The return games of the Round 4 were played on September 21. Only three players advanced to the next stage outright, and we saw two comebacks.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who played against Peter Svidler with Black, made a draw and became the first player to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup, winning the match 1.5 to 0.5.
The encounter So - Vitiugov followed a similar pattern. The American, playing White, was unable to pose serious challenges to his opponent. The game ended in a draw, which promoted grandmaster from St. Petersburg to the next stage.
Yu Yangyi won as White against Ian Nepomniachtchi and also advanced to the quarterfinals. In the Gruenfeld Defense, the Chinese player sacrificed two pawns and got certain compensation but hardly more. However, after trading the queens Black made a serious mistake that cost him dearly. Nepomniachtchi put up a tenacious defense but was unable to save the day and resigned on the 43rd move.
Jeffrey Xiong managed to come back against Jan-Krzysztof Duda after a painful loss in the first game. The American surprised the opponent with a rare Bishop's Opening, got an upper hand right off the bat, and the rest of the game was basically one-sided. After the queens were exchanged, Xiong obtained a material advantage and converted it with relative ease. This match will be decided on tie-break.
Leinier Dominguez beat Alexander Grischuk in a tough battle and leveled the score in their match. At some point, the Russian had an advantage but the position remained double-edged. Alexander spent too much time trying to find the most accurate moves but did not succeed. After Black’s serious mistake on the 28th move, things went downhill for Grischuk.
“It was my only chance today to get this type of position. Black has many, many options and I think it is one of the things that made Alexander going into time trouble. After he had 5 minutes for 25 moves I was quite optimistic because my position was quite promising and he had no time. I had to find some precise continuations and I am not sure if made the best moves, but finally it worked.” Leinier told in his post-game interview.
The games Radjabov-Mamedyarov, Aronian-Le Quang Liem, and Alekseenko-Ding Liren were drawn. The opponents will also square off on the tiebreaks.
Results:
Alekseenko - Ding Liren: 1/2 (1-1)
Xiong-Duda: 1-0 (1-1)
Svidler-Vachier-Lagrave: 1/2 (0.5-1.5)
So-Vitiugov 1/2 (0.5-1.5)
Yu Yangyi-Nepomniachtchi 1-0 (1.5-0.5)
Aronian-Le Quang Liem 1/2 (1-1)
Radjabov-Mamedyarov 1/2 (1-1)
Dominguez-Grischuk 1-0 (1-1)
Five matches will be decided on tie-break on September 22:
Aronian - Le Quang Liem
Radjabov – Mamedyarov
Dominguez – Grischuk
Ding Liren –Alekseenko
Xiong - Duda.
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.
