World Cup final: Radjabov strikes back
The third games of the FIDE World Cup Final and the 3rd place match were played in the Ugra Chess Academy on October 2. Following their first game of the match, Teimour Radjabov and Ding Liren continued the discussion in the Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez. However, this time Teimour opted for a different line, that he actually had prepared for the first game. The grandmaster from Azerbaijan demonstrated a better knowledge in the arising position and put a grip on his opponent right in the opening. After the queens were swapped, Radjabov came up with an interesting tactical trick, won a pawn and transposed into an ending with rooks and bishops of the same color. White was gradually increasing pressure, making Black’s task more and more difficult. Eventually, Radjabov achieved a winning position, and Black resigned on the 45th move. Teimour Radjabov equalized the score, which is now 1.5:1.5. “I have a lot of lines in general, that I can play. Sometimes during the preparation on a professional level, there is some kind of hesitation before the game: “Should I try this line or that one?”. Something seems risky at the last moment. Especially with all these nerves, pressure and so on you are just not sure what line to play. To be honest I decided, that if he finds it, OK, bye-bye and that’s it. But if he doesn’t there is some play. Eventually, it went my way, and that’s nice,” Radjabov explained his opening choice in the post-game interview. In the match for third place Maxime Vachier-Lagrave once again took a stand in the Gruenfeld Defense. According to the Frenchman, he underestimated one of the replies from his opponent and ended up in an inferior position. Black seemed unable to protect all his weaknesses, however, Yu Yangyi made an inaccuracy on the 25th move, and the position became equal. Seven moves down the road the opponents shook hands. The score in this match is 1.5-1.5. The concluding games with the classical time control will be played on Thursday, October 3. If the score remains equal, the tie-breaks will follow on October 4. Photo Video 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. 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.
Fischer Random Championship: So, Caruana, Nepomniachtchi advanced to the semis
Update Quarterfinals, Day 1 Results: Wesley So – Hikaru Nakamura 3:9Vladimir Fedoseev – Vidit Gujrathi 8:4Peter Svidler – Fabiano Caruana 5:7Ian Nepomniachtchi – Alireza Firouzja 7:6 (Nepomniachtchi won Armageddon game with Black) Winners (in bold) qualify for Quarterfinals, Day 3 directly. Losers’ bracket (Day 2, Saturday): Vidit Gujrathi – Alireza Firouzja 4.5 : 7.5Wesley So – Peter Svidler 6.5:5.5Vidit Gujrathi & Peter Svidler are eliminated Quarterfinals, Day 3 Results: Vladimir Fedoseev – Wesley So 5:7Hikaru Nakamura – Fabiano Caruana 1.5:6.5Ian Nepomniachtchi – Alireza Firouzja 6.5:3.5 So, Caruana and Nepomniachtchi qualified for the live semifinals in Oslo The first official FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship is nearing its climax. The event, officialized by FIDE for the first time in history, is a joint effort of Dund (the organizer of the unofficial Fischer Random match between Classical chess champion Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura in 2009) and Chess.com. The semifinals and the finals of the event will be held at the end of October in Norway, at the Henie Onstad Art Center located just outside Oslo. After the massive qualifying open tournaments that run from April to August, the Championship reached the elimination phase during which 84 qualifiers + 12 invited players squared off in six knockout brackets (16 players each), in 2 games mini-matches with a time control of 15+2. Six winners of those brackets will join Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana in the 3-day quarterfinal stage, scheduled for 4-6 of October with a guaranteed prize fund of $10,000. Ian Nepomniachtchi became the first quarterfinalist after crushing his opponents in great fashion. Suffice it to say that the Russian GM scored 7 out of 8 and went through the tournament distance without playing a single tiebreak. The same night, 16-year old Iranian chess prodigy Alireza Firouzja progressed to the quarterfinals, beating along the way Nicolai Getz, Ivan Salgado, Maxim Matlakov and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The winner humbly admitted that in the semifinal and final matches luck was on his side, but it does not belittle the achievement of the young Iranian.Another young Grandmaster, Vidit Gujrathi, came on top in a very strong bracket, which included Le Quang Liem, Jeffery Xiong, and the former World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin. Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk, who were considered the main favorites of the fourth bracket, lived up to their reputation reaching the final. A virtually unknown Siberian IM Oleg Badmatsyrenov made a big splash in this bracket, dispatching Alexey Dreev and Paco Vallejo and only succumbing to Grischuk in the Armageddon game. In the final Svidler got the better of his old friend and punched his ticket into the quarterfinals. Vladimir Fedoseev and Grigory Oparin, number three and four of the fifth bracket respectively, locked horns in the final match to fight for the slot in the quarterfinals. Both 15-min games were drawn, but in the 10-min encounters, it was Fedoseev who booked his spot in the October matches. The last ticket to the quarterfinals was at stake in the match between two worthy opponents: top-seeded Wesley So and Russian GM Evgeny Tomashevski. Once again the rating favorite celebrated the victory, proving that top players are extremely strong in all chess variants.Thus, on October 4 we will see four quarterfinal matches played, with the winners going directly into Day 3. The next day the losers will be given a second chance to make it to Day 3, but two players will be eliminated in the process. Finally, on October 6, six players will compete for three slots in the semifinals. Magnus Carlsen will enter the competition at the semifinal stage joining three best players of the quarterfinals. The semifinalists will meet over the board in Norway at the end of October; the winner will be crowned on November 2. Official site