Five players moved on to the round-of-16 after knocking out their opponents in the first set of rapid tiebreakers on Saturday. In a massive upset, Serbian GM Velimir Ivic (2581) got the better of 2013 World Cup runner-up Dmitry Andreikin (2724) to secure a spot in the fifth round, where he will face an in-form Vladimir Fedoseev.
Ivic beat his higher-rated opponent with black in the first rapid encounter from a highly complicated ending.
As GM Karsten Müller shows below, White could have held a draw from this position, as his passed pawns can neutralize Black’s knight and passer on the a-file. Andreikin would have needed to be very precise, though!
The playing hall during Saturday’s playoffs | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova
Other matches that finished after two games in round-4’s playoffs:
The remaining matches were decided in the second set of tiebreakers (10-minute games with 10-second increments):
There were no draws in the match between Durarbayli and Abdusattorov, with the latter bouncing back in the classical phase and then grabbing the lead in the rapid tiebreakers — the young Uzbek found a good-looking mating attack with the white pieces.
Black resigned after 43.Ra8+ due to 43...Bxa8 44.Nc8+ Ka6 45.Rb6#.
Unfortunately for Abdusattorov, though, not only did Durarbayli won the next game on demand but also scored back-to-back victories in the 10-minute encounters to get a spot in the round-of-16.
GM Müller analysed Abdusattorov’s remarkable win.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs Vasif Durarbayli | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova
Source: Wikipedia | Click to enlarge
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As has been mostly the case throughout the women’s event, the rating favourites prevailed in Saturday’s playoffs:
Assuabayeva was the most surprising player that made it to the round-of-16 in the women’s category, but she had the tough task of facing Lagno. The Russian star won the first rapid tiebreaker with black — she converted her advantage into a win from a technical position in which she had the wrong rook’s pawn.
Despite having a large material advantage, converting this with black is not trivial at all. In fact, Lagno barely managed before the 50-move rule would have granted her young opponent a draw. GM Müller annotated the endgame.
Husband and wife — both Alexander Grischuk and Kateryna Lagno advanced to round 5 in Saturday’s tiebreakers | Photo: Eric Rosen
Source: Wikipedia | Click to enlarge
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