Round 1 of FIDE World Cup is in the books
The tie-breaks of the First Round of the FIDE World Cup were played on September 12. A large group of participants secured the overall victory already in rapid chess: Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dmitry Andreikin, Maxim Matlakov, Sanan Sjugirov, Alexandr Predke (all from Russia), Benjamin Bok (Netherlands), David Anton Guijarro (Spain), Tamir Nabaty (Israel), Luke McShane (England), Igor Kovalenko (Latvia), Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Germany), Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), and Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei (Iran). Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), Yu Yangyi, Wang Hao (both from China), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Anton Korobov (Ukraine), and Eltaj Safarli (Azerbaijan) were more successful than their rivals in 10-minute games and also advanced to the second round. An amazing instance of “chess blindness was evidenced in the Shankland – Safarli match. Sam had to win the 2nd 10-min rapid game at any cost but blundered a bishop in a slightly better endgame. Somehow Safarli missed this opportunity and then Shankland decided to continue his bluff leaving the bishop under attack for one more move. Safarli missed a clear win once again, but still managed to secure a draw that punched his ticket into the second round. Bu Xiangzhi (China) suffered a rather surprising loss to his compatriot Xu Xiangyu in this stage. Young Chithambaram Aravindh (India) defeated the experienced Michael Adams (England): after seven draws in a row, the Indian grandmaster managed to win in a second blitz game. The dramatic match between Kacper Piorun (Poland) and Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan) also reached the blitz stage. The players exchanged blows in rapid and 10-minute games, but Abasov proved stronger in blitz. The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. Round 2, Game 1 pairings Videos Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/ General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.
WGP Skolkovo: Ju Wenjun, Goryachkina and Gunina take the lead
The participants of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix hit the ground running: the current world women’s champion Ju Wenjun and the Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina won the first-round games with black pieces. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich made the first move in the game GM Cramling Pia (2487) – GM Ju Wenjun (2576). In the game mentioned above, the position went into an early endgame where black got a pair of bishops. The Chinese GM managed to turn this slight positional edge into material advantage which she gradually converted. The game of former World women’s champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova (2491) and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2564) ended dramatically. Having an enormous amount of time on the clock Stefanova eventually found herself in a time trouble and made a fatal blunder on then move 31st. Indian derby GM Koneru Humpy (2560) – GM Harika Dronavalli (2503) ended up in drawish rook endgame, although the former had a significant advantage throughout the game. Unfortunately for Hampy, time pressure did not allow her to achieve more than a half-point. Another sharp position arose in the game of IM Elisabeth Paehtz (2479) and the 14th world women’s champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2495). With 22.Bg5 white sacrificed a piece for two pawns in return for a sharp attack on the kingside. Kosteniuk found the most precise way to defend the position and the game ended up with a perpetual check. Valentina Gunina (2502) sacrificed two pawns in order to gain the initiative in her encounter with Alina Kashlinskaya (2487). Alina was holding tight but eventually buckled under pressure making a deadly mistake on the move 30. The game between GM Kateryna Lagno (2545) – GM Marie Sebag (2450) was rather peaceful. Players agreed on draw on the move 34th. The second-round games start on September 12, at 3 pm (GMT +3). Spectators can follow the games with English and Russian commentaries: https://www.youtube.com/fidechannel Official site: https://wgp2019.fide.com