2021 FIDE World Cup: Round #1
Round 1, Game 1
Monday, 12 July 2021
Sizzling start at the 2021 World Cup in Sochi!
Chile’s Salinas uncorks brilliancy…
Egypt’s Moaataz upsets Ushenina
25…Qg1+! 26.Nxg1 Nxh2# wrapped up a beautiful game! https://t.co/m7GDW4MQKE #c24live #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/HtILsWQjxr
— chess24.com (@chess24com) July 12, 2021
With 78 games today in the open, there were massive expectations as players from 93 federations kicked off the World Cup in Sochi, Russia. The top 50 seeds received byes, but the rest would entertain the chess world longing to see a variety of classical games.
For the women, the top 25 received byes and will advance to the second round automatically. Aleksandra Goraychkina, a championship contender, is the top seed who recently crossed the 2600 rating. She is only the 6th woman to ever achieve this.
Egypt’s Ayah Moaataz
Photo by Egyptian Chess Federation
Today’s biggest upset was Egypt’s Ayah Moaataz who brutally mated former women’s World Champion, Anna Ushenina. The Ukrainian won the women’s world championship, but has had shown periods of sluggishness and disinterest. In today’s chess, preparation has become so much more important and even a player outrated by 300-400 Elo can find the motivation. In the game against Moaataz, Ushenina failed to capitalize on an opening mistake after 15.axb5?? Bd5! winning material.
Her text move 15…Nxc2 was still winning, but lost significant momentum after Moaataz complicated matters with 19.Rxb4!? Nevertheless, Ushenina was still better. Fast forward to Moaataz’s 34.Rd4? the evaluation ballooned to -6.29. Despite this evaluation and being a rook up, black’s weakness became an issue and Ushenina lost her sense of danger. After 38…Rbd7?? the Egyptian didn’t miss her chance and was mating after 39.Qg8+ Kg6 40.f5+ Kh5 40.Qh7! mating. Wonderful win for Moaataz!
Uganda is ably represented by International Master Arthur Ssegwanyi (left) and International Arbiter, @sskisuze at the FIDE World Cup 2021, one of the biggest international chess events. In the middle is Arthur's highly rated round one opponent. Keep the #Uganda flag flying. pic.twitter.com/CirnVMmg16
— Vianney Mpungu Luggya (@vluggya) July 11, 2021
The Open section did not have much in the way of drama, but there was a close call in Nihal Sarin’s game. ChessBase India was covering the games and there was a dark mood in the chat. Arthur Ssegwanyi of Uganda had outplayed the Indian prodigy for 30 moves before he started shuffling his pieces around in an aimless way. His Rh1-h3-h1-a1 was puzzling. The Qc1-d2-c1-a3-a2 also lost a lot of time as black slowly mounted an attack on the g-file. The Ugandan IM had totally lost the thread on the position and after 48.Rb1 Nf7 49.Ke3?? Qh4! A disappointing result for Ssegwanyi.
As far as the other games, most ended with the favorite coming out on top. There was one game that GM Nigel Short stated should be showered with gold coins and that was Pablo Salinas Herrera’s brilliant win. Daniel Naroditsky had fellow GMs Hou Yifan and Veselin Topalov on the chess.com broadcast as they seem astounded.
GM Pablo Salinas Herrera of Chile likely played the Game of the Day vs. the Danish GM Mads Andersen. What a beautiful finish!https://t.co/B45YsNq4q5 pic.twitter.com/w72QJL2lFn
— ChesscomNews (@ChesscomNews) July 12, 2021
As far as the African players, it was not a good day as only one player scored a victory and that player (Ahmed Adly) was winning his compatriot Abdelrahman Hesham. Here are the results of African players. GM Bassem Amin has a bye.
July 12th-August 6th, 2021 (Sochi, Russia) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IM Daniel Barrish |
 |
RSA | GM Aryan Tari |
 |
NOR | |
| 2 | GM Adham Fawzy |
 |
EGY | GM Evgeny Alekseev |
 |
RUS | |
| 3 | GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan |
 |
ARM | GM Bilel Bellahcene |
 |
ALG | |
| 4 | FM Sergio Miguel |
 |
ANG | GM Ivan Sarc |
 |
CRO | |
| 5 | CM Chiletso Chipanga |
 |
MAW | GM Adhiban Baskiran |
 |
IND | |
| 6 | GM Vladislav Kovalev |
 |
FID | IM Rodwell Makoto |
 |
ZIM | |
| 7 | IM Olanrewaju Ajibola |
 |
NGR | GM Alexey Sarana |
|
RUS | |
| 8 | IM Arthur Ssegwangyi |
 |
UGA | GM Nihal Sarin |
|
IND | |
| 9 | GM Ahmed Adly |
|
EGY | GM Abdelrahman Hesham |
|
EGY | |
| 10 | GM Haik Martirosyan |
|
ARM | IM Chitumbo Mwali |
 |
ZAM | |
| 11 | GM David Paravyan |
|
RUS | IM Mohamed Tissir |
 |
MAR | |
| 12 | GM Alexander Motylev |
|
RUS | FM Abobker Mohamed Elarabi |
 |
LBA | |
| 1 | IM Nataliya Buksa |
 |
UKR | WIM Sabrina Latreche |
|
ALG | |
| 2 | GM Valentian Guinina |
|
RUS | WIM Jesse February |
|
RSA | |
| 3 | IM Almira Skripchenko |
 |
FRA | WGM Shahenda Wafa |
|
EGY | |
| 4 | WGM Shrook Wafa |
|
EGY | IM Laura Unuk |
|
CRO | |
| 5 | WGM Amina Mezioud |
|
ALG | IM Iulija Omonova |
 |
UZB | |
|
|
|||||||
Egypt’s GM Ahmed Adly
Photo by Eric Rosen
Games (Open), Games (Women)
Video by FIDE Chess
Video by ChessBase India
Critical Links: official site, YouTube, Twitter #FIDEWorldCup2021, Results
Round 1, Game 2
Tuesday, 13 July 2021
Most favorites go through!
Zambia’s Chitumbo Mwali crushes GM…
Algeria’s Latreche gets 400-point upset; Ushenina bounces back
IM Chitumbo Mwali
Zambia is one of the strongest chess federations in Africa. Its most famous son has to be Amon Simutowe, the country’s first Grandmaster. There are other talents dotting the chess landscape and several have competed creditably on the world’s largest stages. Zambia came in 47th in the 2010 Chess Olympiad despite being ranked 121st. IM Chitumbo Mwali carried this history along with the Zambian flag to Sochi and scored a historic victory to even his match.
Mwali faced Armenian blitz specialist GM Haik Martirosyan in a must-win situation. In an English Opening, Mwali had an interesting setup that appeared to bear Sicilian qualities. The first 15 moves were unremarkable, but then a skirmish broke out after 18…c6 19.d4 cxb5 20.axb5 Qxb5. Tension on the queenside was released and it appeared that black’s a-pawn would be an important factor. It never moved again.
In fact, Martirosyan begins to show some carelessness after 22…f5?! The Zambian seized on the moment with 23.Nd4! and the tide slowly began to shift. With the black king stuck in the middle of the board, the Armenian belted out 26…f4?! (diagram) and was under fire after 27.Nd6+ Bxd6 28.exd6.
Mwali nearly threw away his advantage after the hasty 31.Rc7, but Martirosyan panicked with 31…Bd7. As time pressure crept up, black made a gross blunder with 33…Ne4?? 34.Re2! winning the knight. Black’s position further deteriorated and massive losses occurred. Historic result and Zambians were happy!
Tiebreaks are looming and the Zambian will need to be ready.
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There were a few cases (besides Mwali) where a win was needed on demand. GM Bilel Bellahcene (Algeria), GM Abdelrahman Hesham (Egypt), along with GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (Russia) GM Niaz Murshed (Bangladesh), IM Basheer Al-Qudaimi (Iran), GM Juan Carlos Gonzalez Zamora (Mexico) successfully won “on demand” to force tiebreaks.
In the women’s competition, WIM Sabrina Latreche (Algeria), WGM Janelle Mae Frayna (Philippines), WIM Mai Narva (Estonia), IM Pauline Guichard (France), and of course GM Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) who was upset by Egypt’s Ayah Moaataz.
IM Abdelrahman Hesham
All photos by Paras Gudka
The match of Hesham-Adly was important given that it was two opponents who knew each other very well. It was a Bogo-Indian where white sacrificed two pawns in the opening. After giving up tremendous time and space, black returned an exchange. Black placed sacrificed two pawns in hopes that the running c-pawn would net material.
Hesham returned the exchange and ended up a remote passed b-pawn. He eventually drew black forces to the queenside and then raid the kingside where he got a remote passed h-pawn. Black’s lone rook stood no chance as the king was too far to help stop the advance of the pawn. These two must’ve played many times and while Adly is a heavily decorated Olympian, Hesham will be able to advance to the next round to face Romania’s Constantin Lupulescu.
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Bellahcene’s game is instructive against Hovhannes Gabuzyan… a Sicilian Maroczy Bind. Black was routed. The problem with higher-rated players is that they tend to lose a sense of danger believing that their strength will get them out of trouble. Maybe that works in online blitz, but not here.
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In the women’s section there were a couple of interesting tactics in the games involving African representatives. Sabrina Latreche had to win her game in order to keep the match going and Ayah Moaataz only had to secure a draw. These two positions arose. Find the winning moves.
(diagram #1) Latreche-Buska after 22…Nc5
(diagram #2) Ushenina-Mootaz after 37…Kg8
In the first position, Latreche faced and Scheveningen Sicilian and sacrificed a couple of pawns for active play. Immediately after the sequence, black blundered with 22…Nc5?? after which 23.e5! wins a piece. In the second position, Ushenina found a nice tactic after 37…Kg8. An alert eye will spot 38.Rxf4! Nxf4 39.Qxd7 winning!
July 12th-August 6th, 2021 (Sochi, Russia)
Games (Open), Games (Women)
Video by FIDE Chess
Video by ChessBase India
Critical Links: official site, YouTube, Twitter #FIDEWorldCup2021, Results
Nicely done!
Round 1, TIEBREAKS
Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Major upsets… Abdelrahman Hesham and Ravi Haria advance!
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 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.
Video by FIDE Chess
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…
Video by FIDE Chess
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.
Flashback: At the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia, Spain, 11-year old Deysi Estela Cori Tello of Peru collects prize for the youngest participant. She scored a respectable 5-2 in a reserve role. Photo by Daaim Shabazz.
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.
July 12th-August 6th, 2021 (Sochi, Russia)
Video by FIDE Chess
Video by ChessBase India
Critical Links: official site, YouTube, Twitter #FIDEWorldCup2021, Results
Video by FIDE Chess
Video by FIDE Chess