THE Round 1 rapid and blitz tiebreak matches of the ongoing 2021 FIDE World Cup Open at Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, Russia, ended Wednesday, July 14, with a few notable upsets registered by unheralded players.
The most notable of these surprise endings were the elimination of Egypt’s number one player GM Ahmed Adly (2625) to fellow Egyptian GM Abdelrahman Hesham (2397); IM Ravi Haria (2440) ousting Russian veteran GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2608); and 15-year-old Russian IM Volodar Murzin (2502) booting another veteran GM Viorel Iordachescu (2589) in Armageddon.
Round 2 will now see the participation of the top-rated players and wild cards seeded into the second round. They are Magnus Carlsen (2847), Fabiano Caruana (2820), Levon Aronian (2781), Anish Giri (2780), Alexander Grischuk (2776), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2770), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2760), Alireza Firouzja (2759), Leinier Dominguez (2758), Sergey Karjakin (2757), alongside wild card players nominated by the organizers and by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich.
Incidentally, we erred yesterday in saying no Filipina player qualified in the FIDE Women’s World Cup. WGM Janelle Mae Frayna (2179) played and was knocked out in a Round 1 rapid tiebreak match versus GM Thanh Trang Hoang (2404). More about the women’s World Cup later.
Delgado Ramirez, N (2622)-Murshed, N (2404) [C41]
Krasnaya Polyana (1.8) 2021
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nd7 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Ngf6 5.Rg1 c6 6.g4 h6 7.h4 g6 8.Be3 h5 9.gxh5 Nxh5 10.Qd2 Be7 11.0-0-0 Qa5 12.Bc4 b5 13.Bb3 b4 14.Ne2 Qc7 15.Bg5 Bf8 16.c3 bxc3 17.Nxc3 Bg7 18.Kb1 exd4 19.Nxd4 Nc5 20.Ndb5 cxb5 21.Nxb5 Qb6 22.Nxd6+ Kf8 23.Qd5 1-0
Ghaem Maghami, E (2547)-Megaranto, S (2550) [A21]
Krasnaya Polyana (1.4) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 a5 4.g3 c6 5.Nxb4 axb4 6.d4 d6 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.Nf3 Nfd7 11.Bd2 c5 12.Ng5 Ke7 13.Bd5 Nb6 14.f4 exf4 15.Bxf4 Nxd5 16.cxd5 f6 17.Ne4 b6 18.Nd6 g5 19.Nxc8+ Rxc8 20.Bxb8 Rcxb8 21.0-0 b5 22.Rf3 Rb6 23.e4 c4 24.Raf1 Raa6 25.a3 bxa3 26.bxa3 Kd6 27.Rxf6+ Ke5 28.R6f5+ Kxe4 29.Rxg5 Rxa3 30.Rf4+ Ke3 31.Re5+ Kd2 32.Rf2+ Kc3 33.d6 Rxd6 34.Rxb5 Rd1+ 35.Kg2 Rd2 36.Rxd2 Kxd2 37.Rb7 c3 38.Rd7+ Kc1 39.Rxh7 c2 40.h4 Kd2 41.Rd7+ Rd3 42.Rc7 Rc3 43.Rd7+ Ke3 44.Re7+ Kd4 45.Re1 c1Q 46.Rxc1 Rxc1 47.Kf3 Ke5 48.Kg4 Kf6 49.Kh5 Rc8 50.Kg4 Rg8+ 51.Kf4 Ra8 0-1
Adly, A (2625)-Hesham, A (2397) [A43]
Krasnaya Polyana (1.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Bg5 g6 5.Bxf6 exf6 6.e4 b4 7.a3 Bg7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.Nbd2 Qc7 11.Nc4 a5 12.Qd2 Nd7 13.axb4 cxb4 14.Nd4 Ba6 15.Nc6 Bxc4 16.Bxc4 Nc5 17.Qf4 Rfe8 18.Rfe1 a4 19.Nxb4 f5 20.exf5 Bxb2 21.Nc6 Bxa1 22.Rxa1 Re4 23.Qh6 f6 24.Bd3 Ree8 25.Bb5 g5 26.h4 Qg7 27.Qh5 Re4 28.hxg5 fxg5 29.Ra3 Rf8 30.g4 Rf6 31.Qh3 Rh6 32.Qg3 Re1+ 33.Kg2 Ne4 34.Qd3 Rh4 35.Qc4 Rh2+ 36.Kxh2 Qh6+ 37.Rh3 Rh1+ 38.Kxh1 Qxh3 39.Kg1 Qxg4 40.Kf1 Nd2 41.Ke1 Nxc4 0-1
Zvjaginsev, V (2608)-Haria, R (2440) [C00]
Krasnaya Polyana (1.4) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.f4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.c3 Nh6 6.Na3 Nf5 7.Nc2 Be7 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Qb6 10.Bd3 Nh4 11.Nxh4 Bxh4+ 12.Kf1 Be7 13.h4 Bd7 14.Rh3 Nb4 15.Nxb4 Qxb4 16.Be2 Ba4 17.b3 Bb5 18.a4 Bxe2+ 19.Kxe2 h5 20.Ba3 Qb6 21.Bxe7 Kxe7 22.Rc3 Rac8 23.Rac1 Rc6 24.Rxc6 bxc6 25.Qd3 g6 26.Rc3 Rc8 27.Kd1 c5 28.Qb5 c4 29.Qxb6 axb6 30.bxc4 dxc4 31.Kd2 b5 32.axb5 Rb8 33.Rxc4 Rxb5 34.Kd3 Rb2 35.Rc2 Rb3+ 36.Rc3 Rb2 37.g3 Ra2 38.Rb3 Rg2 39.Kc4 Rc2+ 40.Rc3 Rd2 41.Ra3 Rc2+ 42.Kd3 Rg2 43.Ke4 Re2+ 44.Re3 Rd2 45.Rd3 Re2+ 46.Kf3 Ra2 47.d5 exd5 48.Rxd5 Ra3+ 49.Kf2 Ra2+ 50.Ke3 Rg2 51.Kf3 Ra2 52.Rd3 Ra4 53.Rb3 Kf8 54.g4 hxg4+ 55.Kxg4 Ra1 56.Rg3 Kg7 57.h5 gxh5+ 58.Kxh5+ Kf8 59.Kg5 Kg7 60.f5 Re1 61.f6+ Kf8 62.Ra3 Rg1+ 63.Kf4 Rf1+ 64.Kg3 Kg8 65.Ra7 Re1 66.Re7 Re4 67.Kf3 Re1 68.Kf4 Rf1+ 69.Ke4 Re1+ 70.Kd5 Rd1+ 71.Kc6 Re1 72.Kd7 Ra1 73.Re8+ Kh7 74.Ke7 Ra7+ 75.Kf8 Kg6 76.Kg8 Rb7 77.Kh8 Ra7 78.Rg8+ Kf5 79.Re8 Kg6 80.Kg8 Rb7 81.Kf8 Ra7 82.Rd8 Ra5 83.e6 fxe6 84.f7 Ra7 0-1
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qd2+/e3+ 2.Bf4#; 1…Qb2/d4/c5 2.Be5#; 1…Qb6+ 2.Bd6#; 1…Qa7 2.Bc7#; 1…Qxg3 2.Qxg3#./PN
