Round 1 Tiebreaks: A few surprises, and one appeal
The third day of the FIDE World Cup in Tromsø is over and all the results of the first round are in. After two days 36 matches out of 64 had been decided. The remaining 28 matches continued with playoffs.
By Anastasia Karlovich
All the tiebreak games
The latest videos
Results and pairings
According to the regulations of the World Cup tiebreaks two rapid games are played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds per move.
If the score is still tied two accelerated rapid games are played with a time control of 10 min + 10 sec. If the score is still deadlocked two blitz games are then played at 5 min + 3 sec.
Finally, if a winner has still not been determined a sudden death Armageddon game takes place with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black with a 2 sec increment after move 60. In that game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn).
15 players were eliminated after two rapid games. In general, the favorites won their matches: Peter Svidler, Michael Adams, Alexander Morozevich, Dmitry Andreikin, Anton Korobov, Jobava Baadur and Alexei Dreev all went through to the next round.
Georgian GM Jobava Baadur won against Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv with a 2-0 score.
At the same time a few of the rating favorites were unexpectedly knocked out of the World Cup at this stage.
Norwegian player GM Hammer defeated Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian (pictured above) in the first game of the playoff and drew the second game, thus eliminating his more experienced opponent from the FIDE World Cup.
Brazilian GM Alexander Fier defeated an opponent more than one hundred points higher rated, Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
Women’s World Champion Anna Ushenina lost the first rapid game but could have upset Peter Svidler in the second. She missed her chance and the Russian player won the match.
13 rapid matches finished drawn so 26 players continued their battles at the 10 min + 10 sec time control. Gata Kamsky, Alexei Shirov, Teimour Radjabov, Ruben Felgaer, Rafael Leitao, Eltaj Safarli, Viktor Bologan, Yuriy Kryvoruchko and Alexandr Shimanov were successful at that stage.
Not an easy match for Gata Kamsky, who only managed to win the fifth game against Chinese IM Lou Yiping.
Hou Yifan and Alexei Shirov exchanged victories in rapid and continued their match. The Latvian player proved to be stronger at the 10 min + 10 sec time control. Despite the final outcome, the former Women’s World Champion showed great play in the event.
After two draws in the classical games Azeri GM Teimour Radjabov struggled against GM Jorge Cori (Peru) in rapid – each won a game. The spectators were waiting for an exciting continuation at the 10 min+10 sec time control.
Surprisingly, Cori didn’t appear in time for the first game. One second after the start of the round, Teimour Radjabov stopped the clock, signed the score sheet and left the playing hall, while Jorge Cori was running to the playing hall.
Using the advantage of the white pieces the Azeri player didn’t have any problem drawing the second game. After the end of the match GM Cori from Peru made an appeal. The decision of the Appeals Committee has been published here on the official website.
00-00 on the clock and Jorge Cori is not in the playing hall
A little less than 2 minutes later Cori came to the playing hall and tried to explain what had happened.
An unfortunate day for Russian GM Alexander Riazantsev, who lost against Argentinian GM Ruben Felgaer.
Four matches remained to be decided in blitz. Two Russian GMs Zvjaginsev and Alekseev were defeated by Polish GM Swiercz and Indian GM Adhiban respectively, while players on the two remaining boards reached Armageddon games.
Many participants of the tournament and spectators came to watch the matches Tomashevsky versus Ramirez and Melkumyan versus Granda Zuniga in the playing hall. Playing White Evgeny Tomashevsky defeated his opponent and Granda Zuniga, who played with Black and just needed to make a draw to advance, also managed to win.
The second round of the FIDE World Cup starts at 3 p.m. local time on 14th of August. 64 participants will continue playing but as before only half of them will advance to the next stage.
Round 1 - Game 2: Judit Polgar, Andrey Volokitin and Ian Nepomniachtchi are knocked out
Just as in the first day, there were plenty of fireworks on the second day in the FIDE World Cup in Tromsø. Thirteen players won their matches with a 2-0 score (except Alexander Moiseenko, whose opponent could not come to Tromsø).
While some victories with impressive results could be expected from top players such as Aronian, Kramnik, Grischuk, Nakamura and Dominguez, there were also a few 2-0 results produced by players with rating lower than their opponents.
Russian GM Daniil Dubov managed to outplay experienced and higher rated Ukrainian GM Sergey Fedorchuk. American GM Ray Robson didn’t leave any chances for Ukrainian GM Andrey Volokitin by winning 2-0. One of the most surprising results for those, who compare the ratings of opponents, happened in the Nepomniachtchi-Wei match. The youngest participant of the event, Chinese GM Yi Wei (nominee of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov), defeated Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5.
The participants of the upcoming Women’s World Championship match Hou Yifan and Anna Ushenina are doing well so far. Anna Ushenina defeated Peter Svidler in his favorite Grunfeld and Hou Yifan drew the second game against Alexei Shirov. The reigning Women’s World Champion and former one will proceed in the playoff stage tomorrow.
The strongest female player in the history of chess, Judit Polgar, lost out on a number of winning chances, drew against Cuban GM Isan Reynaldo Ortiz and lost the match. 28 matches were not decided after two games in classical control and 56 players will continue to fight at 3 p.m. local time on August 13.
Rising star from Russia GM Daniil Dubov defeated GM Sergey Fedorchuk 2-0
Round 1 Game 2 results
Photo Gallery
Full reports with live coverage at http://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Round 1 - Game 1
According to the pairings, the favorites in the higher half of the draw met significantly lower rated opponents. The top seeds won their games relatively easily, but there was also a surprising loss by Super GM Alexander Morozevich against Canadian GM Bator Sambuev. American player GM Ray Robson won a beautiful game against higher rated opponent Ukrainian GM Andrey Volokitin. GM Gata Kamsky and GM Michael Adams drew against Chinese players Lou Yiping and Wan Yunguo respectively, while the Chinese derby between Wang Hao and Liu Qingnan also finished in a draw. Playing with Black former Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan drew against GM Alexey Shirov.
GM Salem Saleh and Yahya Saleh from the UAE Chess Federation
Round 1 Game 1 results
Photo Gallery
(Note: The wrong result was reported for the game Paragua-Jakovenko. Jakovenko won his game)
Full reports with live coverage at http://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Susan Polgar and Lawrence Trent working for the live coverage of the FIDE World Cup 2013
The opening ceremony of the FIDE World Cup took place in the University of Tromsø on the 10th of August.
The players and guests were greeted by the Vice Rector of the University of Tromsø Kenneth Ruud, President of the Norwegian Chess Federation Joran Aulin-Janson, Commissioner for Business, Culture and Sports of Tromsø Municipality Jonas Stein (V) and FIDE Treasurer and Executive Director Nigel Freeman.
Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong then proceeded with the drawing of lots. He invited the top seed of the tournament Levon Aronian from Armenia onto the stage to pick one of the pawns from his pocket. Levon Aronian chose the white pawn and will play the first game of the match against Mikhail Markov from Kyrgyzstan with the white pieces.
Full pairings are available here:
http://www.chessworldcup2013.com/games/pairings
Also attending the opening ceremony were FIDE Vice-President Ali Nihat Yazici, Director of the FIDE Office in Moscow Berik Balgabaev and other distinguished guests.
128 top participants will start to play at 3 p.m. on the 11th of August in the Scandic Hotel in Tromsø. The tournament has an impressive prize fund of 1.6 million US dollars.
Participants include former World Champions Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov, Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina, former Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan and many other chess stars. The top two players will qualify for the next FIDE Candidates Tournament which will take place in March 2014 and determine the challenger for the World Championship match in 2014.
The time control for each two-game match is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. If the score is equal there are two rapid chess tiebreak games, played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds per move. If the score is still equal then two accelerated games will be played, with a time control of 10 min + 10 sec. If the score is still equal two more games will be played at 5 min + 3 sec. If the winner is still not determined then a final Armageddon game with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 sec increment after move 60, will be played. In this game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn).
