FIDE World Cup 2017: Anand and Karjakin knocked out

Ten players qualify for round three

22 matches go into tiebreaks

Violent winds were blowing outside the tournament hall. So much so that the organizers had to relocate the smoking area as opening the door would create havoc inside the playing hall. Well, perhaps this was a sign of what was to come in the round. It was perhaps the bloodiest round of the World Cup 2017. Three big names were eliminated: five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, World Championship Challenger Sergey Karjakin and super-solid Englishman Michael Adams.

The round will start in 17 minutes and 23 seconds and only one player is there: Vassily Ivanchuk!

Baadur Jobava asks broadcast expert Anna Burtasova what the violent wind means for the smokers.

Only ten of the 64 players who made it to round two are going to enjoy September 8th as a rest day (this is assuming that the ten people who got eliminated are not enjoying!). 44 players have to go into the tiebreaks. 22 tiebreak-matches will be played, the same number we had in round one (with 128 players!) This just goes to show how cautious players were.

How was Sergey Karjakin eliminated?

In the first game between Sergey Karjakin and Daniil Dubov, Karjakin had White but Dubov equalized easily and the game ended in a draw. When Dubov had White he once again showed excellent preparation. In an English both players were well versed with opening theory and blitzed out the first moves. But on move 18 Dubov pushed his pawn to a5 and confidently got up from the board where Sergey Karjakin was sitting deep in thought.

Radjabov and Nakamura come to the board to see what is going on. Both are keen to know the opening moves, but Dubov's handwriting...

...made them throw a glance over Karjakin's shoulder!

Soon Boris Gelfand paid a visit to the board and after a few minutes...

...Alexander Grischuk cast an inqusitive glance!

It's not so easy to attract the attention of these top players, who are so well prepared. So, what caught the attention of everyone?

White is an exchange up, but the pawn on f2 is quite strong. The question is what exactly is the pawn on a5 doing? Can it not be taken? But the position is complex and the better prepared player surely has an edge over his opponent. One cannot be certain who was better prepared, but one thing is sure: Dubov remembered the analysis better.

I knew that 18...Ra5 is a draw, but over the board got confused and played 18...Ba7. I even repeated this line today, but it did not help...

— Sergey Karjakin (@SergeyKaryakin) September 7, 2017

Yes, Rxa5 would have been equal, as Dubov later showed in his analysis (check the video below). Karjakin's move led to a complex position which the young Russian was able to navigate better than his opponent who is famed for his defensive skills. In a wonderful feat Dubov managed to outplay Karjakin.

Daniil Dubov shows his thought process, preparation and calculations

Knocking out the defending champion! Now that's some achievement by Daniil Dubov.

Anand out of the World Championship cycle

This is the first time in my memory that Anand is out of the World Championship cycle entirely. He is not playing the Grand Prix, he cannot qualify for the Candidates via rating, and now he was knocked out from the World Cup. There is still some hope that he might get the FIDE President's nomination for the Candidates, but that is a long shot.

Anand came casually dressed to the game: in a t-shirt

Anand lost the first game against Anton Kovalyov after unnecessarily sacrificing a knight on c5. Afterwards, Anand called the move "ridiculous", and said that "it was totally uncalled for in a kockout format. Sometimes your head isn't just screwed to the right place." In the second game Kovalyov proceeded in a very solid way and was able to draw without too many difficulties. This meant that Anand was knocked out of the World Cup 2017.

Kovalyov knocked out Anand, but didn't learn his lesson from World Cup 2015. Which lesson? He tells us in the video!

Anand blames his decision to try Nc5 in game one for his elimination

Decisive games in round 2.2

Ivan Cheparinov was the only player who had lost game one and could level the score.

Players who are already qualified for round three:

A routine day in the life of Magnus Carlsen

Magnus had won his first game against Dreev and a draw would have been enough for him to reach round three. However, he wanted more. He played a relatively safe line of the Sicilian Rossolimo and didn't let his advantage slip after Dreev made a few errors.

Carlsen always gets his glasses entangled in some way while is playing and he likes to adjust his knights in a way that they are facing sidewards

Here's the unannotated game of Carlsen's victory over Dreev. If you wish to see some high class analysis check out Daniel King's Powerplay video below the game.

Daniel King analyzes Carlsen against Dreev

With this win Magnus is the only player with a score of 4.0/4! After the game ended, Carlsen asked the arbiter to give him the scoresheet. His game will be online everywhere so why does he need the scoresheet? Perhaps someone is collecting them! In any case, after the game ended, Magnus strolled around in the tournament hall to watch the games that were still in progress.

No one can escape the watchful eye of the world champion!

Papa, that was easy!

Then Carlsen had dinner with his father and with his second Peter Heine Nielsen

Kramnik came well prepared to the game, but his opponent gave him no time to eat the chocolate or the banana!

The other minor shock of the day was Vladimir Kramnik's draw against Anton Demchenko. Not the result in itself, but the fact that Demchenko who was trailing in the match offered a draw on move ten. Why? Perhaps he was not feeling well or he just didn't believe in himself.

Well, what can I do? I had to accept the draw! Vladimir Kramnik speaks to official commentator Ivan Sokolov.

Vladimir Kramnik speaks about qualifying to round three, opening preparation and how age plays a role in such gruelling events.

Kramnik's ChessBase-DVD "My path to the top" has been a bestseller. I learned a lot from it. When I mentioned this to Kramnik, he said that he should plan a trip to Hamburg and record another DVD soon for ChessBase. Well, for all those who haven't seen this classic, don't miss it.

My Path to the Top

On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov.

Hou Yifan held her own against Levon Aronian in both classical encounters (By the way, if you look closely, you will see that the colour combination of Aronian's trousers and chair is the same as the Armenian flag!)

Hou Yifan speaks about her games against Levon Aronian

A big upset of the day was Israel's Maxim Rodshtein win against Michael Adams.

Aleksandr Lenderman is in great form. After knocking out Pavel Eljanov in round one, he now got the better of Aryan Tari. We are wondering what is it that Aleksandr is carrying with him to the game and put next to the banana?

Perhaps a better view can help!

Francesco Vallejo Pons was able to knock out Evgeny Tomashevsky by playing a sideline in the Ruy Lopez