World Cup 1.3: tremendous action in the tiebreaks

The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players, with two games (90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest, with 30 seconds increment) between pairs of players. The tiebreaks consist of two rapid games (25 min + 10 sec), then two accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec), and finally an Armageddon. The winner and the runner-up of the World Cup 2013 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament of the next World Championship cycle. The venue is the city of Tromsø, which lies in the northern-most region of Norway, almost 400 km inside the Arctic Circle. You can find all details and links to many ChessBase articles on Tromsø here. The World Cup starts on Sunday, August 11th and lasts until September 3rd (tiebreaks, closing ceremony). Each round lasts three days, while the final will consist of four classical games. Thursday August 29 is a free day. A detailed schedule can be found here.

Results of the first round tiebreaks

In the following table, in the last column, we give the final scores of the matches that went into tiebreaks. Full results of the two rapid, two accelerated, two blitz and the armageddon are to be found on the official results page. Details of the most interesting encounters are provided in the photo section below. And naturally there is a JavaScript replay board for all the tiebreak games, together with video reports of the tiebreak games at the bottom of the page.

• All results and standings on the official site

Gata Kamsky (above right) was shaking his head when he drew both rapid games against young Chinese IM Lou Yiping – in spite of at least one "won" position. The American took the first accelerated game and drew the second to proceed to the second round.

Peter Svidler won the first rapid game, but almost blew it in the second, when Anna Ushenina had a chance to win just before the end (38.Rc4!+–). Instead she blundered (with 38.Rf1) and got mated three moves later. Svidler was in round two.

Alexei Shirov was served a shock when opponent Hou Yifan won the first rapid game. Shirov equalised with a brilliant effort in the second, and then went on to win both accelerated games. Still: a very brave effort by the 19-year-old Chinese GM, who will play for the Women's World Championship later this year.

Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyan vs GM Julio E Granda Zuniga of Peru was one of the games that went all the way to the Armageddon: each player won and lost a rapid, an accelerated and a blitz game. In the Armageddon Granda had black and only needed a draw. But he won the game and proceeds to the next round.

Another cliff-hanger: Alejandro Ramirez and Evgeny Tomashevsky drew their classical and rapid games. Tomashevsky won the first 10+10 game, but Ramirez struck back in the second with the black pieces. He then went on to win the first blitz game, but lost the second. In the Armageddon he had black, but lost his queen for a rook and knight and had to resign in the end. Tomashevsky is in the next round.

After drawing both classical games Peruvian GM Jorge Cori won his first rapid game against Super-GM Teimour Radjabov, then lost the second. He did not appear in time for the third, accelerated game and was forfeited. It was rumoured that it was a misunderstanding – Jorge speaks virtually no English. The second accelerated game was drawn, so Radjabov advances – in spite of a protest launched by the South American.

Jorge Cori's appeal rejected

Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian lost his first rapid game to Jon Ludvig Hammer and drew the second. That enthralled the local public: at least one Norwegian GM had advanced to the second round (Agdestein, Hansen and Johannessen had been knocked out in the regular games).

Indian GM B. Adhiban, rated 2567, won the first rapid game against Russian GM Evgeny Alekseev, 2710. He lost the second, and drew both 10+10 games. Adhiban went on to win both the blitz tiebreakers and was through to the second round. Probably the biggest upset of the day.

Russian GM Vadim Zvjaginsev was knocked out in the second blitz game by 19-year-old Polish GM Dariusz Swiercz. Correct us if we are wrong, but with the exception of Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Hou Yifan and the defaulted Jorge Cori all the U20 players appear to have made it to the second round.

Russian GM Aleksandr Shimanov knocked out British hopeful Gawain Jones in the second 10+10 minute game – all previous games had been drawn.

Argentinian GM Ruben Felgaer, left, drew his regular and rapid games against Russian GM Alexander Riazantsev, 114 points above him on the rating scale. Felgaer won the first accelerated game and drew the second to advance to the second round.

Pictures provided by Paul Truong in Tromsø

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Video reports from Tromsø

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: R1 The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.