ChessKid Cup: Abdusattorov and Van Foreest make it to the final

by Johannes Fischer
5/24/2023 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov (picture) and Jorden Van Foreest are in the final of the Winner's Bracket of the ChessKid Cup. In the semi-finals Abdusattorov beat Fabiano Caruana and Van Foreest won against Dmitrij Kollars, who missed a number of good chances. Co-favourite Hikaru Nakamura, on the other hand, was eliminated from the tournament, losing to Alireza Firouzja in the Losers' Bracket. | Photo: Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the Tata Steel Tournament 2023 | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Dmitrij Kollars started as a big underdog in Division I of the ChessKid Cup, but then caused a surprise in round 1 and won against Alireza Firouzja. Kollars also had good chances against Jorden Van Foreest in round two, but he could not make use of them and lost narrowly 1.5-2.5.

That the match would not be easy for Van Foreest was immediately evident in the first game, in which Kollars won in the endgame.

But Van Foreest fought back in the second game and the Dutchman also took the third.

This meant that Kollars absolutely had to win the fourth game of the match with White to make it to the Armageddon game. Kollars did indeed reach a winning queen ending, but in the end he allowed Van Foreest, who was defending tenaciously, to escape into a draw.

However, Kollars is not out of the tournament after this defeat. He will play Jules Moussard, who beat Aleksandr Shimanov, in the losers bracket.

Van Foreest will meet Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who beat Fabiano Caruana 2.5-1.5, in the final of the winner's bracket. After a draw in the first game, Abdusattorov took the lead with a win in the second. But Caruana equalised in the third game and it was the fourth game that decided the match.

Caruana will meet Firouzja, who beat Nakamura, in the losers bracket. Although Nakamura's defeat eliminated him from the tournament, he did not miss the opportunity to comment on his match against Firouzja on his streaming channel GMHikaru.

All games Division I

All games Division II

All games Division III

Brackets

Division I

Division II

Division III

Live commentary of day 1: With David Howell, Tania Sachdev, Daniel Naroditsky and James Canty III

Links

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".