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The young Indian grandmasters Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa R. are among the players who have reached the third round of the FIDE World Cup without needing a tiebreak. GMs Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, and Sergey Karjakin scored 2-0 in the second round, which will have 30 tiebreak matches on Saturday.
These are good times for the rising stars from India. While GM Gukesh D. held GM Daniil Dubov to a draw twice to force a tiebreak, both Nihal and Praggnanandhaa are already in the third round.
Pragg was especially impressive by scoring two victories against the experienced GM Gabriel Sargissian (Armenia), who was rated 76 Elo points higher as well. Needing a win in the second game, Sargissian sacrificed a piece for an attack, but his 15-year-old opponent calculated well:
After winning two open tournaments in a row, Nihal continues to show great form. He drew his first game with GM Sanan Sjugirov (also higher rated) and then beat the Russian grandmaster with the black pieces:
Nihal will face another strong Russian player: GM Dmitry Andreikin, known for reaching the final of the 2013 FIDE World Cup. Pragg will face Polish grandmaster Michal Krasenkow, a former world number-10 who played his first FIDE knockout tournament back in 1997.
On Friday, the now 57-year-old Krasenkow beat this year’s FIDE Candidate GM Kirill Alekseenko in what was one of the best games of the round:
As noted in the intro, a few top grandmasters scored 2-0 in the second round. They, by the way, also include GM Fabiano Caruana who didn’t have to show up in the playing hall as his opponent GM Susanto Megaranto had tested positive for Covid-19 the day before.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen beat GM Sasa Martinovic for the second time as the Croatian grandmaster blundered deep in the endgame. Interestingly, Carlsen will now face his compatriot GM Aryan Tari, who eliminated GM Evgeny Bareev.
Another player who scored 2-0, but in a very different way, was GM Bobby Cheng from Australia, who advanced after GM Levon Aronian withdrew from the tournament.
My trip to Sochi in a nutshell. pic.twitter.com/ZXHHPv8gYe
— Levon Aronian (@LevAronian) July 17, 2021
“I thought it was just a very unfortunate situation,” said Cheng. “I feel bad for Levon. He was one of the favorites here and one of the best players in the world. Also, I’m a little bit disappointed that I didn’t get the opportunity to play him. I think for someone like myself it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me. I was really looking forward to it.”
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won a quick game with a nice final move to eliminate GM Elshan Moradiabadi. Afterward, Moradiabadi tweeted that he wasn’t feeling well but that he didn’t think it’s Covid.
He was the favorite but I cannot sleep at night. I didn’t play well because I was sick, that is for sure.
— Elshan Moradiabadi (@eli_1985_mor) July 16, 2021
IM Ravi Haria keeps making a name for himself. After starting with a loss to GM Etienne Bacrot, the English IM managed to win on demand as Black in a French Exchange against his French opponent 31 years after GM Nigel Short had done the same at the Manila Interzonal. Also here, the material balance was a rook and knight for Black vs. a rook and dark-squared bishop for White:
Other players who won on demand were GM Jorge Cori vs. GM Sandro Mareco, GM Sam Sevian vs. GM Benjamin Bok, GM Salem Saleh vs. GM Aleksandar Indjic, GM Ivan Cheparinov vs. GM Rasmus Svane, and GM Yaroslav Zherebukh vs. GM Alexei Shirov. This game, which had a new position on the board after just four moves, was one of the most interesting ones of the round:
No fewer than 22 matches are going to tiebreaks. One of the players who can call himself lucky to get to those tiebreaks is 18-year-old GM Alireza Firouzja. The new French GM escaped vs. the 15-year-old Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov, who had been winning in the middlegame and also in the endgame:
Results round 2
| Fed | Player | Rtg | – | Fed | Player | Rtg | G1 | G2 | TB |
| GM Martinovic, Sasa | 2548 | – | GM Carlsen, Magnus | 2847 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Caruana, Fabiano | 2806 | – | GM Megaranto, Susanto | 2550 | 1-0* | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Cheng, Bobby | 2552 | – | GM Aronian, Levon | 2782 | 1-0* | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Giri, Anish | 2776 | – | GM Savchenko, Boris | 2553 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Perez Ponsa, Federico | 2554 | – | GM Grischuk, Alexander | 2778 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2782 | – | GM Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag | 2554 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Moradiabadi, Elshan | 2553 | – | GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2749 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Firouzja, Alireza | 2759 | – | GM Sindarov, Javokhir | 2558 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Vakhidov, Jakhongir | 2534 | – | GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2758 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Karjakin, Sergey | 2757 | – | GM Vokhidov, Shamsiddin | 2530 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Quesada Perez, Yasser | 2565 | – | GM Harikrishna, Pentala | 2730 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2738 | – | IM Vazquez, Guillermo | 2527 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Fier, Alexandr | 2569 | – | GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2726 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Andreikin, Dmitry | 2724 | – | GM Can, Emre | 2569 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Plat, Vojtech | 2525 | – | GM Vitiugov, Nikita | 2724 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Esipenko, Andrey | 2716 | – | GM Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 2588 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Gukesh, D | 2578 | – | GM Dubov, Daniil | 2714 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Svidler, Peter | 2714 | – | GM Salinas Herrera, Pablo | 2514 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Ivic, Velimir | 2582 | – | GM Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2710 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Xiong, Jeffery | 2709 | – | GM Mikhalevski, Victor | 2579 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Iniyan, P | 2506 | – | GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 2706 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Yu, Yangyi | 2705 | – | GM Kadric, Denis | 2564 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| IM Murzin, Volodar | 2502 | – | GM Artemiev, Vladislav | 2704 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Amin, Bassem | 2703 | – | GM Gabuzyan, Hovhannes | 2587 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| IM Druska, Juraj | 2493 | – | GM Van Foreest, Jorden | 2688 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Alekseenko, Kirill | 2699 | – | GM Krasenkow, Michal | 2591 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Brkic, Ante | 2592 | – | GM Kryvoruchko, Yuriy | 2699 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2698 | – | GM Georgiev, Kiril | 2594 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2598 | – | GM Navara, David | 2675 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2696 | – | GM Bachmann, Axel | 2599 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Jobava, Baadur | 2603 | – | GM Shankland, Sam | 2709 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Matlakov, Maxim | 2688 | – | GM Gretarsson, Hjorvar Steinn | 2603 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Alekseev, Evgeny | 2605 | – | GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 2691 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Areshchenko, Alexander | 2687 | – | GM Ivanisevic, Ivan | 2606 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Gareyev, Timur | 2596 | – | GM Jakovenko, Dmitry | 2684 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Predke, Alexandr | 2683 | – | GM Durarbayli, Vasif | 2625 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal | 2606 | – | GM Korobov, Anton | 2683 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Salem, A.R. Saleh | 2682 | – | GM Indjic, Aleksandar | 2607 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Praggnanandhaa, R | 2608 | – | GM Sargissian, Gabriel | 2682 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Ragger, Markus | 2680 | – | GM Piorun, Kacper | 2608 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| IM Haria, Ravi | 2440 | – | GM Bacrot, Etienne | 2678 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Gelfand, Boris | 2675 | – | GM Braun, Arik | 2609 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2613 | – | GM Berkes, Ferenc | 2673 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Anton Guijarro, David | 2673 | – | GM Idani, Pouya | 2614 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Akobian, Varuzhan | 2614 | – | GM Grandelius, Nils | 2661 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Bluebaum, Matthias | 2669 | – | GM Erdos, Viktor | 2614 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Svane, Rasmus | 2615 | – | GM Cheparinov, Ivan | 2667 | 1-0 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Malakhov, Vladimir | 2666 | – | GM Vocaturo, Daniele | 2617 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Sargsyan, Shant | 2626 | – | GM Abasov, Nijat | 2656 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Shirov, Alexei | 2662 | – | GM Zherebukh, Yaroslav | 2620 | 1-0 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Nihal, Sarin | 2620 | – | GM Sjugirov, Sanan | 2661 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Adhiban, B. | 2660 | – | GM Delgado Ramirez, Neuris | 2622 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Bok, Benjamin | 2624 | – | GM Sevian, Samuel | 2647 | 1-0 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Lupulescu, Constantin | 2659 | – | GM Hesham, Abdelrahman | 2397 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | 2639 | – | GM Oparin, Grigoriy | 2654 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Kuzubov, Yuriy | 2653 | – | GM Ponkratov, Pavel | 2629 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Mareco, Sandro | 2629 | – | GM Cori, Jorge | 2652 | 1-0 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Onischuk, Alexander | 2649 | – | GM Paravyan, David | 2625 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Mustafa Yilmaz | 2630 | – | GM Haik Martirosyan | 2632 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Saric, Ivan | 2653 | – | GM Pichot, Alan | 2630 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2634 | – | GM Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. | 2641 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Sarana, Alexey | 2640 | – | GM Kovalev, Vladislav | 2637 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Jumabayev, Rinat | 2637 | – | GM Motylev, Alexander | 2639 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Tari, Aryan | 2639 | – | GM Bareev, Evgeny | 2638 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . |
Through to Round 3. #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/Dq0ZLLytvZ
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) July 17, 2021
The women’s section hasn’t see upsets so far with eight matches going to tiebreaks. GMs Harika Dronavalli and Valentina Gunina got free rides to the third round as the Indonesian players IM Irine Sukandar and IM Medina Warda Aulia decided not to return to the playing hall despite testing negative for Covid.
Two players won on demand after starting with a loss yesterday. IM Nataliya Buksa (Ukraine) leveled the score vs. IM Carissa Yip (U.S.), who didn’t play the opening well:
The other comeback was in GM Zhansaya Abdumalik vs. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, where the latter was doing well until she missed a difficult tactic:
While being an exchange down, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk showed the value of the bishop pair as she defeated Peru’s WGM Deysi Cori 2-0:
Results round 2
| Fed | Player | Rating | Fed | Player | Rating | G1 | G2 | TB | |
| GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2596 | – | WGM Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim | 2320 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| IM Badelka, Olga | 2418 | – | IM Matnadze, Ana | 2421 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| WGM Pogonina, Natalija | 2469 | – | IM Kulkarni Bhakti | 2391 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| WGM Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra | 2382 | – | GM Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2463 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| IM Kashlinskaya, Alina | 2488 | – | IM Ordaz Valdes, Lisandra Teresa | 2369 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Hoang, Thanh Trang | 2404 | – | IM Galliamova, Alisa | 2442 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| IM Bulmaga, Irina | 2413 | – | GM Danielian, Elina | 2407 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| WGM Yu, Jennifer | 2289 | – | IM Saduakassova, Dinara | 2483 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Dzagnidze, Nana | 2523 | – | GM Peng, Zhaoqin | 2358 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| IM Buksa, Nataliya | 2413 | – | IM Yip, Carissa | 2430 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| WGM Girya, Olga | 2448 | – | WGM Garifullina, Leya | 2390 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . | ||
| WIM Munkhzul, Turmunkh | 2278 | – | IM Shuvalova, Polina | 2489 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| IM Javakhishvili, Lela | 2470 | – | IM Mammadova, Gulnar | 2385 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| IM Salimova, Nurgyul | 2395 | – | IM Paehtz, Elisabeth | 2466 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| IM Atalik, Ekaterina | 2433 | – | IM Guichard, Pauline | 2413 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev | 2352 | – | GM Muzychuk, Anna | 2527 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Muzychuk, Mariya | 2550 | – | IM Gaponenko, Inna | 2357 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| IM Cyfka, Karina | 2417 | – | GM Ushenina, Anna | 2429 | 0-1 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Cramling, Pia | 2459 | – | GM Socko, Monika | 2393 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| WGM Cori T., Deysi | 2388 | – | GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2472 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Batsiashvili, Nino | 2487 | – | IM Tsolakidou, Stavroula | 2389 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta | 2403 | – | IM Bodnaruk, Anastasia | 2446 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Gunina, Valentina | 2437 | – | IM Sukandar, Irine Kharisma | 2413 | 1-0 | 1-0* | . | ||
| IM Aulia, Medina Warda | 2360 | – | GM Harika, Dronavalli | 2515 | 0-1 | 0-1* | . | ||
| GM Tan, Zhongyi | 2511 | – | WGM Yildiz Kadioglu, Betul Cemre | 2362 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| IM Skripchenko, Almira | 2411 | – | GM Sebag, Marie | 2483 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| IM Mammadzada, Gunay | 2460 | – | IM Unuk, Laura | 2407 | ½-½ | 1-0 | . | ||
| IM Padmini, Rout | 2370 | – | IM Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2494 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Abdumalik, Zhansaya | 2505 | – | IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2389 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| WGM Vaishali R | 2393 | – | GM Khotenashvili, Bela | 2471 | 0-1 | 0-1 | . | ||
| IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag | 2428 | – | IM Osmak, Iulija | 2418 | 1-0 | 1-0 | . | ||
| WGM Injac, Teodora | 2370 | – | GM Lagno, Kateryna | 2559 | ½-½ | 0-1 | . |
The FIDE World Cup takes place in the Galaxy Leisure Complex in Sochi, Russia, until August 6, 2021. Each round consists of two classical games and, if necessary, a rapid/blitz tiebreak on the third day. Starting from round two, the Open section has 128 players and the women’s section, 64.
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