The first event of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour is nearing the halfway point, and in round 4 of the Superbet Chess Classic the previous quota of one win per round was exceeded. In round 3, that winner was - shockingly - bottom seed and wildcard Bogdan Deac, who exploited a Richard Rapport blunder to win what was an equal, drawish position. That put him into a three-way tie for first with round 1 winner Wesley So and round 2 winner Ian Nepomniachtchi. Of the round's four draws, only one should have resulted in a winner. Alireza Firouzja was clearly winning against Levon Aronian, but the latter survived by a hair in a tricky minor piece and then king and pawn ending.
Deac drew in round 4, continuing to enjoy an excellent tournament, but it wasn't enough to stay in first. The other co-leaders battled it out, with Nepo repeating a pawn sac he had used before in the hopes of making a draw with patient, passive defense. He held the position for a long time, but it's difficult to do so forever, and after back-to-back errors his opponent took advantage with a nice tactic. That put So in clear first, half a point ahead of Deac and a point ahead of Nepo. Deac's previous +1'ers may have left him, but he was joined by two new ones. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was clearly worse against Fabiano Caruana, but the latter's over-excited exchange sac (20...Rxf3??) more than turned the tables. The Frenchman collected the full point, and so did Levon Aronian, who ground down Leinier Dominguez in a bishop vs. knight ending with an extra pawn.
The games, with my notes, are here; these are the pairings for round 5: