Esipenko draws Carlsen comfortably
The participants of the World Cup have been playing chess for a bit over two weeks. For the 16 survivors in the open section, the final objective is already in sight, which means nerves and fatigue will play an increasingly bigger role at the Gazprom Mountain Resort in Sochi.
Day 1 of the round-of-16 saw 7 out of 8 matches finishing drawn, with Andrey Esipenko and Jan-Krzysztof Duda perhaps the happiest of the bunch that ended the day with a half point. Both of them got draws with black, and while Esipenko split a point with world champion Magnus Carlsen, Duda drew an opponent (Alexander Grischuk) against whom he had once lost five times in a row, as he noted in a post-game interview.
These DVDs are about Understanding Middlegame Strategies. In the first DVD dynamic decisions involving pawns are discussed. The second DVD deals with decision making process concerning practical play.
This was only the second time 19-year-old Esipenko faced the world champion in a classical game. And this was their first draw, as the Russian defeated Carlsen earlier this year in Wijk aan Zee. In Sunday’s game, Esipenko had a very comfortable position out of the opening, but failed to find a way to push for more. Carlsen, understandably, simplified the position and implicitly offered a draw by repeating moves soon after.
The symbolic first move in Carlsen v Esipenko was played by two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist in figure ice-skating Evgenia Medvedeva, who commented before the round began:
I sensed the tension, the silent adrenaline, the concentration in the playing hall. The situation was very unusual — figure skaters usually do more physical work before the start of the competition.

Magnus Carlsen, Evgenia Medvedeva and Andrey Esipenko | Photo: Eric Rosen
Happier than Esipenko and Duda, though, must have been Haik Martirosyan, who scored a pivotal win with black against Iranian GM Amin Tabatabaei. The Armenian gained a pawn on move 21, and shortly after his opponent strangely rejected a potential threefold repetition.
Tabatabaei vs. Martirosyan - Game 1
The contenders reached this position after twice repeating moves with 24.Rc3 Qa1 25.Rc1 Qa3 26.Rc3 Qa1. Had Tabatabaei continued with 27.Rc1, Martirosyan would have repeated and agreed to a draw, as he told Michael Rahal later on. However, the Iranian went for 27.Qc1, a decision which the eventual winner of the game simply could not understand.
After the queens were exchanged, Black was playing for two results with his extra pawn. The conversion was not easy, though, and Tabatabaei missed the best chance to continue fighting for a half point on move 35.
As Rahal and Martirosyan noted, 35.Nxe6+ was White’s best alternative at this point — instead, Tabatabaei played 35.Bd5 while in deep time trouble, and went on to lose the game in 61 moves.
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd2 c5 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Ne4 8.Ne2 b6 9.d5 Ba6 10.b3 b5 11.Qd3 Nxc3 12.Nxc3 bxc4 13.bxc4 exd5 14.Qxd5 Qa5 15.Qd2 Nc6 16.Be2 Rab8 17.0-0 Ne5 18.Rfc1 Rb3 19.f4 Nc6 20.Kf2 Rd8 21.Ra2 Rxa3 22.Rxa3 Qxa3 23.Nd5 d6 24.Rc3 Qa1 25.Rc1 Qa3 26.Rc3 Qa1 27.Qc1 Qxc1 28.Rxc1 Bc8 29.Ra1 Kf8 30.Bf3 a6 31.Rb1 Be6 32.Rb7 Na5 33.Ra7 Nxc4 34.Nc7 Nd2 35.Bd5 Bxd5 36.Nxd5 Rb8 37.Rxa6 Ne4+ 38.Ke2 f5 39.Kd3 Rb7 40.Kc4 Kf7 41.Ra8 h5 42.h4 g6 43.Rh8 Nd2+ 44.Kd3 Ke6 45.Nc3 Nb1 46.Nd1 Na3 47.Rg8 Rb3+ 48.Ke2 Kf7 49.Rd8 Nc4 50.Rd7+ Ke6 51.Rg7 Kf6 52.Rd7 Ra3 53.g3 Ra2+ 54.Ke1 Rg2 55.Rh7 Ke6 56.Rg7 Kf6 57.Rh7 Rxg3 58.Kf2 Rh3 59.Nc3 Nxe3 60.Nb5 Nd5 61.Nxd6 Rxh4 0–1
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Tabatabaei,M | 2613 | Martirosyan,H | 2632 | 0–1 | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.6 |
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Amin Tabatabaei (left) needs a win with black in Monday’s rematch to remain in contention | Photo: Eric Rosen
The player who was closest to joining Martirosyan in the winner’s circle was Vasif Durarbayli, who missed a big chance to upset Vidit Gujrathi — rated 120 points higher than him — with the black pieces.
1...e5 against the English is a theoretically sound response with good chances of equality or better in all variations, and in this video series I provide a complete Black repertoire based on this move.
Vidit vs. Durarbayli - Game 1
As GM Karsten Müller explains in his annotations below, Black needed to prioritize defending his d-pawn with 33...Rd6 instead of immediately gaining a piece with 33...Rd8 34.Rxd4 b1Q 35.Rxb1 Bxb1 36.Bd5, etc.
It was a close shave for Vidit, who eventually managed to secure the half point.
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 a6 7.Ne5 Qb6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Qd2 Nh5 10.Be3 Nf6 11.a3 Ng4 12.Bg5 e5 13.h3 f6 14.hxg4 fxg5 15.dxe5 Rb8 16.b4 a5 17.b5 d4 18.Ne4 cxb5 19.Qxg5 h6 20.Qf4 Be6 21.g3 b4 22.Bg2 b3 23.Nd6+ Bxd6 24.exd6 b2 25.Rb1 Qc5 26.0-0 Rf8 27.Qe4 Kf7 28.Rbd1 Ba2 29.d7 Kg8 30.Qg6 Rb6 31.Qe8 Re6 32.Qh5 Qxh5 33.gxh5 Rd8? 33...Rd6! 34.Be4 Rb8 35.Bf5 35.Bb1 Bxb1 36.Rxb1 Rxd7 37.Rfd1 Rc7 38.Kf1 Rc3 39.a4 Rc4 40.Ke1 Rxa4 41.Kd2 Rc4-+ 35...d3! 36.Bxd3 Rxd7 37.Bb1 37.Bc4+ Bxc4 38.Rxd7 b1Q 39.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 40.Kg2 Bxe2-+ 37...Bxb1 38.Rxd7 Be4 39.f3 b1Q 40.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 41.Kf2 Bc6-+ 34.Rxd4! b1Q 34...Rb6 35.Be4= 35.Rxb1 Bxb1 36.Bd5 Kf7 37.Ra4 Rxd7 38.Bxe6+ Kxe6 39.Rxa5 Rd2 40.Kf1 Ba2 41.Rc5 Rd1+ 42.Kg2 Re1 43.Kf3 Kd6 44.Rc2 Bb3 45.Rb2 Bc4 46.Ke3 Ke5 47.Rc2 Ba6 48.f3 Ra1 49.Rc5+ Kd6 50.Ra5 Bc4 51.Ra7 Ke5 52.Rxg7 Ra2 53.Re7+ 53.Rg6?? Rxe2# 53...Kf6 54.Re4 Rxe2+ 55.Kf4 Rc2 56.Re3 Bd5 ½–½
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Vidit,S | 2726 | Durarbayli,V | 2625 | ½–½ | 2021 | D13 | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.4 |
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Vasif Durarbayli knocked out David Navara and Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the previous two rounds | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

Source: Wikipedia | Click to enlarge
All games - Round 5, Day 1
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.Bc3 c5 9.Nbd2 b6 10.Ne5N 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Ne8 13.f4 Rb8 14.b3 d4 15.Bb2 Nc7 16.Nc4 10...Bb7 11.Nxd7 Qxd7 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.cxd5 exd5 14.e3 Rfd8 15.Re1 a5 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Rc1 Qb5 18.Qb3 Qb4 19.Qxb4 axb4 20.Rxc5 Bxb2 21.Rb5 Bc6 22.Rc5 Bb7 23.Rb5 Bc6 24.Rc5 Bb7 ½–½ - Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
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Carlsen,M | 2847 | Esipenko,A | 2716 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.1 |
Svidler,P | 2714 | Shankland,S | 2709 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.2 |
Fedoseev,V | 2696 | Ivic,V | 2582 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.3 |
Vidit,S | 2726 | Durarbayli,V | 2625 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.4 |
Grischuk,A | 2778 | Duda,J | 2738 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.5 |
Tabatabaei,M | 2613 | Martirosyan,H | 2632 | 0–1 | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.6 |
Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2749 | Karjakin,S | 2757 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.7 |
Bacrot,E | 2678 | Piorun,K | 2608 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 5.8 |
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Kosteniuk beats Gunina
At this point, the stakes are even higher in the women’s tournament. In addition to the field being half the size than in the open — which means they are already playing the quarterfinals — the event grants not 2 but 3 spots in the next Candidates Tournament.
All 4 of Sunday’s games were hard fought, but only one of them finished decisively, as Alexandra Kosteniuk prevailed against her compatriot Valentina Gunina after a wild 72-move struggle. Gunina, in fact, could have won the game had she found the right continuation on move 42.
When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop which is the key theme on this video course.
Kosteniuk vs. Gunina - Game 1
Gunina’s 42...Kh6 was too much of a finesse at this point, as the direct 42...Qg1, threatening mate on e1, was completely winning — both 43.Qb7+ and 43.Qd7+ are insufficient defensive resources for White (you can try your own moves on the diagram above, and find out how Black manages to escape the checks in both continuations!).
After the text, Kosteniuk immediately exchanged the rooks and the position turned into a battle with queens, opposite-coloured bishops and both kings vulnerable to attacks — the perfect recipe for a sharp struggle.
In the end, it was the player dominating the light-squared complex who came out on top.
Kosteniuk had a very active king and an extra pawn when she decided to trade queens, as she knew that the opposite-coloured bishop ending was winning: 64.Qxf7+ Kxf7 followed, and the former women’s world champion won the game 21 moves later. (You can go through the full game in the replayer below).

The ever-fighting Valentina Gunina | Photo: Eric Rosen

Source: Wikipedia | Click to enlarge
All games - Round 5, Day 1
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 c5 8.dxc5 Nc6 9.Nf3 Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qxc5 11.e3 Nxd2 12.Nxd2 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Qe7 14.0-0 0-0 15.b4 Bd7 16.b5 Ne5 17.Be2 f6 18.Qe4 Be8 19.f4 Bg6 20.Qb4 Qxb4 21.axb4 Bd3 22.Kf2 Bxe2 23.Kxe2 Nf7 24.Ne4 b6 25.Rfd1 f5 26.Nf2 e5 27.Rd7 Rfe8 28.g3 exf4 29.gxf4 Rec8 30.Ra2 h6 31.Nd3 Rd8 32.Rxd8+ Rxd8 33.Rxa7 Nd6 34.Rc7 Nxb5 35.Rc6 g5 36.Ne5 gxf4 37.Rg6+ Kh7 38.exf4 Rd4 39.Rxb6 Rxb4 40.Kd2 Rd4+ 41.Ke3 Re4+ 42.Kd3 Rd4+ 43.Ke3 ½–½
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
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Goryachkina,A | 2596 | Saduakassova,D | 2483 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE Womens World Cup 2021 | 5.1 |
Dzagnidze,N | 2523 | Muzychuk,A | 2527 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE Womens World Cup 2021 | 5.1 |
Tan,Z | 2511 | Lagno,K | 2559 | ½–½ | 2021 | | FIDE Womens World Cup 2021 | 5.1 |
Kosteniuk,A | 2472 | Gunina,V | 2437 | 1–0 | 2021 | | FIDE Womens World Cup 2021 | 5.1 |
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Replay all the games from the Women’s World Cup at Live.ChessBase.com
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