World Cup: Carlsen and Arjun score with black

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/16/2023 – Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi both won with black to take a 1-point lead in their quarterfinal matches against Dommaraju Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, respectively. Leinier Dominguez got winning chances but failed to find precise continuations against Fabiano Caruana, while Vidit Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov signed a 109-move draw on Tuesday. In the women’s section, Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Tan Zhongyi, also with black. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

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A dream start

Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi have excellent chances of reaching the semifinals in the open section of the FIDE World Cup after scoring wins with black against Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa on Tuesday. Needing to win on demand, the fighting Gukesh and Pragg are likely to go for lively variations right out of the opening in the rematches.

While Carlsen showed his well-known mastery in an endgame (more on that below), Arjun was stronger than his good friend Pragg once a tactical sequence led to an extremely sharp position. Arjun’s passed d-pawn gave him an all-important win that gets the 19-year-old closer to qualifying to his first-ever Candidates Tournament.

Arjun Erigaisi

Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

Carlsen’s endgame technique

In an interesting, tense struggle, Carlsen got the upper hand early on despite playing black, as Gukesh’s strongest suit is not deep theoretical preparation. Carlsen ended up getting a superior rook endgame, and showcased his great technique to convert his advantage into a win.

GM Karsten Müller analysed the endgame!

Full-game analysis by IM Robert Ris

Quarterfinals’ games - Open

Replay games from all round at Live.ChessBase.com

Women’s: Goryachkina beats Tan

Aleksandra Goryachkina entered the Women’s World Cup as the second seed. The Russian grandmaster has already qualified to the next edition of the Candidates Tournament.

According to the FIDE regulations, unlike in the open section, if Goryachkina finishes among the top-3 in Baku, the spot in the Candidates will not be filled by the next best player in the World Cup, and instead will be decided by the January 2024 ratings list. Thus, Tan Zhongyi, Nurgyul Salimova and Anna Muzychuk are now fighting for two spots at the knockout event.

While Salimova held Muzychuk to a 32-move draw with black on Tuesday, Goryachkina managed to beat Tan with the black pieces.

Aleksandra Goryachkina

Aleksandra Goryachkina | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova

Semifinals’ games - Women’s

Replay games from all round at Live.ChessBase.com

Full schedule | Pairings and results

All games with computer analysis: Open | Women’s

Links

<< The Winning Academy 22: The Restless Knight
Game of the Week #581: R. Praggnanandhaa vs F. Berkes >>
Topics: Arjun Erigaisi, FIDE World Cup 2023, Magnus Carlsen
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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See also

World Cup: Pragg and Caruana win, reach quarterfinals

8/14/2023 – Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana scored wins on Sunday to knock out Ferenc Berkes and Jan-Krzysztof Duda respectively. While Pragg is set to face Arjun Erigaisi in an all-Indian quarterfinal, Caruana will play Leinier Dominguez in a duel of US grandmasters. Gukesh and Magnus Carlsen also secured their spots in the next stage when they will face each other. In the women’s section, three out of four quarterinal matchups will be decided in tiebreaks, as only Tan Zhongyi has secured a spot in the semifinals. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

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World Cup: Caruana advances, Carlsen bounces back

8/10/2023 – Six players have already reached the round-of-16 in the open section of the FIDE World Cup, including Fabiano Caruana, who beat Ray Robson, and Alexey Sarana, who knocked out sixth seed Wesley So. The remaining ten spots will be decided in Friday’s tiebreaks, with Magnus Carlsen reaching that stage after bouncing back in his match against Vincent Keymer. In the women’s section, three players secured their spots in quarterfinals: Aleksandra Goryachkina, Tan Zhongyi and Polina Shuvalova. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
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Video

60m English The Elephant Gambit

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.