World
Cities Chess Team Champion
This event is held at two-year intervals, with teams representing cities (maximum
one city per country). National federations are eligible to play with their
national team members representing a city. The FIDE World Cities Championship
is a sequel to the Chess Olympiad and Continental Cities Championships.
The Al Ain Chess Club of the United Arab Emirates Chess Federation has committed
to organize the World Cities Championship for the Sheikh Zayed Cup for five
times until 2020. The prize fund for the 2012 edition is $150,000.
24 teams were at the start of the tournament. Each was ranked by the average
rating of their four strongest players as per the 1st December FIDE rating list.
If two or more teams have the same average they are ranked according to the
rating of the fifth player and then alphabetically. The teams were divided into
groups of four teams each, and each group played a single round robin tournament.
The top two from each group advanced to the Round-of-16, together with the four
best 3rd placed teams.
Quarter-finals

Baku (above right) was the first to go through as they outclassed the Wu Xi
team of China 3:1. The Azerbaijan strategy paid off as Eltaj Safarli and Gadir
Guseinov held to draws the two stronger Chinese players, GM Wang Yue and Ji
Dan. The battle shifted to the lower boards. Baku’s GM Rauf Mamedov outplayed
Li Wenliang and Nidjat Mamedov outmaneuvered Fang Yuxiang to give Baku the 3:1
victory and a slot in the semifinals.

Next to qualify was Novi Sad (above). Robert Markus used the King’s Indian
Defense to beat Hans Tikannen on board three for Lund, Sweden. Milos Perunovic
defeated Pontus Carlsson in 39 moves. The win by Nils Grandelius on the top
board against Ivan Ivanisevic came too late to change the knock-out result.

Tashkent qualified next, at the expense of Athens, Greece. Saidali Iuldachev
scored first on board four against Andreas Tzermiadianos in 38 moves of a Ruy
Lopez. After two draws on the middle boards, Marat Dzhumaev sealed the win for
Tashkent by beating Ioannis Papaioannou for a 3:1 score. The fourth placed semifinalist
receives $10,000 prize money out of a total $150,000 in this team tournament.
In the last match of the round Hoogeveen came from behind to beat Saratov.
The Russians scored first, as Alexei Iljushin beat Jan Smeets on board four
in 41 moves. Much was expected of Dutch top board Anish Giri, but he was held
to a draw by Evgeny Tomasevsky. Dutch captain Ivan Sokolov also drew on second
board with Igor Lysyj leaving the decision to the third board match between
Hoogeveen’s Sergei Tiviakov and Evgeny Romanov.

The hero of the quarter-finals Sergey Tiviakov (picture from an earlier
round)
The Russian GM lost a pawn on the 43rd move, but the game looked drawish, which
would give the victory to the Russians. It was nearly midnight and everyone
left in the hall had their eyes glued to the monitor as Tiviakov nursed a one
pawn advantage in a precise same-colored bishop endgame to force resignation
on the 67th move. This meant Hoogeveen had won the match by the Berlin system,
where more weight is put on the higher boards.
Here are all the results:
2.1 |
Hoogeveen – NED |
2.0–2.0 |
Saratov – RUS |
1 |
Giri Anish |
½:½ |
Tomashevsky Evgeny |
2 |
Sokolov Ivan |
½:½ |
Lysyj Igor |
3 |
Tiviakov Sergei |
1:0 |
Romanov Evgeny |
4 |
Smeets Jan |
0:1 |
Iljushin Alexei |
2.2 |
Tashkent – UZB |
3.0–1.0 |
Athens – GRE |
1 |
Dzhumaev Marat |
1:0 |
Papaioannou Ioannis |
2 |
Kvon Andrey |
½:½ |
Banikas Hristos |
3 |
Barsov Alexei |
½:½ |
Halkias Stelios |
4 |
Iuldachev Saidali |
1:0 |
Tzermiadianos Andreas |
2.3 |
Baku – AZE |
3.0–1.0 |
Wu Xi – CHN |
1 |
Safarli Eltaj |
½:½ |
Wang Yue |
2 |
Guseinov Gadir |
½:½ |
Ji Dan |
3 |
Mamedov Rauf |
1:0 |
Li Wenliang |
4 |
Mamedov Nidjat |
1:0 |
Fang Yuxiang |
2.4 |
Novi Sad – SRB |
2½–1½ |
Lund – SWE |
1 |
Ivanisevic Ivan |
0:1 |
Grandelius Nils |
2 |
Markus Robert |
1:0 |
Tikkanen Hans |
3 |
Perunovic Milos |
1:0 |
Carlsson Pontus |
4 |
Sedlak Nikola |
½:½ |
Smith Axel |
Semi-finals
Hoogeveen drubbed Tashkent 3:1 to advance to the final match, while Baku outclassed
Novi Sad 3.5-0.5 to climb to the last rung of the knockout.
1.1 |
Tashkent – UZB |
1.0–3.0 |
Hoogeveen – NED |
1 |
Dzhumaev Marat |
0:1 |
Giri Anish |
2 |
Kvon Andrey |
0:1 |
Sokolov Ivan |
3 |
Barsov Alexei |
½:½ |
Tiviakov Sergei |
4 |
Iuldachev Saidali |
½:½ |
Smeets Jan |
1.2 |
Novi Sad – SRB |
0½ – 3½ |
Baku – AZE |
1 |
Ivanisevic Ivan |
0:1 |
Safarli Eltaj |
2 |
Markus Robert |
0:1 |
Guseinov Gadir |
3 |
Perunovic Milos |
½:½ |
Mamedov Rauf |
4 |
Sedlak Nikola |
0:1 |
Durarbayli Vasif |
In the match Hoogeveen vs Tashkent Ivan Sokolov made short work of IM Andrey
Kvon’s Nimzo Indian Defense when he posted his queen deep in Black’s
territory and added pressure with doubled rooks. Kvon lost a pawn and resigned
on the 33rd moves under the mounting attack. On board three, the previous round's
hero Sergei Tiviakov also used the Nimzo Indian Defense but could only draw
with Alexei Barsov in 41 moves. Anish Giri, playing black on the top board,
used the Sicilian Scheveningen to seal the win for Hoogeveen as he defeated
Tashkent’s Marat Dzhumaev. With the match already decided, the fourth
board game continued between Jan Smeets of Hoogeveen and Saidali Iuldachev of
Tashkent up to 77 moves close to midnight.

First to finish in the Baku-Novi Sad Match was Vasif Durarbayli of Azerbaijan.
He crushed the French Defense Tarrasch Variation of Nikola Sedlak; who blundered
with an overworked queen. On board three Milos Perunovic of Novi Sad attacked
the Closed Sicilian Defense of Rauf Mamedov and won the black queen in exchange
for a rook and knight. The bishop pair of Mamedov allowed for a perpetual check
for a draw on the 33rd move.
Young Eltaj Safarli, playing black on top board for Baku, also opted for the
Sicilian Defense against Ivan Ivanisevic of Novi Sad. In the Closed variation,
Safarli allowed the exchange of his queen for a rook and two pieces. He advanced
his rook pawn and, faced with a promotion, Ivanisevic resigned on the 38th move.
With the match already won, Gadir Guseinov of Baku embarked on a kingside pawn
storm against the Philidor Defense of Robert Markus of Novi Sad. Guseinov penetrated
with his queen and wove a mating net to force resignation on the 37th move.
Finals
The Dutch team of Hoogeveen won the World Cities Team Championship, beating
Baku by 2.5:1.5. The hero was again Sergei Tiviakov, who played the only decisive
game against Nidjat Mamedov. In the match for third place Novi Sad (Serbia)
beat Tashkent (Uzbekistan) by virtue of the the Berlin System tiebreak of the
2.0-2.0 final score.
1.1 |
Hoogeveen – NED |
2.5–1.5 |
Baku – AZE |
1 |
Giri Anish |
½:½ |
Safarli Eltaj |
2 |
Sokolov Ivan |
½:½ |
Mamedov Rauf |
3 |
Tiviakov Sergei |
1:0 |
Mamedov Nidjat |
4 |
Smeets Jan |
½:½ |
Durarbayli Vasif |
1.2 |
Novi Sad – SRB |
2.0–2.0 |
Tashkent – UZB |
1 |
Ivanisevic Ivan |
1:0 |
Dzhumaev Marat |
2 |
Markus Robert |
½:½ |
Kvon Andrey |
3 |
Perunovic Milos |
½:½ |
Barsov Alexei |
4 |
Sedlak Nikola |
0:1 |
Iuldachev Saidali |
The Hoogeveen team won $21,000 out of the $150,000 prize fund. “We purposely
had only four players, to have fewer people to share the prize,” Hoogeveen
captain Ivan Sokolov said.

The winners from Hoogeveen: Ivan Sokolov, Anish Giri, Sergei Tiviakov and
Jan Smeets
Score tree of the knock-out phase

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