WGP: Ju Wenjun surges ahead of the field
The game between Ju Wenjun (2576) Alina Kashlinskaya (2487) was a French Winawer with 7. Qg4 Kf8. The World Champion wasted no time on launching the attack on the kingside, a standard plan in this variation. Alina looked for counterplay on the queenside, grabbed two pawns, and tried to create some threats, but in the end, she had to sacrifice her queen for minor pieces. It was an ingenious try, but the main problem for the Russian player was the position of the h8-rook was trapped at the initial position for most of the game. When this heavy piece finally came into play when it was already too late. Ju Wenjun carried out the attack with precision and scored a full point that takes her to the top of the table. Valentina Gunina (2502) drops from the co-leadership, after losing to Elisabeth Paethz (2479). Gunina run into Paehtz’s home preparation in the Two Knights Variation of the Caro-Kann Defense, where the German IM sacrificed a pawn on move 11 in order to open lines. When time pressure started creeping on Valentina, Elizabeth added more fuel to the fire with an exchange sacrifice that, even if not completely correct according to the engines, it was a great practical decision. Just when frustration was starting to build up for her, Paethz finally got her first victory in the tournament to reach a plus score (3½/6). Quietly, the World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina (2564) climbed to the second position in the standings, thanks to her victory over Harika Dronavalli (2503). In one of the most exciting games of the round, the Indian GM met the Saemisch Attack in the King’s Indian Defense with an aggressive play on the kingside. Goryachkina reacted opening up the center right on time, and managed to bring a pawn to the seventh rank that gave her a decisive advantage. Pia Cramling (2487) tried to avoid the main lines in the Catalan Defence against Indian top seed Koneru Humpy (2560), but the position transposed into a reverse Benoni Defense, where Black was able to increase the positional edge gradually. In order to keep the material balance, Pia was forced to concede the e-file and that, along with an exposed king, became a decisive factor. The Swedish legend had to resign on move 40. Kateryna Lagno (2545) played the Gruenfeld defense against Antoaneta Stefanova (2491). White came out from the opening with the upper hand, but from then on, Stefanova was outplayed by Lagno, especially in the transition to the endgame. The Russian player took the whole point and is still unbeaten in the tournament. The only draw of this feisty round happened in the game between Alexandra Kosteniuk (2495) and Marie Sebag (2450). Kosteniuk achieved a slightly better position in the Neo-Gruenfeld Defense, and with precise play, she could have gotten a nice edge. But after a couple of inaccuracies from her part, the position went into a drawish rook endgame in which the opponents agreed to a draw on the move 30. Standings after 6 rounds:1. Ju Wenjun – 4.5; 2. Alexandra Goryachkina – 4; 3-5. Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno, Elisabeth Paethz – 3.5; 6. Valentina Gunina – 3; 7-8. Harika Dronavalli, Alexandra Kosteniuk – 2.5; 9-11. Antoaneta Stefanova, Alina Kashlinskaya, Marie Sebag – 2; 12. Pia Cramling – 1.5. Today, September 17th, is a rest day. The seventh-round games will be played on September 18, at 3 pm local time (GMT +3). Spectators can follow the games with English and Russian commentaries: www.youtube.com/fidechannel Official website: https://wgp2019.fide.com
World Cup: Round 3 kicks off in Khanty-Mansiysk
The starting games of the Round 3 of FIDE World Cup were played in the Ugra Chess Academy on September 16. Seven encounters ended with a victory for one side. The biggest upset of the day was Kirill Alekseenko’s (Russia) beating the higher-rated Pentala Harikrishna (India). The Russian GM broke through on the queenside and despite Black’s counterplay in the center infiltrated with his rooks into the opponent’s camp and took total control over the position. Alexander Grischuk (Russia) defeated Xu Xiangyu (China) demonstrating superior calculation of variations in a very complicated position. It should be noted though, that after 24…Be7? he could have found himself on the brink of defeat. Alexander confessed that in the variation 25. Rxh7+ Bxh7 26. Nxh7 Qxh7 he completely missed 27.Qe4! with a decisive advantage for White. Luckily for the Russian GM, the Chinese player opted for 25. Qc6? which left him high and dry. Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) obtained a very comfortable position in his encounter with Daniil Yuffa (Russia) and despite an early queen exchange shattered Black’s defense combining the threats on both wings. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) bested his compatriot Eltaj Safarli although the capitulation of the latter in the final position looks premature. Dmitry Andreikin (Russia) was very close to equality in his game with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) but several inaccuracies snowballed into a disaster in a four-rook endgame. Nikita Vitiugov (Russia) won one of the most important games in his chess career, beating Sergey Karjakin (Russia). “Sergey was defeating solidly, and after the time control, it seemed to me that the biggest part of my advantage has disappeared,” said Nikita in a post-game interview. “However, Black’s problems were bigger than they seemed at first sight. I am not sure about his decision to take a pawn on b3, maybe he could just stay. After the capture, it is sad for Black.” If Vitiugov makes a draw in the second game of the match against Karjakin, he will at least repeat his best result at the World Cups so far (Round 4 in 2009). Welsey So (USA) “squeezed water from a stone” winning a drawish rook endgame against Santosh Vidit (India). Other games – Tomashevsky – Nepomniachtchi, Jakovenko – Vachier-Lagrave, Ding Liren – Firouzja, Aronian – Matlakov, Dominguez – Wang Hao, Yu Yangyi – Wei Yi, Le Quang Liem – Artemiev, Giri – Xiong, and Nisipeanu – Svidler – ended peacefully. The second games of the third round with the colors reversed will be played on Tuesday, September 17. Photos Videos The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.
WGP: Ju Wenjun and Gunina still in the forefront
The first game to come to an end was the clash between Elisabeth Paethz (2479) and the tournament co-leader Ju Wenjun (2576). The World Champion went for a Petrov defense, and some early exchanges quickly lead to a dull position, in which the players found no better option than a threefold repetition on move 23. The German IM seemed to be particularly unsatisfied with the outcome of the game (her fifth consecutive draw in the tournament), while Ju Wenjun took it as a good result: the top-seeded is playing quite solid, avoiding unnecessary risks. A much more dramatic turn took the game of the other co-leader, Valentina Gunina (2502), against the former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova (2491). The Russian Grandmaster went wrong in the opening and soon found herself under the fire of heavy artillery. Her King was cornered in the open h-file, and it looked like if she was about to get checkmated in spectacular fashion. In a hopeless situation, Gunina found the most aggressive ways to complicate the position. Stefanova started to consume lots of time in her moves, so much so that this was the last game to finish. Thanks to her opponent’s time trouble, Gunina found a way to save the game with a perpetual check being a rook down. By adding half-point to her tally Valentina managed to keep pace with Ju Wenjun (each has 3,5 points). The only decisive game of the round five was the victory of Kateryna Lagno (2545) over Pia Cramling (2487). In Rauzer Variation of Sicilian Defense pieces were quickly traded, and the position came down to an endgame with one rook and knight per side. Lagno had a majority of pawns on the queenside, but it looked completely equal until Cramling blundered with 36…Nc6. A simple tactic left Kateryna with two connected passed pawns, that eventually costed Pia her knight, and the game. Indian number one female player Humpy Koneru (2560) made a short draw with the World Championship Challenger, and this Women’s Grand Prix youngest participant, Aleksandra Goryachkina (2564). In one the lines of Slav Defense with symmetrical pawn structure the rooks were quickly traded in the open c-file, and a draw was agreed on move 27. Harika Dronavalli (2503) achieved a significant advantage in a Scotch Game against former World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (2495). Harika tried to convert the positional edge into a material advantage, but Kosteniuk’s energetic counterplay forced a massive piece exchange. Players agreed on a draw with only rooks, opposite color bishops, and three pawns each on the kingside. The Classical Variation of the Petrov Defense was played between Marie Sebag (2450) and Alina Kashlinskaya (2487). Both opponents chose a risk-free approach, and the game ended with a draw on move 27. The sixth-round games will be played on September 16, at 3 pm local time (GMT +3). Standings after 5 rounds:1-2. Ju Wenjun and Valentina Gunina – 3.5; 3-5. Alexandra Goryachkina, Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno – 3; 6-7. Elisabeth Paethz, Harika Dronavalli – 2.5; 8-10. Antoaneta Stefanova, Alina Kashlinskaya and Alexandra Kosteniuk – 2; 11-12. Marie Sebag, Pia Cramling – 1.5. Spectators can follow the games with English and Russian commentaries: www.youtube.com/fidechannel Official website: https://wgp2019.fide.com
World Cup: Second round is over
Fifteen tie-breaks were played on September 15 in the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. The overwhelming majority of matches ended after rapid games. Eltaj Safarli (Azerbaijan) defeated Nihal Sarin (India), Lenier Dominguez (USA) beat Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan), Jeffrey Xiong (USA) proved stronger than Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), Yu Yangyi (China) outplayed Baskaran Adhiban (India), Maxim Matlakov (Russia) downed Boris Gelfand (Israel), Peter Svidler (Russia) knocked out his compatriot Andrey Esipenko, Alexander Grischuk (Russia) vanquished Benjamin Bok (Netherlands), Ding Liren (China) bested Sergei Movsesian (Armenia), Kirill Alekseenko (Russia) won against Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (Norway), Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) defeated Gawain Jones (England), Nikita Vitiugov (Russia) passed Niclas Huschenbeth (Germany), Sanan Sjugirov (Russia) lost to Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), and David Anton Guijarro (Spain) threw in the towel in his match with Wei Yi (China). Giri – Najer and McShane – Yuffa matches were much closer affairs. Luke McShane (England) and Daniil Yuffa (Russia) exchanged blows first in rapid chess and then in 10+10 games. In blitz, however, the Russian won both encounters and advanced to the third round. One should note that in both starting rounds Daniil Yuffa was a big underdog (based on the ratings), and his performance is nothing short of sensational. Equally commendable are achievements of Safarli and Xiangyu Xu who along with Yuffa became the only players outside of top-100 in FIDE rating list to qualify for the third round. Anish Giri (Netherlands) and Evgeniy Najer (Russia) finished their first four rapid games peacefully. The 5-minute blitz match started with Giri’s victory, but Najer worked a miracle coming back in the second game with black pieces and brought the match into an Armageddon. In the sudden death game Anish Giri got the black pieces, won outright and advanced to the third round of the World Cup. The first games of the third round will be played on September 16. Round 3 pairings Photos Videos The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/ General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.
WGP: Ju Wenjun catches up with Gunina
The tournament leader Valentina Gunina (2502) was very close to a setback in her game against the veteran Pia Cramling (2487). Loyal to her style, the Russian jumped into some sharp tactical skirmishes as soon as she had the chance, but the complications didn’t yield her any gain. Quite the opposite, when the dust settled it was the Swede who had a clear advantage, and she appeared headed for her first victory in the tournament. However, short of time, Cramling didn’t manage to crack Black defense and, when the time trouble got serious, decided to go for a threefold repetition to secure a half-point. A Modern variation of the Slav Defence was played in the game between Ju Wenjun (2576) and Marie Sebag (2450). Sebag lost the thread right after the opening, allowing Ju Wenjun’s cavalry to infiltrate her position. By move 20, the position of the French Grandmaster was already very delicate, and the World Champion gave her no chance. This victory allows the Chinese to catch up with Gunina, with 3/4. The second decisive game of the round was the fantastic victory of Alina Kashlinskaya (2487) over Harika Dronavalli (2503). In a Pirc Defence, white quickly traded the queens, dominated the centre, and formed a strong battery on the “h” file, which left black without counter-play. After gaining the initiative, Kashlinskaya showed excellent technique and converted her advantage into a flawless victory, her first one at the Women’s Grand Prix. It was a tough round for the Indian players since Humpy Koneru (2560) was also on the brink defeat. Alexandra Kosteniuk (2495) came out of the opening with a more dynamic position, an advantage that she later converted into a rook endgame with two pawns up. However, Humpy found some creative ways to defend her position – pulling up a final trick, with a stalemate setup, that allowed her to get away with a draw. In the duel between Antoaneta Stefanova (2491) and Elisabeth Paethz (2479) a well-known line in the sharp Najdorf Variation of Sicilian Defense was played. Even though the White pieces looked very menacing, Black’s King was never really at risk. As soon as Paehtz was given a chance, she launched a counterattack that led to a perpetual check, reaching a draw after 25 moves. The Russian derby Goryachkina (2564) – Lagno (2545) ended in a draw. Goryachkina followed a modern idea in the Moscow variation, but Lagno managed to come out of the opening in full control of the position. However, the position was quite symmetrical, with only one open file, and after exchanging rooks the game came down to an opposite-colored bishops endgame. Standings after 4 rounds:1-2. Ju Wenjun and Valentina Gunina – 3; 3-4. Alexandra Goryachkina and Humpy Koneru – 2.5; 5-7. Elisabeth Paethz, Harika Dronavalli and Kateryna Lagno – 2; 8-11. Antoaneta Stefanova, Alina Kashlinskaya and Alexandra Kosteniuk, Pia Cramling – 1.5; 11. Marie Sebag – 1.
World Cup: Seventeen players advanced to the third round
The second games of the Second Round of the World Cup were played on September 14 in Khanty-Mansiysk. Three players – Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) – whitewashed their opponents. It is worth mentioning that the Frenchmen have not conceded to his rivals even a half-point so far. Many matches ended with a popular 1.5-0.5 score. In arguably the most sensational one, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Germany) made a draw from the position of strength with Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and advanced to the third round. Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) won his match against his compatriot Alexandr Predke (at some point Ian was three pawns down, snatched the victory), Dmitry Andreikin (Russia) defeated Rinat Jumabayev (Kazakhstan), Levon Aronian (Armenia) was stronger than Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), Xu Xiangyu (China) got the better of Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia), Wesley So (USA) bested Anton Demchenko (Russia), Pentala Harikrishna (India) passed though Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), Wang Hao (China) defeated Maxim Rodshtein (Israel), Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) won against Ivan Cheparinov (Georgia), Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia) knocked out Chitambaram Aravindth (India), Anton Korobov (Ukraine) lost to Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Russia) gave way to Santosh Vidit (India), and Daniil Dubov (Russia) had to capitulate in a clash with Alireza Firouzja (Iran). Quite a few matches will once again be decided on tie-breaks. Only two players managed to come back after losing the first game: Eltaj Safarli defeated Nihal Sarin thanks to a terrible blunder from his opponent (Nihal just left his bishop unprotected), whereas Wei Yi from China took revenge with black pieces against the Spaniard David Anton Guijarro . The following matches moved on to tie-breaks after two draws: Ding Liren -Movsesian, Christiansen – Alekseenko, Svidler – Esipenko, Jakovenko – Jones, Giri -Najer, Tabatabaei – Xiong, McShane –Y uffa, Dominguez – Abasov, Grischuk – Bok, Sjugirov – Radjabov, Gelfand – Matlakov, Adhiban – Yu Yangyi, and Vitiugov – Huschenbeth. The tie-breaks will be played on September 15. Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/ General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.
Champions Crowned in World Youth Rapid and Blitz
FIDE World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championships (under 14, 16 and 18 years old categories) finished in Salobrena, Spain. 178 players from 22 countries, including 1 GM, 5 IMs, 12 FMs, 1 WIM, 12 WFMs participated in the chess forum in Granada. After three days of intense battles, we have all twelve champions. Final results of the World Junior rapid championships in Salobrena (11 – 12 September 2019): Winner U-14 Girls: Thien Ngan Nguyen (Vietnam) Winner U-14 Open: Aspet Tadevosyan (Spain) Winner U-16 Open: Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo (Spain) Winner U-16 Girls: Cecilia Guillo Longares (Spain) Winner U-18 Open: Lucas Van Foreest (Netherlands) Winner U-18 Girls: Honorata Kucharska (Poland) Final results of the World Junior blitz championships in Salobrena (13 September 2019) Winner U-14 Open: Pham Thien Phuc Vo (Vietnam) Winner U-14 Girls: Thien Ngan Nguyen (Vietnam) Winner U-16 Open: Dominik Horvath (Austria) Winner U-16 Girls: Ngoc Thuy Duong Bach (Vietnam) Winner U-18 Open: Lucas Van Foreest (Netherlands) Winner U-18 Girls: Kamila Hryshchenko (Ukraine) 18-years-old Dutch grandmaster Lucas van Foreest celebrates double success winning both rapid and blitz world championships under 18. He comes from the famous Van Foreest chess family: his brother Jorden won the 2016 Dutch Championship, and both his great-great-grandfather Arnold and great-great-granduncle Dirk were three-time Dutch Champions. It has been a very good year for Lukas so far – earlier in July he won the national championship and is now a part of the Dutch national team together with such grandmasters as Anish Giri and Erwin L’Ami. We will see him in action at the European Team Championship in Georgia in October. “I feel quite relieved, happy. I played such tournaments for the first time in my life. I came here to win,” said Lucas in an interview given to his compatriot Sergey Tiviakov. The closing ceremony included speeches delivered by FIDE Deputy President GM Bachar Kouatly and President of the Spanish Chess Federation Javier Ochoa, vibrant Flamenco dances by local artists and presentation of awards to all the winners.
2019 3rd Quarter FIDE Presidential Board Meeting
The new FIDE Charter was the main point in the agenda of the 2019 third quarter Presidential Board meeting, held in Budapest last weekend. During the gala dinner, the Hungarian Chess Federation took the opportunity to express their will to bid to organize the Chess Olympiad in 2024. The Presidential Board meeting opened with the report from the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who informed the attendants about his recent trips to South America and Morocco. The main outcome from these trips has been a firm commitment from political authorities in the visited countries to support chess and to organize some top events in the near future. The President also briefed the Board about the incoming events (World Cup and Women’s Grand Prix), and about the new FIDE website that is about to be launched. On behalf of the Global Strategy Commission, Emil Sutovsky reported on the progress regarding FIDE’s flag-ship competitions. The Candidates tournament 2020 is confirmed to take place in Ekaterinburg during the second half of March (exact dates will be confirmed soon). As for the World Championship, there are three cities interested in hosting the match, but since the three of them requested some extra time, the bidding deadline has been postponed to November 1st. The chapter about the Chess Olympiad sparked an interesting debate regarding the role of captains. Should they be allowed to talk to their players during the games? In many cases, a strong Grandmaster is acting as a captain for a team where the average rating is 2300. Is it fair in a case like this that the captain can instruct a player to accept or offer a draw? Different views were exchanged on this topic, with the general conclusion that the matter deserves a longer discussion in the near future. Another important point that was unanimously approved was the fees reduction. FIDE will cut or waive fees at youth events by 120,000 euros annually, starting in January 2020. This will mean an approximate 40% cut in that concept. A small panel (for more agility) will be created to finalize the details on how this reduction will come into force. Viktor Bologan was in charge of reporting about the Planning and Development Commission and he presented very detailed figures about how the Development Fund has been used so far to support and develop federations to the members of the board. Some members of the board took the chance to exchange views on the best ways to promote chess. Bachar Kouatly strongly suggested investing in formation, rather than in events, while Judit Polgar offered her views and experience on how to use online tools for chess promotion. In general, the consensus was that FIDE should shift a little from supporting events, to support activities that imply grassroots promotion and growth. The most important point of this Presidential Board meeting was probably the reform of the FIDE Statutes. Roberto Rivello was given the task to chair a group of experts charged to prepare a proposal of full reform of the current Statutes, drafting a juridically correct and comprehensive text that the Constitutional Commission proposed to call “FIDE Charter”. “FIDE needs this reform, not only because the current FIDE Statutes were written many decades ago and the role of international sports federations is completely different today, as it is our society. But mainly because we need to move in the direction of a more modern, transparent, democratic and efficient institution, and the main rules of our organization have a fundamental role to play in making this possible.”, explained Roberto, who received warm applause when he finished his presentation. The members of the Presidential Board were invited to a gala dinner at the Hungarian Parliament. Pál Schmitt, former Hungarian Olympic fencer, member of the IOC and politician who served as President of Hungary from 2010 to 2012, gave the opening speech before the dinner. Mr Schmitt told the attendants how he uses to play chess online for more than an hour a day and expressed his firm support to the recognition of chess as a sport by the IOC. State secretary Tamás Menczer emphasized that the Hungarians are famous for being good organizers, with great experience in organizing major international sports events, and the country has a sports-friendly government that supports the efforts of the Hungarian Chess Association. But the biggest announcement came from László Szabó, recently elected as the new President of the Hungarian Chess Association (MSSZ). After stressing the close links between chess and some of the biggest personalities in the history of the country, on behalf of the Hungarian Chess Federation he expressed their will to bid to host the 2024 Chess Olympiad.
WGP: Gunina still ahead
After three rounds, Valentina Gunina is leading the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix with 2.5 points; followed by Harika Dronavalli, Ju Wenjun, Humpy Koneru, and Aleksandra Goryachkina with 2 points; Elisabeth Paethz and Kateryna Lagno are still in the 50% zone – 1.5 each; Antoaneta Stefanova, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Pia Cramling and Marie Sebag – 1 point; Alina Kashlinskaya – 0.5 point. The sole leader of the Skolkovo Women’s Grand Prix Valentina Gunina drew against the second-seeded player Aleksandra Goryachkina and kept her lead with 2.5 points. The Queen’s Gambit was played, where black managed to trade both bishops and held the draw in the endgame. In her game with Humpy Konery Alina Kashlinskaya apparently overlooked the move 18.Neg5! (the exchange 17… Bxe4 was called for) after which it was all over for black. The shortest game of the round lasted just 20 moves. Another Indian participant, GM Harika Dronavalli, celebrated a victory against French GM Marie Sebag. Harika decided to play a very unusual first move – f4, known as the Bird’s Opening (Dutch Defense with reversed colors). Harika gained initiative in the middlegame, snatched a pawn and confidently converted her material advantage in a rook endgame. The Rubinstein variation of four knights opening was played in the game between GM Kateryna Lagno and GM Aleksandra Kosteniuk. The opponents reconstructed a long theoretical line in which Black reached a safe heaven with a perpetual check. The clash between the former World Champion, Antoaneta Stefanova and the current World Champion, Ju Wenjun also resulted in a draw. In the Petrov’s Defence, black managed to get a slightly better position, but it was not enough for something more substantial than a half-point. The evaluation of position in the game Elisabeth Paethz and Pia Cramling hardly deviated from equality, so the draw was a logical outcome. The guest of honor during the third round was Victor Vekselberg, Chairman of the Board of Skolkovo Foundation, who made the first move on the first board. Among the side activities, Grandmaster Sergey Zagrebelny offered a simul exhibition against the students of the Botvinnik Chess School. The four-round games will be played at 3 pm local time (GMT +3) on September 14. Spectators can follow the games with English and Russian commentaries: https://www.youtube.com/fidechannel Official website: https://wgp2019.fide.com
World Cup: Second round started in Khanty-Mansiysk
The first games of the Second Round of the FIDE World Cup were played on September 13 in Ugra Chess Academy. Hikaru Nakamura’s loss to Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu was one of the main headlines of the day. The grandmaster from Germany, playing Black, employed an interesting queen sacrifice and took the upper hand in a complicated game that followed. Nisipeanu had some concerns during the game, though. “I remembered that I looked at it but I could not remember the conclusions. This is always a problem when you’re not repeating the line before the game which I haven’t done. I was quite nervous” – confessed the winner. Despite this convincing victory, Liviu-Dieter is far from complacency: “I expect to face a beast [tomorrow]. I know what’s coming. I hope to survive but obviously, it will be extremely tough!” Another unexpected result occurred in Wei Yi – AntonGuijarro: the Spanish grandmaster won as black against a much higher rated opponent. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) won against Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) defeated Igor Kovalenko (Latvia), Nihal Sarin (India) convincingly outplayed Eltaj Safarli (Azerbaijan), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) was stronger than Tamir Nabaty (Israel), Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia) downed Chithambaram Aravindh (India), Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) lost to Pentala Harikrishna (India), Levon Aronian (Armenia) trounced Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran), Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) got the best of Ivan Cheparinov (Georgia), and Sergey Karjakin (Russia) prevailed in the encounter with Samuel Sevian (USA). All other games, namely Abasov-Dominguez, Andreikin-Jumbayev, Sjugirov-Radjabov, Inarkiev-Xu Xiangyu, Demchenko-So, Huschenbeth-Vitiugov, Nepomniachtchi-Predke, Adhiban-Yu Yangyi, Jones-Jakovenko, Vidit-Rakhmanov, Grischuk-Bok, Ding Liren-Movsenian, Najer-Giri, Dubov-Firouzja, Matlakov-Gelfand, Wang Hao-Rodshtein, Svidler-Esipenko, Alekseenko-Christiansen, Korobov-Le Quang Liem, Xiong-Tabatabaei, and Yuffa – McShane were drawn. The last encounter came down to a rare position two bishops vs. knight (no pawns). According to 5-piece Nalimov database white wins in 68 moves, but the Russian GM failed to find the correct algorithm and the game was drawn on the move 132. The second games of the matches with the colors reversed will be played on September 14. Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/ General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.