GM Vitaly Kunin.
Two years later, he gained his GM title when he won his third GM norm at the Zalakaros Open on 4 June 2016, having won his first two GM norms at the Zalakaros Open in 2015 and at the Graz Open in February 2016. He had already reached the 2500 rating mark the previous month. He was both the youngest IM and GM in history at the time he obtained these titles.
And even though he later slowed down a little bit and didn’t immediately storm the chess world (or top 10) as you might expect for someone with such potential, he recently joined the exclusive 2700 club and is knocking on the door of the world’s elite.
In this article we will take a glimpse into his career/journey and check some of the best games/game fragments of Deac Bogdan-Daniel’s career.
Best of Deac Bogdan-Daniel
(Note: The full study with Deac’s annotated games can be found on the following link and is publicly available for free)
1) Sozin, Stepan – Bogdan Daniel, Deac, World School U15, Iasi, 2012.
One from Deac’s youth, when he was only 11 years old.
2) Berry, Neil – Bogdan Daniel, Deac, European Team Championship, 2017.
A very nice combination from 2017, when Deac was already a strong 2550+ GM.
3) Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime – Bogdan-Daniel, Deac, GCT Bucharest Classic, 2021
An encounter from Deac’s first real super-tournament and the first victory (?) against one of the best players in the world and a 2750+ rated GM.
4) Adams, Michael – Bogdan-Daniel, Deac, European Team Championship, 2021.
Another impressive victory against a member of the 2700+ club!
5) Rapport, Richard – Bogdan-Daniel, Deac, Superbet Romania, 2022
Another victory against the member of the world top 10 from the most recent super-tournament of Deac’s career!