World Cup: The big guns are coming

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
7/15/2021 – Two matches — out of the 28 that went to playoffs in round 1 — reached the third set of tiebreaker games at the World Cups in Sochi: in the open, Neuris Delgado knocked out Niaz Murshed, while in the women’s section, Gulnar Mammadova eliminated Mai Narva in the longest matches of the inaugural round. Youngsters Volodar Murzin (14 y.o., pictured), Gukesh (15), Nurgyul Salimova (18) and Jennifer Yu (18) also made it through to round 2 on Wednesday. | Photo: Eric Rosen

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First, try to solve these two quick tactical puzzles. Both positions were seen during Wendesday’s playoffs, one in the open section and one in the women’s section.

Find Black’s most forcing way to win
White to play and draw

The top 50 players in the open tournament and the top 25 players in the women’s tournament were directly seeded into round 2 of the World Cups in Sochi. In addition, 8 players could not make it to the city along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, which means 8 more players got to rest three days before joining the fray.

Out of the 109 matches that did take place in round 1, 28 were decided in Wednesday’s tiebreakers, which means some of the players who made it into round 2 will face well-rested top grandmasters after winning a tough three-day match. Specifically:

  • Gukesh (2578) vs Daniil Dubov (2714)
  • Ravi Haria (2440) vs Etienne Bacrot (2678)
  • Federico Perez Ponsa (2554) vs Alexander Grischuk (2776)
  • Alexadr Fier (2569) vs Vidit (2726)
  • Boris Savchenko (2553) vs Anish Giri (2780)
  • Bobby Cheng (2552) vs Levon Aronian (2781)
  • Abdelrahman Hesham (2397) vs Constantin Lupulescu (2656)
  • Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian (2554) vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2770)
  • Volodar Murzin (2502) vs Vladislav Artemiev (2704)
  • Susanto Megaranto (2550) vs Fabiano Caruana (2820)

The same will be seen in one round-2 match in the women’s section...

  • Jennifer Yu (2316) vs Dinara Saduakassova (2500)

...although Yu — who won the 2019 US Women’s Championship — has plenty of experience facing higher-rated opposition. The same can be said about Gukesh and Murzin in the open section, two teenage rising stars who are most likely far from their peak rating.

Let us hope that the confidence boost and the fact that they have already warmed up in the first round will allow the lower-rated players to put up a strong fight against their famed rivals. After all, many of them have not played over-the-board chess for quite a while!

Ravi Haria

Ravi Haria | Photo: Eric Rosen


Going back to the tactical puzzles, the first one was seen in the first rapid game between Adly Ahmed and Abdelrahman Hesham. Black is completely winning, but Hesham surprised the commentators by playing a good-looking forcing move.

 
Adly vs. Hesham

35...Rh2+ 36.Kxh2 Qh6+ 37.Rh3, and now came the move that justifies the line.

 

37...Rh1+ 38.Kxh1 Qxh3+ — the queen and knight duo win the game for Black. Hesham went on to draw the second game to advance to the second round after knocking out his higher-rated compatriot.

Other highlights from day 3 in the open section:

  1. English IM Hari Ravia knocked out Russian GM Vadim Zvjaginsev by scoring back-to-back wins in the 25-minute games.
  2. Paraguayan GM Neuris Delgado needed six tiebreak games to knock out Bangladeshi GM Niaz Murzhed.
  3. 14-year-old Russian IM Volodar Murzin knocked out Moldovan veteran GM Viorel Iordachescu.

Neuris Delgado

Neuris Delgado | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

Similarly to the all-Egyptian confrontation shown above, the lower-rated Ingrid Aliaga (Peru) had a completely winning position with black against Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria) in the first rapid game of the playoffs. The Peruvian WIM, however, was not careful enough in conversion.

 
Salimova vs. Aliaga

Wondering why strong players continue playing in totally lost positions? Sometimes they are waiting for an opportunity like the one Salimova received in this game: the Bulgarian drew by stalemate after 60.Qg8+ Kg6 61.Qf7+ Kh6 62.Qxh5+ Kxh5 and the white king cannot move.

Salimova went on to win the second rapid encounter and advanced to round 2, where she will meet German number 1 Elisabeth Paehtz.

Other highlights from day 3 in the women’s section:

  1. 19-year-old American FM Jennifer Yu (2019 U.S. women’s champion) knocked out current Polish women’s champion Klaudia Kulon.
  2. Azerbaijani IM Gulnar Mammadova knocked out Estonian WIM Mai Narva in an extremely hard-fought match.

Jennifer Yu

Jennifer Yu | Photo: Eric Rosen

Endgame analyses

GM Karsten Müller sent instructive analyses from three positions seen in Wednesday’s tiebreakers. In Bilel Bellahcene vs Hovhannes Gabuzyan, White failed to defend an ending with bishop and two pawns against six pawns.

 
Bellahcene vs. Gabuzyan

Bellahcene’s 55.e6 was the losing mistake. GM Müller demonstrates that 55.h3 was the very precise way to hold the draw. He also took a more in-depth look at the stalemate trick shown above and at a game between Hjorvar Gretarsson and Kirill Stupak — the former moved on to round 2, where he will face Maxim Matlakov.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.b4 Nxb4 4.c3 Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 e6 7.Nc3 d5 8.e5 Bb4 9.Bd2 Nge7 10.a3 Bxc3 11.Bxc3 Bd7 12.Bd3 Rc8 13.Qd2 0-0 14.0-0 f6 15.Rfe1 h6 16.Rac1 f5 17.a4 Be8 18.Qb2 b6 19.Qa3 Bh5 20.Nd2 Ng6 21.Bb5 Qg5 22.Kh1 Nh4 23.Rg1 Qf4 24.f3 Rf7 25.Qb2 Nd8 26.Be8 Qe3 27.Nf1 Qd3 28.Bb5 Rc4 29.Nd2 Rfc7 30.Nxc4 dxc4 31.Rgd1 Qe3 32.Qd2 Nxg2 33.Kxg2 Bxf3+ 34.Kf1 Qe4 35.Re1 Qg4 36.Re3 Nf7 37.Qf2 Ng5 38.Qg3 Qh5 39.Be8 Qxe8 40.Rxf3 Nxf3 41.Qxf3 Rd7 42.Ra1 Rd5 43.Ra2 Kh7 44.Qe2 b5 45.axb5 Rxb5 46.Rb2 Rxb2 47.Qxb2 Qc6 48.Kf2 Qe4 49.Qe2 Qxe2+ 50.Kxe2 g5 51.d5 exd5 52.Ke3 f4+ 53.Kd4 f3 54.Ke3 g4 "The principle of one diagonal". This is always important for bishops in endings: 55.e6? This just weakens the e-pawn as White does not control everything on the long diagonal anymore. 55.h3 draws due to gxh3 55...h5 56.hxg4 hxg4 57.e6 Kg8 58.Kf2 Kf8 59.Kg3 Ke7 60.Bd4 a5 61.Kxg4 Kxe6 62.Kxf3= 56.Kxf3 a5 56...Kg6?? runs into 57.e6+- and White wins by zugzwang as Black's pawns are all under complete control. The bishop on the long digonal is really powerful here. 57.Kg3 Now White controls everything on the long diagonal and his fortress holds, e.g. Kg7 58.Kxh3 Kf7 59.Kg4 Ke6 60.Kh5 a4 61.Kxh6 Kf5 62.e6 Kxe6 63.Kg5 d4 64.Bxd4 Kd5 65.Bb2 Ke4 66.Kf6 Kd3 67.Ke5 c3 68.Ba3= 55...Kg8! Black now stops the e-pawn, while Black's pawns are unstoppable. They are simply too many and not under control. 56.Be1 Now 56.h3 comes too late due to gxh3 57.Kxf3 Kf8 58.Kg3 Ke7 59.Kxh3 Kxe6 60.Kg4 a5 and White can not keep control on the long diagonal and 61.Bxa5 is met by d4 62.Bd2 h5+ 63.Kxh5 c3-+ 56...Kf8 57.Kf4 h5 58.Ke5 58.Bh4 a5-+ 58...c3 59.Kd6 Ke8 Black stops all counterplay, which is good technique. 59...c2?! wins as well after 60.Kd7 c1Q 61.e7+ Kg7 62.e8Q Qf4-+ but matters are much more complicated of course. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bellahcene Bilel (ALG)2497Gabuzyan,H25870–12021B30FIDE World Cup 20211.55
Gretarsson,H2603Stupak,K24851–02021C11FIDE World Cup 20211.47
Salimova,N2395Aliaga Fernandez,I2191½–½2021A12FIDE Womens World Cup 20211.3

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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