2021 FIDE World Cup: Round #1

A couple of upsets today in the FIDE World Cup. The Egyptian derby between Ahmed Adly and Abdelrahman Hesham was hard-fought with tiebreaks beginning with the “underdog” pressing in the first tiebreak. Adly has a very unique style of play. Not necessarily a theoretician, he plays lines that are not well-analyzed and gets positions where tricks opponents into uncomfortable positions. He has a tendency to catch opponents off balance with his style and Hesham was well aware.

The first tiebreak was a Bogo-Indian where white developed a massive space advantage. Adly was never able to completely equalize and after 26.Ndxc4 white was clearly on top. Fortunately, Adly was able to get out of his bind with only a pawn deficit… on the same side of the board. Nevertheless, Hesham was completely winning before he blundered with 58.f6?? and after 58…Re1+ 59.Kf5 gxf6 60.Nf7+ Kg7 and black had survived the worst. In a few moves, black had gotten a drawn position. Here was Hesham’s reaction…

Adly-Hesham arrived at this position after 35.Qc4. Commentators were analyzing this critical position, but did not immediately spot the crushing 35…Rh2+!! leading to winning the queen or checkmate.

Adly would not be so fortunate in the second tiebreak. Adly played another strange concoction and again got into trouble. He sacrificed the exchange, but had little compensation. After 29.Ra3, Hesham opted for 29…Rf8 instead of 29…Rh4. It turns out that his plan of Ra8-f8-f6-h6 was farsighted. They say that solving a combination is not the hard part… it is getting the position that is the hard part. After 35.Qc4, black had some choices that were analyzed. GMs Nigel Short and Evgeny Miroshnichenko were covering the match and here is their commentary. Both went “What’s that???” Initially astonished, but began to see the combination and were generous in their praise. A wonderful way to end the match! Watch the reaction below!

After the first game on the 12th, Short beamed at England’s Ravi Haria win over the experienced Russian, Vadim Zvjaginsev. A 22-year old International Master with two GM norms, Haria lost the second game and would go to tiebreaks. Would experience prevail over youth? It wasn’t close. Youth prevailed this time.

In the first game, Haria simply squeezed the Russian to death until his position fell apart. In the second game, Zvjaginsev essayed 1.e4 e6 2.f4!? It transposed into a normal French, and the game was equal until they entered a rook ending. Having to play for a win, Zvjaginsev took his pawn advantage into the ending. In the end, he had to give up a draw and the match. He gave his impressions in a short interview.

Among the other African challengers playing a tiebreak, we have Chitumbo Mwali who upset the young Armenian in the second game of classical. They repeated the same line as in the game Mwali won, but Haik Martirosyan made some improvements. First, he went for 13…g5 to put immediate pressure on the Zambian. This strategy seemed to work because Mwali took on a defensive posture.

With black’s attack raging, white had no defense against the g-file battery. The second game was a Modern Benoni that went wrong quickly and Mwali ended the game without much resistance. This game showed the difference in the levels of preparation. Nevertheless, Mwali beat a very strong player and despite his loss, he gained a lot from the experience. FIDE recognized this.

He also gave his impressions of the match…

GM Bilel Bellahcene of Algeria had a tough round of tiebreaks. In the first game with the black piece, engines had him as high as -5.71, but the trick in these high-level events is maintaining your form over extended periods. After getting the winning position, it appeared he would wrap up the point. Unfortunately, he blundered with 35…Qe6?? after which the simple 36.Rd8+ forces the bishop skewer off the diagonal.

Both of the Cori siblings (Jorge and Deysi) moved onto the next round. It seems like they have been representing Peru for ages. Deysi once won an honor for being the youngest participant in the 2004 Chess Olympiad.

On the women’s side, there were no big upsets. Sabrina Letreche of Algeria was unable to break through after her instructive, “on-demand” win yesterday. Shahenda Wafa of Egypt played four tiebreak games trading wins in the rapid and losing both in the 10-minute blitz. The 2018 African women’s champion will return with a wealth of experience.

Africans at World Chess Cup July 12th-August 6th, 2021 (Sochi, Russia)
Round #1, TIEBREAKS (Open)
1	IM Daniel Barrish		RSA	0-2	GM Aryan Tari		NOR
2	GM Adham Fawzy		EGY	1½-2½	GM Evgeny Alekseev		RUS
3	GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan		ARM	3-1	GM Bilel Bellahcene		ALG
4	FM Sergio Miguel		ANG	0-2	GM Ivan Saric		CRO
5	CM Chiletso Chipanga		MAW	0-2	GM Adhiban Baskiran		IND
6	GM Vladislav Kovalev		FID	2-0	IM Rodwell Makoto		ZIM
7	IM Olanrewaju Ajibola		NGR	0-2	GM Alexey Sarana		RUS
8	IM Arthur Ssegwangyi		UGA	½-1½	GM Nihal Sarin		IND
9	GM Ahmed Adly		EGY	1½-2½	GM Abdelrahman Hesham		EGY
10	GM Haik Martirosyan		ARM	3-1	IM Chitumbo Mwali		ZAM
11	GM David Paravyan		RUS	2-0	IM Mohamed Tissir		MAR
12	GM Alexander Motylev		RUS	2-0	FM Abobker Mohamed Elarabi		LBA
Round #1, TIEBREAKS (Women)
1	IM Nataliya Buksa		UKR	2½-1½	WIM Sabrina Latreche		ALG
2	GM Valentina Guinina		RUS	2-0	WIM Jesse February		RSA
3	IM Almira Skripchenko		FRA	4-2	WGM Shahenda Wafa		EGY
4	WGM Shrook Wafa		EGY	0-2	IM Laura Unuk		CRO
5	WGM Amina Mezioud		ALG	½-1½	IM Iulija Omonova		UZB
Pairings Tree

Critical Links: official site, YouTube, Twitter #FIDEWorldCup2021, Results