2019 World Chess Cup (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
2019 World Chess Cup
(Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
Ugra Chess Academy (Loparev Street, 6) in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
Photo by ugra2018.fide.com
On tomorrow, September 9th, the 2019 FIDE World Cup will open in Khanty-Mansiysk making it the city’s fifth time hosting the event. 128 players from 47 countries will make the journey to the Siberian region for a chance a glory and a chance to raise their flag. The event which will close on October 4th. The two finalists will qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020, a qualifier for the World Championship against Magnus Carlsen. Ding Liren will be the top seed and many other top 20 players will be present.
The opening ceremony will be held in the Arts Center for Gifted Children of the North on September 9th at 7:00 pm local time. Draw for the colors will take place during the ceremony. Russia is represented by 28 players, followed by India – 10, China – 7, and USA – 6. The diverse field features youngsters and long-time veterans. The 14-year-old GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) is the youngest player while GM Essam El-Gindy (Egypt) the oldest at 53. Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun will not be competing in order to prepare for the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix.
Carlsen will not participate this year after participating in Tblisi, Georgia in 2017. He was eliminated by Bu Xiangzhi in round three. Fabiano Caruana will also not be taking part as he has a guaranteed spot in the Candidates tournament.
Anish Giri (2780, Netherlands), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2776, Russia), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774, France), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2767, Azerbaijan), Wesley So (2767, USA), Yu Yangyi (2763, China), Lenier Dominguez Perez (2763, USA), Sergey Karjakin (2760, Russia) are some familiar names. Karjakin won the Cup in 2015. Other winners participating include Levon Aronian (Armenia), Boris Gelfand (Israel), and Peter Svidler (Russia).
The total prize fund is $1.6 million, with $110,000 for the winner and $6,000 for first round losers.
Levon Aronian of Armenia, 2017 World Cup winner
Photo by Anastasia Kharlovich (fide.org)
PRIZE DISTRIBUTION
(US$)Total
Round 1: 64 × 6,000=384,000
Round 2: 32 × 10,000=320,000
Round 3: 16 × 16,000=256,000
Round 4: 8 × 25,000=200,000
Round 5: 4 × 35,000=140,000
4th place: 50,000
3rd place: 60,000
2nd place: 80,000
1st place: 110,000
Total (US$): 1,600,000
MATCH DETAILS
Each of the matches will comprise of two game matches, plus tiebreaks, if necessary. The last standing after the previous rounds will enter a seventh round of four games, plus tiebreaks if necessary. Players receive 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds per move starting from move one. If the score is tied the players then play two 25-minute + 10-second increment rapid games, then two 10+10 games, then two 5+3 and, finally, Armageddon, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4 but a draw qualifies Black for the next round.
SCHEDULE
Round 1: September 10th – September 12th
Round 2: September 13th – September 15th
Round 3: September 16th – September 18th
Rest day: September 19th
Round 4: September 20th – September 22nd
Round 5: September 23rd – September 25th
Round 6: September 26th – September 28th
Rest day: September 29th
Final and play-off for third place: September 30th – October 4th
All rounds start at 3 pm local time
Chief Arbiter – IA Ashot Vardapetian (Armenia)
CLICK to enlarge
The 2019 World Cup is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra, World Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation.
Official: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/
chess24.com: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/khanty-fide-world-cup-2019
PARTICIPANTS
Qualification paths
World Champion (1)
WC: Semi-finalists of the Chess World Cup 2017 (4)
J17 and J18: World Junior Champions 2017 and 2018 (2)
E18 and E19: European Individual Championships 2018 (24) and 2019 (22)
AM18 and AM19: American Continental Championships 2018 (4) and 2019 (4)
AS18 and AS19: Asian Chess Championships 2018 (5) and 2019 (5)
AF: African Chess Championship 2019 (2)
Z2.1 (5), Z2.2 (1), Z2.3 (2), Z2.4 (2), Z2.5 (2), Z3.1 (1), Z3.2 (1), Z3.3 (2), Z3.4 (2), Z3.5 (2), Z3.6 (1), Z3.7 (1), Z4.1 (1), Z4.2 (1), Z4.3 (1), Z4.4 (1): Zonal tournaments
R: Rating (average of all published ratings from August 2018 to July 2019 is used) (18)
ACP: highest-placed participant of the ACP Tour who has not qualified with the previous criteria (1)
PN: FIDE President nominee (5)
ON: Organizer nominee (4)
Africa rejuvenated
This has been a banner year for African chess. The Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz hosted in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire was a smashing success. The 2019 African Championship in Tunisia was the strongest ever and the recently-held 2019 Africa Games was all the rave. These three events have been a culmination in a year of promise and hope on the continent.
African players will trek to Siberia with a rejuvenated spirit in hopes to make an impression. A refreshing confidence has been seen in recent years. Who can forget the confidence of Zambia’s Andrew Kayonde when facing world-class opponent Vassily Ivanchuk at 2018 Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. In a gripped battle, Ivanchuk was still trying to win a game from an equal position. Not to be denied, Kayonde said, “I know he is Vassily Ivanchuk, but I am also the Zambian Champion!”
2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco
Photo by Jeux Africains Rabat 2019
In what has come to be one of the main staging grounds for chess, Khanty-Mansiysk will host the 2019 World Cup and six African players will be on hand. Traditionally, African players had been overmatched and went looking for experience. In recent years, the continent has not only sent stronger players, but have produced some tough matches on the higher boards.
Years ago, there were some chatter about Africans not being deserving of six slots in the World Cup given the level of the players. Such comments are becoming less favored. In the past, Africa would sent a mixture of IMs and FMs. This year four Grandmasters and two International Masters from the African continent will join the field.
Grandmasters Ahmed Adly (Egypt), Bassem Amin (Egypt), Bilel Bellahcene (Algeria) at 2019 Africa Games taking 1-2-3 in the blitz competition. Photo by Mohamed Bounaji.
GM Essam El-Gindy (Egypt)
Photo by James Mwangi
IM Fy Rakotomaharo (Madagascar)
Photo by Amruta Mokal
This year, six African players will be competing of which three are Egyptian. In 2015 World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, GM Bassem Amin was first African player to advance to the second round. He qualified by virtue of his second place finish in the African Championships. His compatriot GM Ahmed Adly won the event, but had already qualified after winning the 4.2 Zonal. GM Essam El-Gindy, the tournament’s eldest player, will take that spot instead. GM Bilel Bellahcene of Algeria won the 4.1 Zonal while IM Fy Rakotomaharo of Madagascar won 4.3 Zonal. Lastly, IM Daniel Anwuli of Nigeria won the 4.4 Zonal.
Young talents IM Daniel Anwuli (Nigeria) and IM Fy Rakotomaharo (Madagascar) will be in Khanty-Mansiysk looking for upsets. Photo by Aishat Ibrahim
While African players are generally outrated in the World Cup, Amin will be the favorite his first match. The others will face players had all been in the top 10-30 at one time or another. Here are the pairings.
September 9th-October 4th, 2019 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
This is a tremendous opportunity for African players to break through. They are not going as “tourists” merely to say they have participated. They are going for glory and to defend their national honor.
Official: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/
chess24.com: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/khanty-fide-world-cup-2019
Video by FIDE
September 9th-October 4th, 2019 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
El-Gindy gets near upset!
IM Daniel Anwuli facing off against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Photo by khantymansiysk2019.fide.com
Daniel Anwuli faced Maxime Vachier-Lagrave but quickly went astray in the opening after a dubious pawn sacrifice. However, the Nigerian tried to confuse the super-GM by going for complications after 16.Rxf6!? Anwuli had inadequate compensation for the exchange, but it was returned by the Frenchman. At this point, white’s pawn structure was in shambles and MVL wove a mating net after the black king sprinted up the board.
Levon Aronian took tremendous risks and was clearly worse against Essam El-Gindy. Photo by khantymansiysk2019.fide.com
Essam El-Gindy had the closest chance to win for the Africans. In fact, it seemed like his opponent Levon Aronian was going to suffer a huge upset loss. Generally with elite players, they are more stable in their play. However, Garry Kasparov made an observation. Today’s elite players play too many games. A week after finishing the Sinquefield and the Champions Showdown, the Armenian was at it again.
After 23.g4 h6 24.h4, he began to lose the thread of the position. With the white king tucked away on h1 behind a rook, black started to get some counterplay. There was some interesting play with exchange being offered by both sides, but it appeared that the white king was too exposed to survive after 42…Qg4! The Egyptian wasted precious time and tried pushing the a-pawn to stretch his opponent’s defenses. White consolidated instead and there was nothing left.
Fy Rakotomaharo had a tough time containing Shakhriyar Mamedyarov’s superior understanding. White made no obvious missteps by his knights had no entry points. Black’s active pieces won the day. In Nakamura-Bellahcene, the American rolled out the Catalan, but have reversed a move order. White played 16.e5!? and the game appeared to steer in black’s favor. Commentators were surprised at the resilient play of the Algerian… seemingly not realizing that he is a Grandmaster. After jostling of pieces around the board, a draw was agreed. Bellahcene granted a short interview after the game.
Video by FIDE
Africa’s two top players had a rough beginning. Ahmed Adly was slowly crushed by Ivan Cheparinov while Bassem Amin seemed to be ceding the two-bishop advantage to Iranian phenom Amin Tabatabaei. Amin had to fight hard for a draw. In the final position, there were opposite-colored bishops and despite the possibility of winning a pawn, Tabatabaei agreed to a draw.
Official: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/
chess24.com: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/khanty-fide-world-cup-2019
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
Video by FIDE
September 9th-October 4th, 2019 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
Before the World Cup, there were hopes that some of the African players would advance into the second round. Of course, this would be a steep hill to climb as most of them were facing elite competition. Just as sure as Radaslaw Wojtaszek (2739) lost his match to a young Norwegian (not named Carlsen), it shows that upsets are possible. Johan-Sebastian Christiansen toppled the Polish player and posted an impassioned tweet.
Only one African player can write a similar story as Bilel Bellahcene faces Hikaru Nakamura in the tiebreaks. Bassem Amin will be slightly favored over namesake Amin Tabatabaei. Bellahcene has not played any outrageous lines thus far, but may try to do so in the quicker time controls. Nakamura is one of the premier players in quickplay and accepted a quick draw to move to tiebreaks. This strategy worked for Sergey Karjakin in 2015 when he won the Cup and went on to face Magnus Carlsen for the world championship in 2016. Of course, Nakamura has not been in the best of form as of late so there is some risk.
In today’s contests, Nigeria’s Daniel Anwuli had an uphill climb to level the score against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The game was a tense battle out of the Ruy Lopez and the Frenchman quickly grabbed space and the two bishops. Black’s position was a bit cramped, but in a flurry of exchanges it appeared that black had counter play after 27…Nc5 28.cxb5 Nxb3 29.Rxc8 Nxc1 30.Rxc1 Qxb5. However, white had a strong passed a-pawn that had to be watched closely. That pawn ended up making it all the way down to the seventh rank and black was not in time to protect queening square on b8. On 43.Qc8 black resigned in lieu of 43…Bc7 44.Ba5! MVL posted the following tweet…
The young Nigerian should be proud to know that he showed determination and his games were competitive. He will be a force in African chess if he continues on this path.
African champion Ahmed Adly faced Ivan Cheparinov but failed to get anything with the white pieces. He went for a Catalan and held a slight edge with strong central pawns and two bishops, but black was able to solve problems tactically. The position was equal from that point on and there was no way to press for an advantage. In fact, it was black who started pressing for a win. After 39.Qf3? black was winning after 39…e4! Black was on +5 after 45.Rb1 since 45…Bd6 would win at least the exchange and white exposed king would have spelled doom. However, black decided to go for the draw and advance.
For Fy Rakotomaharo, he wanted to end the tournament playing a solid result and went for an unbalanced position. However, white’s position was too solid to make any use of his active pieces. After 20…f5!? white consolidated and when the “Malagasy Radar” went for complications 26…g5 27.Nf5 g5 28. Nf5 Nxg5 28.Nd5! his position collapsed and he ended up in mating net. It was a good experience to play such strong competition. Fy will return to France were he is undertaking university studies and hopefully he will get to play strong competition during his sojourn in Europe.
Essam El-Gindy trying to equalize the match against Levon Aronian.
Photo by Kirill Merkuryev
In Essam El-Gindy’s game against Levon Aronian, his white game was very ambitious as he set up a front pawn center. A dynamic position occurred and white lunged forward with 18.g4. This move broke the structure and gave black swift counterplay. Aronian had seen deeply, gave up his strong knight for a bad bishop because after 24…Nxd3! 25.Qxd3 black plays 25…Rhg6! with a strong attack. If 26.h3 then black sacrifices the queen with 26…Qxh5! El-Gindy’s center then collapsed and he gave up three central pawns for the exchange. Too much. Aronian eventually solidified and parried white’s attempt to start a mating attack with his king, but lost all of his pawns and had to resign. The Egyptian missed his chances in the first game, so the Armenian will advance.
Amin has a good chance to advance today against Tabatabaei, but the more interesting match may well be Bellahcene vs. Nakamura. Look for the Algerian to unsettle the world’s top bullet player with some unorthodox lines to gain time. Perhaps a 1.Nh3 is on the menu?
Official: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/
chess24.com: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/khanty-fide-world-cup-2019
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
A controversy involving Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov contest the doping procedure via Twitter…
Video by FIDE
Video by FIDE
September 9th-October 4th, 2019 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
It all ended today for the African participants as both remaining participants flamed out of the 2019 World Cup. Both Bassem Amin (Egypt) and Bilel Bellahcene (Algeria) got to the tiebreaks in different ways. Amin played Iranian phenom Amin Tabatabaei in two hotly-contested games (Italian and Grunfeld) that both ended quietly.
Bassem Amin advanced in 2015 and would try to repeat his success.
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE).
In the tiebreaks, Amin opted for a King’s Indian, but something went horribly wrong in his preparation. After 15.b4 white was ready to break through on the queenside while Amin’s attack was a step slow. White mobilized and played 25.f4!? taking advantage of so many tactical motifs. The Egyptian tried keeping lines closed, but things worsened after 27…g4? 28.Bxg4 Rxg4 29.Rxg4 Bxg4 30.Rxg4. At this point, black’s position was a wreak and Tabatabaei finished the game off cleanly.
In the second tiebreak, Amin needed a win. He may have gotten his chance after 24.g4 winning a piece for a couple of pawns. Certainly, his king was not safe and black had the two bishops, but Amin’s advantage kept growing. In the double-edged position, white had a dangerous a-pawn racing up the board. In addition, black’s position was become overextended.
Bassem Amin had a chance to seize the advantage after 47…f4? with 48.Qc3! or 48.Qd4 when black’s exposed king comes under fire.
After 47…f4? the computer evaluation grew to +4! Why such a big plus? White was a clear piece up and black’s center was collapsing. In severe time pressure, Amin blundered with 48..g6?? throwing away his advantage with one move. With seconds ticking, Tabatabaei returned the blunder with 48…Kxg6??
At this point each player was relying on their increment and mistakes were piling up for both sides. Black had another chance to win, but he was most likely being cautious. On 62.Bxb5?? black could have taken the full point after 62…Qa1+ 63.Kh2 Qc1! pinning the rook and threatening the deadly Rg2+. The pendulum swung back and forth and a queen ending ensued. Bassem had an extra pawn, but his king was exposed and he couldn’t escape the checks. Here is the tense moment with the Egyptian trying to escape…
So it was… Africa’s #1 player was ousted.
In the other match Hikaru Nakamura was content in going to tiebreaks where he is the favorite in quickl play. The first was absolutely amazing. In a Berlin Defense, the game held a balance for 50 moves. The American’s king’s knight jumped around the board probing the position. There was nothing white could do to change the position. Black continued to gain time and simply moved his knight around posing tactical problems.
Finally, black penetrated the position as white lay helpless. What was amazing was the knight’s ability to switch control of squares and coordinate with the rook to create mating threats. White’s rook and bishop became passive. Persistence paid off and after 84…Re2+ 85.Kg1 Kg6 86.Rd4 Nf5 87.Rd3 Nh4 and the Algerian gave up. The black knight had moved 38 times during the game and its job was complete.
In the second game, Bellahcene got lost in the complications and ended up with severely exposed king. After 25.Qg4+ Kh8 26.Qxe6 the American held on and didn’t let go. When a draw would’ve been sufficient, Nakamura pressed for a win a pawn up and opposite-color bishop ending. Ultimately, the Algerian resigned.
Bilel Bellahcene switched his federation last year to Algeria
and hopes to be a future force in African chess.
Photo by Kirill Merkuryev
The six Africans went to Khanty-Mansiysk in search of honor and received it. Perhaps it is disappointing that none of the Africans advanced, but the games were well-fought and Africa has only just begun the journey of player development. This year was one to give Africa more exposure and it is hopeful that further resources will assist in a generation of players that will contend for a world championship some day.
Official: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/
chess24.com: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/khanty-fide-world-cup-2019
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
S.P. Sethuraman didn’t win the match, but what a game!!
September 9th-October 4th, 2019
(Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 1)
September 10-12, 2019
Wojtaszek upset… Nihal shines
Commentators marvel at World Cup because the diversity of players and the various formats in each match. Indeed there are the unknown players who qualified from their zonal tournaments getting a chance to share the stage with the world’s elite. Then there are those rising stars looking to supplant the veterans. Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan was the youngest in the field at 14. That led to a quip by Lawrence Trent…
Radoslaw Wojtaszek was the first big name to have an early exit after losing to Norway’s Johan-Sebastian Christiansen 2-0. Christiansen was overcome with joy after the result.
Bu Xiangzhi was another victim losing in tiebreaks to 20-year old countryman Yu Xiangzhi. Bu has enjoyed a wonderful career and he will soon make way for the cadre of rising Chinese yet to arrive on the professional circuit. There was another exchange between Trent and Jan Gustafsson on the dangers of playing in the Chinese League among unrated players. “Not good for your Elo rating,” was the moral of the story.
Perhaps the sensation of the round was the Nihal Sarin who won convincingly over Jorge Cori of Peru. His first game achieved plaudits from legendary players and the comparisons to Anatoly Karpov were commonplace.
There has been a lot made of the Indian talents Sarin (15), Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (14) and Dommaraju Gukesh (13). There has been quite a bit of attention given to the recent push to develop Indian talent. Most recently a group of young Indian prodigies attended a camp conducted by Vladimir Kramnik and hosted by ChessBase. Sagar Shah of ChessBase India was on the scene. With Viswanathan Anand also lending his leadership, India will be looking to improve its #4 position in the world.
There were 28 Russians starting this event and they had their own young talents including 17-year old Andrey Esipenko winning over former FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov. There was a controversy involving doping tests. Ponomariov was upset because the test took a couple of hours and did not allow him time to prepare for his next game which he lost badly. Dr. Marape Marape, Chairman of FIDE Medical Commission spoke on the matter to clarify.
Levon Aronian escaped against Essam El-Gindy.
Photo by khantymansiysk2019.fide.com
Not too many upsets in the first round, but Levon Aronian nearly dropped his first game against Essam El-Gindy of Egypt before holding on to draw. He would win the next game and move on. As far as smaller federations, those from Asia, Latin America and Africa did not fare well. The balance of power has shifted eastward, but the transition has been gradual.
Of course the Asian powerhouses China (#3) and India (#4) will go deep in the tournament, but chess is still in transformation and perhaps one day there will be a singular talent to come from an obscure country. Before Magnus Carlsen rise, Norway was not exactly a world power in chess and is still not a world power. However, it shows that one can rise if given the right opportunities and the World Cup is one such event.
Official: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/
chess24.com: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/khanty-fide-world-cup-2019
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
The thrill of victory…
…and the agony of defeat!
September 9th-October 4th, 2019
(Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 2)