Round 03 tiebreaks: Giri and Mamedyarov eliminated!
The new generation creates havoc in the tiebreaks. Tuesday, July 20th, 2021 – Great action this afternoon in the tiebreak session of the third round. Seventeen encounters had to be decided today (13 in the open group and 4 in the women’s group), in order to pair the players for the fourth round, scheduled for Thursday. You can see that the players are starting to get tired and that tomorrow’s rest day will be hugely appreciated by the players that have advanced today. Unexpectedly, most of them decided their tie-break in the first two 25/10 games. Vladislav Artemiev, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Praggnanandhaa R, Pavel Ponkratov were all able to defeat their opponents by a clear 2-0 score, while Etienne Bacrot, Sam Shankland, Peter Svidler (pictured below) and Pouya Idani advanced to the fourth round with a 1.5-0.5 result. Nonetheless, two of the favourites to win the tournament were eliminated in the tiebreaks this afternoon. World’s number six Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2782) was unable to straighten out the 1-1 tie in the classical games and was eventually knocked out of the cup by Haik M. Martirosyan, former under-16 world champion, and currently Armenia’s number seven player (2632). In the first game, Mamedyarov, playing with White, sacrificed a pawn out of the opening for some compensation but Martirosyan defended well and outplayed his opponent in the endgame. Not wanting to play for a draw in the second game with White, Martirosyan went all-out for a win against Mamedyarov’s very dubious opening set-up. In a highly complex position, his superb move 35.Kf2! blocking the f-pawn and preparing an assault on Black’s king was enough for Black to realise that he had to exchange pieces and simplify to an easily drawn rook ending. We caught up with Martirosyan for a brief interview in which he went over the match. The other major upset of the afternoon was the elimination of Anish Giri (2776), playing for the Netherlands. Both of the classical games against his opponent, seventeen-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov, ended in a draw and things seemed to be safe for the world’s number eight player. However, the Uzbekistan 2634 prodigy played really well in the two 25/10 tiebreak games, first defeating Giri in a tricky rook + knight ending and then holding an extremely difficult position in the second game, until Giri over-pressed an equal ending and eventually lost. Another young player that qualified for the fourth round is 21-years-old USA grand master Jeffrey Xiong (2709), currently, number 33 in the world, who took down Sweden’s number one player Nils Grandelius (2661) after a really tough match that went back and forth. Jeffrey was kind enough to pop into the press center and give us his thoughts on the games. Two matches went full throttle to the end. Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2726) defeated his teammate Baskaran Adhiban in the second blitz game for an overall score of 4.5-3.5, giving you an idea of the resilient nature of “The Beast”. In his post-game interview, Vidit went over the key moments of the match. The only game that went the full distance to the “Armageddon” was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2749) against David Paravyan (2625), who gave the Frenchman the match of his life. After many missed opportunities, in addition to an incorrect 3-fold position draw claim in the second blitz game, Maxime played a great attacking “sudden-death” game, winning by a total score of 5-4, and will now face India’s prodigy Praggnanandhaa in the next round. Check out an interview with the winner here. There were four tie-breaks in the women’s group and the only one that ended in the first two 25/10 games was the match between Nana Dzagnidze (rated 2523) and Carissa Yip (2430) which fell to the side of the experienced Georgian player. Dzagnidze won her second classical game on-demand and forced the tie-break in which she clearly outplayed her young opponent, winning the two games. Dzagnidze offered her thoughts on the match-up with her young opponent in a brief interview. The other three qualifiers were twenty-year-old Polina Shuvalova (2489) who defeated her even younger teammate Leya Garifullina (2390) by 3.5-2.5 in a very close match. Polina gave the thoughts on the match in her postgame interview. Also advancing to the fourth round was 17-years-old Bibisara Assaubayeva (2389) who defeated the very experienced Georgian grandmaster Bela Khotenashvili (2471) by 4-2. Finally, Mariya Muzychuk (2550) (pictured below) was able to join her sister in the fourth round after defeating her teammate from the Ukraine Olympic team Anna Ushenina (2429) by 4.5-3.5 in the by far most exciting women’s tie-break this afternoon. The players (and the staff!) will all enjoy a well-deserved rest day to replenish their strength, maybe with a cable-car mountain visit or a hike in the nearby woods, or just a short walk around the lovely town. Round 4 will start on Thursday 22nd at 3 pm sharp, with a field that has been drastically whittled down to 48 players, 32 in the open group and 16 in the women’s cup. Pairings of the fourth 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 Educational centre “Sirius”
FIDE and NBC Sports announce chess partnership for the World Championship Match 2021
Each of Night of Event Followed by 30-Minute Next-Day Highlight Show on NBCSN NBCSN To Present More Than 20 Hours of Chess Coverage for Duration of Match The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce a new media partnership for the FIDE World Championship Match 2021 with NBC Sports, which will present coverage of each game on NBCSN. Organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), in partnership with EXPO-2020 in Dubai, the event will see the reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, defend his title in a 14-game matchup against his Challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. The two players will compete for a prize fund of EUR 2 million (USD 2,360,000). Initially planned for 2020, and postponed due to the pandemic, this clash between the two best chess Grandmasters in the world will finally take place between 26 November and 16 December 2021. Starting on 27 November, 2021, the daily 30-minute shows on NBCSN from the FIDE World Championship Match 2021 will bring the highlights of each game not only to the hardcore chess fans but to the much wider and highly-engaged community of sports lovers throughout the United States. Each highlight show will be replayed the day after it premieres, totaling one hour of chess content every night, starting on 28 November and for the remaining duration of the match. The videos will convey the emotions, stories, and expert opinions, including commentary by Maurice Ashley, who will focus on making chess accessible for all levels of viewers. Well-known as a commentator for high-profile chess events, Ashley made history in 1999 when he became the first African-American ever to be awarded the title of chess Grandmaster. “It’s exciting to be a part of the premier event in all of chess, one that will be followed by millions of passionate chess fans eager to see who will emerge victorious. Having NBC Sports on board is a brilliant development that will further help to push chess into the limelight where it certainly belongs”, said Ashley. Leveraging the massive surge in popularity that chess has experienced during 2020 and the first half of 2021, connected to the global lockdowns and the stunning success of ‘The Queen’s Gambit’, the media partnership between FIDE and NBC Sports will allow huge exposure to one of the most prestigious sport competitions in the World. The game of chess attracts a wide and diverse audience represented by traditional chess fans, but also a new generation of chess enthusiasts who, not only play, but also watch chess videos and streams as a way to learn, improve, or simply enjoy the games of the Grandmasters. “FIDE is happy and proud to partner with NBC for this groundbreaking project”, said Emil Sutovsky, FIDE’s Director General. For nearly a month chess will become a regular guest in millions of American homes. We are looking forward to delivering a show that would appeal to chess aficionados and those new to our beautiful game. They say – chess is gaining momentum – our aim is to take public interest in chess to an entirely new level, when we could speak of a global regular audience and sustainable growth. There is no better way to start such an ambitious project, than to have the major event of chess calendar, the World Championship Match on the major US network for three weeks running. Tune in!” NBC Sports serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. Now, the World Chess Championship, one of the oldest traditions in the world of sports, will be a part of NBC Sports’ history. “We look forward to presenting the world’s finest chess in fast-paced coverage throughout the 14-day match,” said Nick Casanova, NBC Sports.” ABOUT NBC SPORTS GROUP NBC Sports Group serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports media company consists of NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBCSN, Golf Channel, Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Audio Network and NBC Sports Digital, which includes NBCSsports.com, NBCOlympics.com, GolfChannel.com, the digital assets of the NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports EDGE, the NBC Sports Talk franchise, multiple apps, and two transactional sports businesses, GolfNow and SportsEngine, and two direct-to-consumer products – NBC Sports Gold and GolfPass. NBC Sports Group possesses an unparalleled collection of media rights agreements, partnering with some of the most prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic Committee and United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the NFL, NASCAR, INDYCAR, PGA TOUR, The R&A, PGA of America, USGA, Churchill Downs, Premier League, Tour de France, French Open, and many more. More information: https://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/about/
Round 03 Game 02: Fabiano Caruana eliminated from the World Cup
17 third-round matches go to tie-beaks tomorrow Monday, July 19th, 2021 – Rinat Jumabayev, Kazakhstan’s top player, rated 2637, advanced to the fourth round of the World Cup this afternoon by eliminating World’s number 2 player Fabiano Caruana. The first game of the two ended yesterday in a solid draw and it seemed logical that Caruana would be pressing today with the white pieces. In a complex variation of the Carlsbad Queen’s Gambit, Caruana played for a kingside attack with the thematic, albeit risky, 17.g4 push. He then sacrificed an exchange for some piece play compensation, although the computer is not impressed at all. But over the board Jumabaev wasn’t able to defend with precision, and soon he had to improvise with a queen sacrifice to keep the balance. The game was probably equal but very tricky and just one mistake (41.Qc4?) was enough for Black to win a piece tactically and seal the deal. Jumabaev kindly returned to the venue after his mandatory testing to tell us about the game and how he was feeling after defeating such a brilliant player. Check out an interview with the winner here. All this emotion occurred at the end of the round, but before that many other things had happened in the Galaxy Centre. The first qualifier of the afternoon was Daniil Dubov, who advanced to Round 4 after defeating Vladimir Malakhov by a clear 1.5-0.5 score. Although today’s game was quite solid, the key game was yesterday (Game 1) when Dubov played a very enterprising e5-e6 pawn thrust, taking the game into dark territory, from which he emerged victorious. His opponent in the 1/16 finals will be Andrey Esipenko in an all-Russian bout. In his post-game interview, Dubov took us through both games and told us what he was planning to do his two free days. Also qualifying at a speedy pace this afternoon was 2015 World Cup winner, Sergey Karjakin (Russia). His opponent Grigoriy Oparin had to win today on-demand with Black after losing an equal ending in the first game. However, defeating the former world champion contender with Black is not an easy task, and Oparin had to concede the draw after 38 moves. Karjakin will face the winner of tomorrow’s tiebreak between Boris Gelfand Vladislav Artemiev. He gave us his thoughts on the game in a short interview. Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen was grinding out his second win against his team-mate Aryan Tari in an opposite-color bishop ending with a rook each. Maybe Tari had some better defensive chances at some point but Magnus’ technique proved to be too much for him and he had to resign on move 67. In his post-game interview, Magnus explained his thoughts on the two games of this round and how important it is for him to play classical games to get training for the World Championship. The following matches ended in a 1-1 tie and will be decided tomorrow, in what will be an absolutely tremendously exciting tie-break session in the Galaxy Centre: Matlakov – WojtaszekBacrot – AminTomashevsky – IdaniVidit – AdhibanGrandelius – XiongAbdusattorov – GiriMartirosyan – MamedyarovParavyan – Vachier-LagravePraggnanandhaa – KrasenkowArtemiev – GelfandCheparinov – SvidlerShankland – AreshchenkoPonkratov – Vakhidov In the ever-exciting women’s group, things are getting very interesting by the day. Top seeds Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno (check out an interview with her) and Anna Muzychuk all drew their second game today and advance with ease to the next round while former World Champion Zhongyi Tan eliminated her opponent Marie Sebag (France) by a clear 2-0, the same result as Nino Batsiashvili who also advanced to the next round with a conclusive 2-0 score. Several other qualifiers had to win today on-demand to avoid going through tomorrow’s tiebreaks and therefore enjoy an extra rest day before the fourth round. These players include Antoaneta Stefanova, Elizabeth Paehtz, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Dinara Saduakassova Dinara joined us at the press center to talk us through her games and her plans for the next two rest days. Four matches were unable to provide a winner so they will be fought out tomorrow, in what will be an absolutely tremendously exciting tie-break session in the Galaxy Centre. Yip – DzagnidzeShuvalova – GarifullinaUshenina – Muzychuk, MKhotenashvili – Assaubayeva Pairings of the tiebreaks of the third 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 Educational centre “Sirius”