Goryachkina wins Women’s World Cup
The 18-year-old Indian prodigy defeated the favourite Fabiano Caruana after winning the second tiebreak 1.5-0.5. Earlier in the day, Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Nurgyul Salimova to clinch the title in the Women’s tournament Baku witnessed an intense day as two nail-biting tiebreak matches unfolded. In the Women’s finals, Aleksandra Goryachkina won the title by defeating Nurgyul Salimova, however, the outcome could easily have been different. In a major upset, the favourite Fabiano Caruana was ousted by 18-year-old R Praggnanandhaa in the open category following two tiebreak rounds. The Open Tournament Highlights After two draws in the regular part of the semi-finals, former challenger Fabiano Caruana and the rising star from India, R Praggnanandhaa, met in the tiebreaks to decide who would go to the finals. The initial two rapid tiebreak games ended in draws. Notably, Caruana had a winning position in the first tiebreak game but failed to capitalise, allowing Prag to evade defeat. In the second game, both sides were equal throughout. Then, in the second rapid tiebreak match – where the time controls moved from 25 to 10 minutes each – Praggnanandhaa played significantly better in the first game, gaining the upper hand on the white side of the Italian Game. Caruana correctly sacrificed a pawn and reached equality but then played somewhat sluggishly and allowed his opponent to consolidate. Pragg then advanced his pawns, capturing one and subsequently launching an assault on Black’s Queenside, joined by the white king. Even though White promoted a second queen, Caruana continued to resist, hoping for a miracle. Unfortunately for the American, Pragg was confident in his execution and secured victory. In the second game, Praggnanandhaa again achieved a better position (this time as Black). In the endgame, the Indian was completely winning, but he allowed White to make a comeback, and the game ended in a draw, thus eliminating Caruana. This will be the first final for R Praggnandnhaa in the World Cup, where he will be facing Magnus Carlsen (who will also be playing his first World Cup final). Caruana will go up against Nijat Abasov in the battle for third place. The finals of the Open World Cup, as well as the match for third place, will be held on Tuesday, 22nd of August. The Women’s Tournament Highlights In today’s tiebreak match, Goryachkina was completely lost in the first game. Playing the London System, Salimova (as White) had a clear advantage early on but then misplayed in a completely winning position, allowing Goryachkina to save a draw with a perpetual check. In game two, in the Catalan, Goryachkina managed to secure an extra pawn on the queenside as her opponent did not demonstrate the necessary knowledge and accuracy in the opening. In the endgame, she was close to clinching victory on two occasions but allowed Black to make a save. After 89 moves, in time trouble – in a 2:1 pawn endgame for Goryachkina where White had a knight, and Black had a bishop – Salimova eventually cracked in a drawish position and made the decisive mistake. White managed to penetrate with her king to the kingside to support her two passers that rushed towards promotion. Black resisted a bit more before resigning on move 105. A great victory by Aleksandra Goryachkina who was the runner-up in the 2021 edition of the event. Additionally, she secured the first-place prize of $50,000. Goryachkina has confidently played the entire event: out of six matches, in four she won in the regular part (against Odraz Valdes, Divya, Batsiashvili and Tan), and in two she won in the tiebreaks (against Dronavalli and Salimova). Despite losing in the finals, Bulagria’s Nurgyul Salimova had a spectacular performance in Baku and is a huge surprise for the chess world. She defeated some of the strongest world players, such as Polina Shuvalova and Anna Muzychuk (who finished third in the Women’s World Cup). Here follows a closer look at some of the top games of the day: We begin with the tiebreak match between Aleksandra Goryachkina and Nurgyul Salimova. Goryachkina had a lucky escape in the regular part of the match, securing a tiebreak. Even today, as the match started, it seemed that Salimova was the better player. She completely dominated Goryachkina in their first rapid tiebreaker. Diagram after 14.Bd2 By this point, the position was around even, but now Goryachkina made a series of moves, after which she ended up completely lost. 14…Be7? (14…f6! dislodging the white knight was necessary) 15.b3! Rc8 16.Rc1 c5? 17.Na5?! Qa6? 18.dxc5 Rxc5 19.Rxc5 Bxc5 20.b4 White is quickly advancing her queenside pawns, getting complete control over the position. 20…Bb6 21.b5 Qc8 22.Nac6 O-O 23.Qf3 f6 24.Nc4 Bc5 25.Be3! Nxe3 26.Nxe3 Kh8 27.Nxf5 exf5 28.Qd5 White is completely winning. However, Salimova was in time trouble and soon she started to err… 28…Bb6 29.a5 Bc7 30.Nxa7 Qb8 31.Nc6 Bxh2+ 32.Kh1 Qf4 All of the sudden Black has some threats. 33.Qf3? The first big mistake by White. She should have just continued with 33.Nd4! Now 33…Qh4 is met with 34.Nf6, while 34…Qh6 fails to 35.Nxf5 33…Qh4 34.Qh3 Qc4 35.Kxh2?? Another blunder. White was still winning after a precise 35.Rb1. Now it’s around even. 35…Qxf1 36.Qxf5 Qc4 37 a6 g6 38.Qd7 Qf4+ And now it’s perpetual. 39.Kg1 Qc1+ 40.Kh2 Qf4+ 41.Kg1 Qc1+ 42.Kh2 ½ – ½ Goryachkina made two consecutive saves in her match against Salimova. To win, she had to take control of the situation and not rely on luck. That is exactly what happened in the second tiebreak game, as Salimova started blundering early on. This well-known theoretical position is around even, but Black did not play the main move 12…Bd5, tested on the highest level, but opted for less precise 13…c5 and after 14.dxc5 Na6 15.Qxc5 White emerged with an extra runner on the queenside. Alexandra was gradually making progress and reached a winning position. White’s only problem is that her king is a bit restricted. With this in mind, Alexandra should have played 36.e3! removing Black d4 pawn. However, Goryachkina made several mistakes, allowing Black to equalise. 36.Be4 Nf6 37.Bd3