2021 FIDE World Cup: Round #5
July 12th-August 6th, 2021 (Sochi, Russia) MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 5) |
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| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus |
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NOR | Esipenko, Andrey |
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RUS | 2 | Bacrot, Etienne |
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FRA | Piorun, Kacper |
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POL |
| 3 | Grischuk, Alexander |
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RUS | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof |
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POL | |
| 4 | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi |
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IND | Durarbayli, Vasif |
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AZE | |
| 5 | Fedoseev, Vladimir |
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RUS | Ivic, Velimir |
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RUS | |
| 6 | Tabatabaei, Amin |
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IRI | Martirosyan, Haik |
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ARM | |
| 7 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
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AZE | Karjakin, Sergey |
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RUS | |
| 8 | Svidler, Peter |
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RUS | Shankland, Sam |
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USA | |
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Round 5, Game 1
Sunday, 25 July 2021
Drawfeast in Game 1… only two decisive games
As players get to the latter rounds, there is more caution and as a result, an increase in draws. There was only one decisive game in each section with Armenia’s Haik Martirosyan winning over Amin Tabatabaei and Alexandra Kosteniuk’s win over top-seed Aleksandra Gorayachkina.
Kosteniuk, Martirosyan Only Winners On Peaceful Day At FIDE World Cup
Only two decisive games at the #FIDEWorldCup on Sunday:
Haik Martirosyan defeated Amin Tabatabaei and @chessqueen beat Valentina Gunina. The tension is growing!https://t.co/E0lNRZEUkh— ChesscomNews (@ChesscomNews) July 26, 2021
Video by FIDE Chess
Tension is building in Sochi!
GM Samuel Shankland (USA)
Photo by IM Eric Rosen
Video by FIDE Chess
July 12th-August 6th, 2021 (Sochi, Russia) MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 5) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goryachkina, Aleksandra |
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RUS | Saduakassova, Dinara |
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KAZ | 2 | Dzagnidze, Nana |
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GEO | Muzychuk, Anna |
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UKR |
| 3 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra |
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RUS | Gunina, Valentina |
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RUS | |
| 4 | Tan, Zhongyi |
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CHN | Lagno, Kateryna |
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RUS | |
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GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia)
Photo by Anastasiia Korolkova
Video by FIDE Chess
Critical Links: official site, YouTube, Twitter #FIDEWorldCup2021, Results
July 12th-August 6th, 2021
(Sochi, Russia)
MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 5)
Round 5, Game 2
Monday, 26 July 2021
Shankland ousts Svidler… Vidit advances
Samuel Shankland’s comments from a July interview were circulating on social media. He was quoted as saying that he was “a 2700 with no talent.” Whether it was deliberately “sandbagging” his talent or simply giving a critical self-assessment, his results may call this into question. Garry Kasparov who once stated, “hard work is a talent” would probably disagree.
Shankland beat 8-time Russian champion Peter Svidler in a tactical skirmish. The final sequence is instructive.
Vidit Gujrathi is the last Indian in the field and looks to make a push deep in the latter rounds. He beat an unsung hero in Vasif Durarbayli who took issue with those who unestimated his chances. Perhaps that will not happen going forward. Vidit played a position masterpiece essentially relegating the white bishop to the back rank and then prying it away from him. It was an impressive win, but a great run for the Azeri player.
Video by FIDE Chess
July 12th-August 6th, 2021
(Sochi, Russia)
MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 5)
As the tournament wears on tension thickens, indecision creeps in and mistakes happen. Aleksandra Goryachkina is seemingly unflappable in her demeanor. It’s sometimes hard tell whether she lost or just won a brilliancy. Yesterday she won when her opponent was the one who unraveled. Dinara Saduakassova ended up tossing an exchange after the Russian applied tremendous pressure.
Alexandra Kosteniuk has to be the surprise of the tournament despite having been world champion from 2008-2010. Her win over the very tricky Valentina Guinina shows that sound positional play is crucial in the later rounds. Her win was a textbook example of dismantling a combative opponent.
Video by FIDE Chess
Tan Zhongyi punched her ticket to the semifinal round winning against former finalist Kateryna Lagno. What is interesting was that Tan Zhongyi is the only Chinese player who made the tournament (due to COVID protocols), but she is still vying for the title.
Anna Muzychuk and Nana Dzagnidze had a short draw an will go to tiebreaks.
Video by FIDE Chess
Critical Links: official site, YouTube, Twitter #FIDEWorldCup2021, Results
July 12th-August 6th, 2021
(Sochi, Russia)
MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 5)
Round 5, TIEBREAKS
Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Carlsen holds off Esipenko, plays Bacrot next… Tabatabaei advances
Anna Muzychuk joins semifinalists
There were six tiebreakers in the open section with thrilling plots. Magnus Carlsen was in a gripping battle with 18-year old Andrey Esipenko who received praise for battling the World Champion in both classical, rapid and 10+10 blitz. Some touted the young Russian as a future contender, but the same has been said about Dmitri Andreikin and Vladislav Artemiev. It took the best effort for Carlsen to advance, but he will face Etienne Bacrot tomorrow.
Bacrot outclassed Poland’s Kacper Piorun, trading wins in the rapid and winning both blitz encounters. Bacrot staved off elimination winning with the Modern Defense, a rare occurrence at Grandmaster level. Piorun actually tried the Modern Defense in an attempt to equalize in the blitz portion. Canadian Grandmaster Duncan Suttles would be proud!
Alexander Grischuk bowed out of the World Cup after a loss to Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland. This reduces the number of Russians left to two after three were eliminated (Grischuk, Esipenko and Peter Svidler) this round. In the decisive game, Duda slowly aimed his white pieces at the opposing king.
It appeared that black was solid and after 41.g5?! black could have seized the initiative. Time pressure became a factor. Grischuk blundered after 59…Ke6?? (59…Kf8! holds) when 60.f7 Ke7 61.e6 followed by the king invasion. Such a wild game! Duda talks about the nervous nature of the game.
Video by FIDE Chess
Video by FIDE Chess
July 12th-August 6th, 2021
(Sochi, Russia)
MATCH PAIRINGS (ROUND 5)
In the only tiebreak for the women, Anna Muzychuk is still on track to join her sister as the FIDE World Cup champion after ousting Nana Dzagnidze. In the final game, the game transformed from a Najdorf and then to a “Dragdorf” with 7…g6. The Georgian was mixing systems to trick the opponent but may have succeeded only in tricking herself. Muzychuk got a blistering attack. After nearly botching the attack, she finished the game with a sharp tactic. The second game saw Dzagnidze improvising in order to equalize, but she simply had no chances to push the match any longer. Muzychuk gave her thoughts on the match.
Video by FIDE Chess
Video by FIDE Chess
Critical Links: official site, YouTube, Twitter #FIDEWorldCup2021, Results