The return games of the FIDE World Cup Semifinals were played in Khanty-Mansiysk on September 27.
Teimour Radjabov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had a discussion in the English Opening. After Black rejected to exchange the queens early in the game, White launched a powerful attack on the kingside. The French grandmaster was defending resourcefully and saved his king, but lost a pawn in process, while White still had a dominating position with a strong pressure on the kingside.
Black kept avoiding exchanging the queens but by the 40th move, White's attack became decisive. Vachier-Lagrave blundered a rook in a hopeless situation and resigned on the 45th move. Teimour Radjabov has become the first finalist of the FIDE World Cup and secured a slot in the Candidates Tournament that will be held in Yekaterinburg in 2020.
“He got into my preparation; I was better immediately. I did not expect him to play this way. Probably the nerves or the tiredness tell here as he mixed up the move order. After Ng5 the position is very unpleasant for Black maybe even lost…. I thought that winning by force should be there, but I will have to see how. Actually I was upset when he got into this position with Qd5. I thought that he could take on g2 and get some practical chances to save the game. The way he played I was very happy about because he got in the type of position where I could play him around with pawn up, pressuring the pawn on g7 all the time, especially when I transferred my bishop to e5. I think he had to play e5 at some point.” explained Teimour in the interview after the game.
Yu Yangyi and Ding Liren played the Nimzo-Indian Defense and up to a certain point followed the earlier game between Yu Yangyi and Nikita Vitiugov. Ding Liren improved Black's play with 18…Rd5 and solved all the problems. It's also the computer's first choice, as Ding Liren mentioned in the post-game interview. The game simplified, and the players agreed to a draw in an equal queen ending on the 30th move, having spent less than an hour at the board.
"We played many rapid and blitz games recently," smiled Ding Liren, when asked about his chances on the tiebreak. "Sometimes I win and sometimes he wins, the results are balanced." Both players noted that they prefer faster time-controls, so the tiebreak promises to be an interesting battle.
The tie-break between Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi will be played on September 28, with the latter having White in the first game.
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.
