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The second edition of the World Rapid Team Championship kicked off on Friday in Astana with several surprising results. The biggest sensation was certainly the 22-move defeat of World Rapid and Blitz Champion Magnus Carlsen with the white pieces against Richard Rapport.
Carlsen already found himself in a very awkward position in the opening. His king remained trapped in the centre until the end of the game after Carlsen missed the chance to castle several times. On move 15, Carlsen only had two minutes left, while Rapport still had a comfortable time cushion on the clock. The Hungarian star sensed his big chance and made the most of it. Carlsen resigned after just 22 moves under the astonished gaze of, among others, Ian Nepomniachtchi, who was playing on board 2. This meant that Carlsen's team and defending champions WR Chess had just suffered a sensational defeat against Chessy by a whopping 1-5 result!
Carlsen - here in round 3 - had no idea what lay ahead of him against Rapport | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
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Carlsen and his team must have been happy that the first day of the competition was over. This second edition of the competition, which was launched last year by Wadim Rosenstein in Düsseldorf, is attracting many top players to Kazakhstan: five of the ten best players in the world are taking part, including Magnus Carlsen, world champion Ding Liren and two-time challenger for the world crown Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Tournament organiser Wadim Rosenstein is also playing | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
After the first day, Chessy, captained by GM Emil Sutovsky, are the sole leaders. The team has won all four of their games (8 points). The WR Chess Team, which won the first World Rapid Chess Championship in Düsseldorf in 2023, is 2 points behind the leaders. Between them are the Decade China Team and Al-Ain ACMG UAE, who have 7 points each.
On the first day of the tournament in Astana, the fans saw Ding Liren in good form again | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
The world champion is competing for Decade China. In an interview on the first day of the tournament, Ding Liren said he was "very happy to be back in Astana. The last time I was here, I won the World Championship match, so this is a happy place for me".
After doubts about his recent performances, Ding said he was here to prove others wrong: "I came here to win some points and get my confidence back." On the first day of the tournament, he did just that. The world champion scored 3½ points in 4 games and managed to beat Hans Niemann, among others.
Every match in the first round ended with a winner. The favourites and defending champions WR Chess started with a perfect score against Kyrgyz Chess Academy. Ian Nepomniachtchi won a miniature against GM Semetei Tologon Tegin. The new team, Decade China, second in the seeding list, scored 5½ out of 6.
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One of the surprises of the first round was the defeat of Daniil Dubov with the white pieces against GM Boris Grachev. In the Catalan, Dubov had a piece for three pawns, but made several mistakes that allowed his opponent to dominate and win. Despite the loss of their top player, Al-Ain ACMG from the United Arab Emirates, the third highest-rated team, won the match against GMs Kazakhstan 4-2. Another surprising result was the defeat of Hans Niemann as white against Meylis Annaberdiyev after he made a mistake in a tactical endgame despite having more time on the clock.
Played only two games on day 1: Vincent Keymer won against a Kyrgyz player rated almost 700 points lower than and lost against Vakhidov Jakhongir from Uzbekistan | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
The second round saw big clashes between some of the top teams. Chessy won 4½-1½ against the FIDE Board team, with Richard Rapport beating Nigel Short, who gave up his queen, while FIDE representative Al-Mudahka pulled off a surprise by beating the 200-point higher rated Vidit Gujrathi with the black pieces, who made a mistake in a better position.
Another surprise came from the young Rookies with an average team rating of 2271, who defeated Ashdod Chess Club 4-2. All the heavyweights in the Ashdod team, including Sarin, Eljanov and Volokitin, lost their games.
One of the most exciting games of the round was WR Chess' narrow victory over Royal Chess, a team of top players from Olympic champion Uzbekistan. It started badly for WR, with early difficulties and consequent losses for Wadim Rosenstein and Vincent Keymer. But Praggnanandhaa and Alexandra Kosteniuk equalised. Abdusattorov won on board two and Nepomniachtchi managed to secure a draw on board one, resulting in a narrow 3½-2½ win for WR Chess.
Decade China scored a 6-0 win against Astana. On the first board, Denis Makhnyov sacrificed a piece against world champion Ding Liren, but was unable to overcome Ding's defence and eventually lost. Al-Ain ACMG from the United Arab Emirates defeated Teniz Kazakhstan 5-1. Dubov was in trouble again and was on the verge of defeat, but managed to save a draw in a knight ending.
Verlor in Runde 3 überraschend gegen Alexey Sarana: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.
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In the third round, Magnus Carlsen finally played his first game in the match between the 2023 World Rapid winners WR and the third-placed team MGD1. Carlsen outplayed Indian star Arjun Erigaisi, won a pawn and forced a won pawn ending. With a bit of luck, the final score was again 3½:2½ in favour of WR.
Decade China continued on their confident path and defeated GMHans.com by 4-2. A big surprise in the game was the defeat of Wang Yue as white against Andrew Hong. On the second board, the strong Iranian GM Amin Tabatabaei had a dominant position against the Chinese Wei Yi, but played wrongly and lost, earning Decade China an important point and securing the match.
Despite another loss by Vidit, Chessy remained strong in this round, beating the Knights of Chess from Krakow 4-2, Al-Ain ACMG defeated the Rookies 5-1, while Kazchess recorded a clear win over the Egyptian team, which catapulted them into second place. After a surprising defeat in the second round, Ashdod Chess Club bounced back with a 5-1 win over Astana-2. After three rounds, five teams were at the top of the table with perfect scores, with Decade China leading the pack.
As already mentioned, Chessy beat the defending champions and tournament favourites WR Chess 5-1, while the match between Al-Ain ACMG and Decade China ended in a 3-3 draw, although things could have turned out differently: Ding Liren played the Catalan against Dubov and ended up with an extra pawn and a very comfortable position after sacrificing an exchange. As Irina Krush and Peter Leko, who commented on the event, noted, "This is the Ding Liren the world wants to see". However, as the game progressed and entered its critical phase, Ding surprisingly accepted a draw offer.
Of the other top teams, MGD1 defeated Kazchess 4½-1½, with the two heavyweights, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk, losing and only Peter Svidler scoring a win for Kazchess on the top board. Ashdod Chess Club scored another impressive victory, beating the FIDE Board team 5-1.
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