FIDE World Cup: Round 3 starts on sizzling note

THE third round of the ongoing 2021 FIDE World Cup Open at Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, Russia, began rather torridly with some of the top seeded players either stalled and some getting upset by their lesser-rated opponents.

Top seed Magnus Carlsen, however, continued his winning run beating compatriot Aryan Tari, while 2nd seed Fabiano Caruana was unable to convert a pawn advantage and could only draw against Kazakhstan’s Rinat Jumabayev. Third seed Shalhriyar Mamedyarov was sideswiped by Armenia’s Haik Martirosyan, while 4th seed Alexander Grischuk was simply too much for Argentina’s Alan Pichot.

There were many notable upsets and space constrains us to mention just a few from the 2700+/- ranks. Jeffery Xiong (2709) was upset by Nils Grandelius (2661), Yangyi Yu (2705) by M. Amin Tabatabaei (2613), A.R. Saleh Salem (2682) by Ante Brkic (2592), and Pavel Ponkratov (2629) by Javokhir Vakhidov (2534).

Carlsen, M (2847)-Tari, A (2639) [A13]

Krasnaya Polyana (3.1) 2021

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 dxc4 4.Qa4+ c6 5.Qxc4 c5 6.b3 Nf6 7.Bb2 Be7 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.Bxe5 Nd7 12.Bb2 Rb8 13.Nc3 Bf6 14.Rab1 b6 15.b4 Bb7 16.Bxb7 Rxb7 17.bxc5 Nxc5 18.Ba3 Rc7 19.Rfd1 Re8 20.Nb5 Rd7 21.Bxc5 bxc5 22.Qa4 Qa8 23.d3 h5 24.Rdc1 Rc8 25.Na3 Rd4 26.Nc4 h4 27.Qb5 Qd5 28.Qb7 Rd8 29.Qxd5 exd5 30.Ne3 Ra4 31.Rc2 h3 32.Kf1 Bd4 33.Nf5 Bf6 34.Ne3 Bd4 35.Nf5 Bf6 36.Rxc5 Rxa2 37.Ne3 a5 38.Nd5 Bd4 39.Rcb5 a4 40.Ne7 1-0

Grischuk, A (2778)-Pichot, A (2630) [D38]

Krasnaya Polyana (3.1) 2021

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Bd7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qc2 0-0 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Bg3 Ne4 13.e3 h5 14.c4 Bf5 15.Bd3 h4 16.Be5 g4 17.Bf4 Re8 18.Ne5 Nxe5 19.dxe5 h3 20.gxh3 c6 21.hxg4 Qa5+ 22.Ke2 Nc3+ 23.Kf3 Be6 24.Rhc1 dxc4 25.Qxc3 Qxc3 26.Rxc3 cxd3 27.Rxd3 b5 28.Rc1 Rec8 29.Rdc3 a5 30.e4 Ra6 31.Rb1 Rb8 32.Bg5 b4 33.Kf4 Rb5 34.Rh3 f6 35.Bxf6 bxa3 36.Rd1 1-0

Martirosyan, HM (2632)-Mamedyarov, S (2782) [D79]

Krasnaya Polyana (3.1) 2021

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 d5 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Ne5 Bf5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.Be3 c5 13.Nxd5 e6 14.Nf4 cxd4 15.Nxh5 gxh5 16.Bd2 Rc8 17.Bb4 Re8 18.Rc1 Qb6 19.Qa4 d3 20.exd3 Bxd3 21.Rfd1 Bb5 22.Qb3 Bd4 23.Be1 e5 24.Bd5 Kg7 25.Bxf7 Rf8 26.Rxc8 Rxc8 27.Bxh5 Rf8 28.Bf3 Qa6 29.Rc1 1-0

Vakhidov, J (2534)-Ponkratov, P (2629) [A16]

Krasnaya Polyana (3.1) 2021

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.d4 c5 6.dxc5 Na6 7.e4 Nxc5 8.e5 Ne8 9.Be3 Ne6 10.f4 d6 11.Nf3 Bd7 12.0-0 Bc6 13.Nd5 N6c7 14.Qb3 dxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxd5 16.cxd5 Nd6 17.Rac1 Nce8 18.Rfe1 Nf6 19.Bf2 Re8 20.a4 Qa5 21.Rc5 Qd8 22.a5 h5 23.h3 Nd7 24.Rcc1 a6 25.Qa4 Nb5 26.Qc4 Nxe5 27.fxe5 Qxa5 28.d6 exd6 29.e6 Kf8 30.e7+ Rxe7 31.Rxe7 Kxe7 32.Qe4+ Kf8 33.Qxb7 Rd8 34.Bd5 Kg8 35.Qxf7+ Kh8 36.Re1 Nc7 37.Re7 Qa1+ 38.Be1 Qxb2 39.Rxc7 Qa1 40.Kh2 Qf6 41.Qxf6 Bxf6 42.Ra7 Re8 43.Ra8 Rxa8 44.Bxa8 Bd8 45.Kg2 Kg7 46.Kf3 Kf6 47.Ke4 a5 48.Kd5 Kf5 49.Bc6 Bc7 50.Bc3 g5 51.Bd7+ Kg6 52.Be8+ Kh6 53.Bd2 1-0

Oparin, G (2654)-Karjakin, S (2757) [E10]

Krasnaya Polyana (3.1) 2021

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 a5 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Qc2 Bxd2 9.Nbxd2 b5 10.a4 c6 11.b3 cxb3 12.Nxb3 Ba6 13.axb5 Bxb5 14.Rfd1 Nbd7 15.e4 a4 16.Nc5 a3 17.Ne5 Qc7 18.Qc3 Nxc5 19.Qxc5 Rfd8 20.Rdc1 Qd6 21.Nxc6 Qxc5 22.Rxc5 Bxc6 23.Rxc6 Rxd4 24.Rxa3 Rd1+ 25.Bf1 Rad8 26.Rc4 h5 27.Kg2 R8d2 28.h3 g5 29.Rf3 Kg7 30.Re3 Ra1 31.Rd3 Rb2 32.e5 Nd5 33.Re4 h4 34.Be2 hxg3 35.fxg3 Rc1 36.Kf3 Rcc2 37.Rdd4 Nc3 38.Bd3 Rf2+ 39.Kg4 Nxe4 40.Bxe4 Rb5 0-1

Tabatabaei, MA (2613)-Yu, Y (2705) [C50]

Krasnaya Polyana (3.1) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 a6 8.a4 Qe7 9.0-0 Ba7 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Re1 Be6 12.b4 Bxc4 13.Nxc4 Qe6 14.b5 Ne7 15.Rb1 Nd7 16.Bxe7 Qxe7 17.d4 Qe6 18.Qd3 Nb6 19.Ne3 a5 20.Nd2 Rfd8 21.Nf5 h5 22.Qg3 g6 23.Re3 Kf8 24.Qg5 gxf5 25.exf5 Qa2 26.Rbe1 Nd5 27.Rh3 Ke8 28.f6 c6 29.c4 Nxf6 30.dxe5 dxe5 31.Rxe5+ Kd7 32.Rd3+ Kc7 33.Re7+ Nd7 34.Qe5+ Kc8 35.Rexd7 Bb6 36.Rxd8+ Bxd8 37.b6 1-0

*******

PUZZLERS

WHITE TO MOVE,

MATE IN TWO.

The key to our last problem is 1.Ba7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nb7/d7/a6/e6/xa4/b3 2.Bxd3#; 1…Kd4 2.Qxf4#; 1…Ke3 2.Qe5#; 1…Ne5/b4/b2/c1/e1 2.Nxc5#./PN