Day 04: Magnus Carlsen debuts with a technical win
No big surprises in game one of the second round of the World Cup Thursday, July 15th, 2021 – Today’s round of the World Cup and the Women’s World Cup featured the arrival of all of the top-rated players, seeded directly into the second round of the competition, including the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Minutes before his debut, Carlsen received the 2020 Fair Play Svetozar Gligoric award, in recognition of an individual who, during the previous year, displayed exemplary behaviour that promotes the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship in chess. In the semi-finals of the 2020 online “Chessable Masters”, Magnus won a key game by the unfortunate disconnection of his opponent, Ding Liren. Carlsen demonstrated that “winning fair” was far more important to him than winning at any cost, therefore minutes later in the second game he gave up his queen and resigned after just four moves to restore parity in the match. Introduced by Laurent Freyd (Principal Tournament Arbiter), FIDE Vice-President and Chairman of the Award Commission, Mr. Mahir Mammedov, congratulated Magnus on his achievement and spoke a few words of encouragement to all the players in the hall. One of the first players to finish was GM Baskaran Adhiban (2660) from India, who defeated his opponent, GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (2622), from Paraguay, in a fine attacking game. In a 4.f3 Nimzo-Indian defence, White sacrificed two pawns for a very strong attack. Baskaran Adhiban – Neuris Delgado Ramirez The move 15.c5! was an excellent choice, leaving Black’s queen and queenside pieces unconnected with the defence and allowing Bc4+ at some moment. After 15…Kh8 16.Qe2 Nd7 17.Nxh7 dxc3 18.Qh5 Qxc5+ 19.Kh1 Kg8 20.Bxf5 Qd5 21.Kg5 Nf6? (Black is already losing but 21…Rxf5 was the best try) the Indian grandmaster played a lovely queen sacrifice with 22.Qh7!+ and Black resigned, as 22…Nxh7 23.Bxh7+ Kh8 24.Txf8 Qg8 25.Qxg8 is mate. However, most of the expectation today was obviously placed on Magnus Carlsen’s game against GM Sasa Martinovic (2548), who was also celebrating his birthday! In a complicated middlegame without queens Martinovic, playing with White, miscalculated a tactical sequence and dropped a pawn. Even so, it wasn’t easy at all to convert but Carlsen’s endgame ability came to play once more and after 34 moves White had to capitulate. In his postgame interview with FIDE’s Press Officer Michael Rahal, Carlsen briefly explained his thoughts on the game and what the Gligoric fair-play award meant to him. In the Women’s section, most of the favourites started off with a win, although many pairings between more or less equal-rated opponents ended in a draw. Therefore, the second game of the match tomorrow will be decisive and I would even suggest that there will be quite a few tiebreaks for this round, in both groups. One of the candidates to win the women’s world cup outright is India’s top female grandmaster Harika Dronavalli (2515). Seeded straight into the second round, she was paired today with WIM Medina Warda Aulia (2360) from Indonesia. After an offbeat Ruy Lopez variation with Black, Harika played the strong pawn advance 13.e5 opening up the position and went on to win a nice technical game. She gave her thoughts in her postgame interview with the Press Officer. On a sadder note, GM Levon Aronian had to forfeit his first game of the second round. The Armenian Grandmaster has had some symptoms of fever earlier this week and even though he felt well today, in order not to risk the safety of the other players it was decided that he would withdraw from the first game, and undergo additional health tests before deciding if he is fit to play in the second game. Also, the organizers confirmed that one of the players had tested positive for Covid-19 – the result of the test became known during his second-round game. In line with the tournament’s public health and safety protocol, the player was asked to immediately leave the playing area, and his game declared a loss. The player in question was wearing a face mask during the game, and he has been placed in quarantine. His opponent, who was also requested to leave the playing hall immediately, will now undergo additional medical screenings and will be tested again tomorrow as scheduled. The player who has been forced to forfeit his game today had been tested before his trip, and then again in Sochi on July 10th, July 11th, and July 14th. After three negatives, it was this last test the one that turned out to be positive. The health agency that runs the tests for the event should have alerted FIDE of any positive before 1PM, local time. However, for reasons that we are investigating now, FIDE was not informed about the result of this test until 15:21, when the game had already started. FIDE did the only thing that was possible in the circumstances: to immediately stop the game, isolate the players, and provide medical advice to them. * Please note that, due to privacy regulations, FIDE can not disclose to the public the name of any player who tests positive. Pairings of the second game of the second round, live games and PGN files can be found on the World Cup website alongside a great amount of other interesting information such as daily videos, a complete photo collection and other useful data. Text: Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer press@fide.com Photo: Eric Rosen and Anastasiia Korolkova About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from July 12th (Round 1) to August 6th (finals), the 2021 FIDE World Cup will gather together in Sochi (Russia) 309 of the world’s best chess players, with 206 of them playing in the Open World Cup (and 103 participants in the first-ever Women’s World Cup. The top two finishers in the tournament, aside from World Champion Magnus Carlsen who is also participating, will qualify for the 2022 Candidates Tournament, in addition to winning the 110.000 USD first prize (80.000 USD for the runner-up). Organisers: International Chess Federation (FIDE), Chess Federation of Russia, Russian Ministry of Sports, and Government of Krasnodar Krai. Partners: Gazprom – general partner Nornickel – general partner PhosAgro – general partner Chessable – event’s partner Aeroflot – CFR’s partner
International Children and Youth Chess Festival “Rudaga – Kaissa 2021 Online” kicks off on July 23
Masterclasses with top GMs and accreditations for the Chess Olympiad 2022 will be given to the top players of the event. The FIDE Endorsed International Children and Youth Chess Festival “Rudaga – Kaissa 2021 Online” will be held on July 23-24. The event is organized by the non-governmental organization “Rudaga Plus”, Latvian Chess Federation, and is supported by FIDE. The tournament will be played in 2 different age groups – under 12 and under 16. The tournament will consist of two stages: Qualifying Stage and Final Stage. The Qualifying stage includes two online 11-round Swiss System tournaments: Open & Girls under 12 (Qualifier A – U12)Open & Girls under 12 (Qualifier B – U12)Open & Girls under 16 (Qualifier A- U16)Open & Girls under 16 (Qualifier B- U16) From each Qualifier event, top 8 players per category (Top 8 Open and Top 8 Girls) will get to the final stage. The Finals will consist of 16-player Knock-out tournaments: Open Under 12Open Under 16Girls Under 12Girls Under 16 The time control for both stages will be 5 minutes + 3 seconds increment starting from the first move. The tournaments will be played on Chess.com. The young players from all over the world will be able to claim some of the special prizes of the tournament. In addition to electronic diplomas and certificates of participation, top-3 players in open and girls’ sections will be awarded a free online group lecture with Antoaneta Stefanova, Women’s World Champion (2004-2006) (for U12 category) and Ruslan Ponomariov, FIDE World Champion (FIDE World Chess Championship 2002) (for U16 category). More than that, the winners of the tournament in both sections in each category (U12, U16) will get accreditations for the World Chess Olympiad 2022 and an entrance ticket to the Opening Ceremony. The registration fee for participation in the tournament is 10 EUROS. Players shall send the completed registration form by July 21, 2021: The Regulations for the tournament can be found here. Organizer’s contacts: Tournament Director: Nadia Kravchuk tel: +380 50 906 44 61 (WhatsApp) E-mail: nadzeya.krauchuk@gmail.com
Magnus Carlsen awarded Svetozar Gligoric Trophy 2020
The World Champion Magnus Carlsen is the recipient of the 2020 Fair Play Svetozar Gligoric award. The Norwegian will receive his trophy today, minutes before his debut game at the FIDE World Cup 2021 in Sochi. The spirit of the “Fair Play Svetozar Gligoric Trophy” is to give recognition to an individual who, during the previous year, had displayed exemplary behaviour that promotes the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship in chess. One year ago, when all chess activities and competitions were transferred to the online arena, Magnus Carlsen reached the semi-finals in the $150,000 online “Chessable Masters” against Ding Liren. Ding, playing from China, had struggled with connection problems through the whole event, and in the final moments of his first game against Carlsen, suffered an unfortunate disconnection at a vital moment. Unable to reconnect on time, the Chinese Grandmaster lost the game. Minutes later, in the second game between, the World Champion gave up his Queen and resigned after just four moves to restore parity in the match. Despite the high stakes, and despite being a ruthless competitor, Magnus Carlsen demonstrated that “winning fair” was far more important to him than winning at any cost. “I have immense respect for Ding as a chess player and as a human being. I thought against him this was the only correct way and clearly, I wanted to win on the board. I might have kicked myself if I’d lost one of the last two games but I think it was the right thing to do”, said the World Champion. The Gligoric Trophy was established by FIDE in 2019, and its winner is selected annually by the Award Commission chaired by Mr. Mahir Mammedov and its two members, the Grandmasters Mrs. Judit Polgar (FIDE Honorary Vice-President), and Mr. Eugenio Torre. It honors the figure of Svetozar Gligoric, one of the top players in the world in the 1950s and 1960s, and also one of the World’s most prominent, owing to his particularly engaging personality. At the chessboard, Gligoric was an uncompromising fighter and at the same time a symbol of gentlemanhood and correctness. His impeccable reputation has been a deserved result of his success in chess games and fair-play manners. Gligoric’s trademark was high respect to his chess opponents: his main principle was – It’s chess pieces, not a man I play against! It is no coincidence that the book of Gligoric’s selected games is called “I play against pieces!” Svetozar Gligoric Award is a recognition of sportsmen who exercise the fundamental values of Fair Play both during and beyond the game. It’s a way of thinking rather than a mere behavior and includes the concepts of: FairnessTo enjoy the victory is not enough. Triumph must include fairness and honesty RespectWritten rules are mandatory. Unwritten rules of respect to all are obligatory FriendshipRivalry in sport does not exclude friendship Team SpiritA genuine consideration for others EqualityCompeting on equal terms is essential ToleranceThe ability or willingness to accept what you may not agree with CareTrue champions care about each other
D03: Great entertainment at the Galaxy Centre for the tie-breaks
World Champion Magnus Carlsen debuts tomorrow in Round 2 Wednesday, July 13th, 2021 – Rapid and blitz game tiebreaks are the real test for today’s modern chess player. Calculation skills become slightly less important and are at a certain level substituted by much more intuition, as the time on the clock starts running low. Good nerves, decent physical condition, stamina, and a well-thought-out opening repertoire are some of the key skills that have to be honed at home before the competition to be a good tie-breaker. The Galaxy Leisure Complex enjoyed a huge amount of entertainment this afternoon. Twenty-eight matches were not decided in the two classical games, and had to be fought out in a series of two rapid games – 25 minutes base time + 10 seconds increment -, followed by two more rapid games (10/10 this time), and finally two blitz 5/3 games. A nerve-racking “Armageddon” decisive game is left for the end: 5 minutes vs 4 on the clock and Black advances with the draw. They say that better players excel even more with less time, thanks to their superior intuition and pattern knowledge plus match experience, and today’s tie-break round was no exception. Most of the favourites only needed the two rapid games to defeat their lower-rated opponents and move on to Round 2, where fresh top-50 opponents will be waiting for them. One of the matches that deserved special attention in the Open World Cup was the face-off between top Armenian GM Haik Martirosyan (2632) and Zambia’s IM Chitumbo Mwali (2281). Albeit the nearly 350 rating points difference, Mwali won his classical game, forcing the tie-break. But as the Zambian International Master confessed to FIDE’s Press Officer in the post-game interview “today was not his day”. Another really interesting match-up in the Open section was the all-Egyptian encounter between GM Abdelrahman Hesham (2397) and his Olympic team colleague and top-Egypt player Ahmed Adly (2625). Although on paper, Adly should have been cruising to the second round, these play-offs between team colleagues sometimes don’t go the logical way, and in this case, the Egyptian representative will be Hesham, who sealed the match win in the second game of the rapids. The protagonists of the other two huge surprises of the day were a couple of young IM guns: Ravi Haria and Volodar Murzin. The Englishman IM Ravi Haria (2440) put Russian’s experienced GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2608) to the test in the rapid games. After winning the first one quite clearly, he had to defend a very tricky 4 pawn vs 3 pawn rook ending to seal the draw, not after suffering many moves with very little time on the clock. A huge achievement by the underdog in this match who declared in the post-game interview that he would now “have to reserve a few more days at the hotel”. Well done Ravi! Last but not least, Russian 15-year-old IM Volodar Murzin (2502) played one of the most memorable matches of round one, defeating none other than experienced Moldova GM Viorel Iordachescu (2589) by 3.5-2.5. After making one draw after another (solid play by both contenders), “the kid” prevailed in the second 10/10 rapid game. He will face another young player in Round 2, top Russian GM Vladislav Artemiev (2704), who is now 23 years old. In the Women’s Cup, similar scenarios occurred, with most of the clear favourites advancing to the second round in good fashion, where again they will be joined by the 25 top seeds including several world-class female players. One of the most memorable matches, and a very close win for the favourite, was the tie-break between WGM Shahenda Wafa (2106) (pictured above) from Egypt against French WGM and top-player Almira Skripchenko (2411). The match went back and forth for both players and actually, Wafa had some great opportunities to advance to the second round but finally it will be Skripchenko who will face her Olympic colleague Marie Sebag tomorrow. Watch out for the world’s top-five players tomorrow afternoon in the 1/64 round at 3pm sharp: World Number 1 Magnus Carlsen vs Sasa Martinovic World Number 2 Fabiano Caruana vs Susanto Megaranto World Number 5 Levon Aronian vs Bobby Cheng Pairings of the second round, live games, and PGN files can be found on the World Cup website alongside a great amount of other interesting information such as daily videos, a complete photo collection, and other useful data. Reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen will be making his debut here tomorrow and will receive the Gligoric award for fair play before the start of the round. Text: Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer press@fide.com Photo: Eric Rosen and Anastasiia Korolkova About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from July 12th (Round 1) to August 6th (finals), the 2021 FIDE World Cup will gather together in Sochi (Russia) 309 of the world’s best chess players, with 206 of them playing in the Open World Cup (and 103 participants in the first-ever Women’s World Cup. The top two finishers in the tournament, aside from World Champion Magnus Carlsen who is also participating, will qualify for the 2022 Candidates Tournament, in addition to winning the 110.000 USD first prize (80.000 USD for the runner-up). Organisers: International Chess Federation (FIDE), Chess Federation of Russia, Russian Ministry of Sports, and Government of Krasnodar Krai. Partners: Gazprom – general partner Nornickel – general partner PhosAgro – general partner Chessable – event’s partner Aeroflot – CFR’s partner Educational centre “Sirius”