TOP seeds Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Alexander Grischuk were among those who advance to the third round of the ongoing 2021 FIDE World Cup Open at Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, Russia, but the dreaded coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus made itself manifest among players despite FIDE having strict safety protocols in place at the playing area.
The whole Indonesian contingent withdrew from the event after two of its players, Mohamad Ervan and Susanto Megaranto, tested positive for the virus. Ervan wasn’t able to play after testing positive upon arrival at the venue, while Megaranto tested positive and was told about it midway from the first game of his match against Caruana. The Indonesian women tested negative, though.
Third seed Levon Aronian had a fever earlier this week and even though he felt fit to play, decided to undergo health tests in order not to risk the safety of the other players. Aronian finally decided to withdraw after the tests. The FIDE council refused to release anymore names of those that tested positive.
The second round also produced many upsets, the more notable knockout victims being Leinier Dominguez Perez (2758) who lost to Jakhongir Vakhidov (2534); Alireza Firouzja (2759) who lost to Javokhir Sindarov (2558); Parham Maghsoodloo (2698) who lost to Kiril Georgiev (2598); and Dmitry Jakovenko (2684) who lost to Timur Gareyev (2606).
Martinovic, Sasa (2548)-Carlsen, Magnus (2847) [D85]
Krasnaya Polyana (2.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 c5 6.Rc1 Nc6 7.dxc5 Bg7 8.e4 Ndb4 9.Nf3 0-0 10.a3 Nd3+ 11.Bxd3 Qxd3 12.Qe2 Qxe2+ 13.Kxe2 Be6 14.Nd5 Bxb2 15.Rc2 Bxa3 16.Ra1 f5 17.Rxa3 fxe4 18.Nxe7+ Nxe7 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.Rb2 Nc6 21.Be3 Nxd4+ 22.Bxd4 Bc6 23.Rba2 a6 24.Ke3 Rad8 25.Rd2 Rd5 26.Ke2 Rfd8 27.Be3 Rd3 28.Ra1 Kf7 29.g3 Rxd2+ 30.Bxd2 Bb5+ 31.Ke1 Rd3 32.Rb1 Ke6 33.Rb4 Bc6 34.Rb2 Kd5 0-1
Firouzja, Alireza (2759)-Sindarov, Javokhir (2558) [E91]
Krasnaya Polyana (2.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Nd2 Nbd7 9.0-0 e5 10.a3 Ne8 11.b4 f5 12.Rb1 Nef6 13.Nb5 Ne8 14.Qc2 b6 15.Nc3 Qe7 16.Bb2 f4 17.Bg4 Nc7 18.Nb5 Nxb5 19.cxb5 Nf6 20.Bxc8 Raxc8 21.Rbc1 Qd7 22.Qd3 f3 23.Nxf3 Nh5 24.Ng5 Nf4 25.Qd1 Qxb5 26.a4 Qxb4 27.Bc3 Qc4 28.Rc2 Qxa4 29.Bd2 h6 30.Bxf4 hxg5 31.Bxg5 Qxe4 32.Re1 Qf5 33.h4 Bf6 34.Bh6 Rf7 35.g3 Qh5 36.Qc1 Rh7 37.Be3 Bxh4 38.Qd1 Qxd1 39.Rxd1 Bf6 40.Ra1 Rb7 41.Ra6 Kf7 42.Kg2 Ke7 43.Rca2 Rcc7 44.Bd2 b5 45.Ba5 Rd7 46.f4 b4 47.Re2 Rb5 48.g4 Kf7 49.Rf2 e4 0-1
Vakhidov, Jakhongir (2534)-Dominguez Perez, Leinier (2758) [A37]
Krasnaya Polyana (2.3) 2021
1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 Bg4 7.d3 Qd7 8.Nd5 Nf6 9.Nxf6+ Bxf6 10.Rb1 Bh3 11.Bh6 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 d5 13.cxd5 Qxd5 14.Qa4 0-0-0 15.b4 cxb4 16.Be3 Kb8 17.Rfc1 Qa5 18.Qxa5 Nxa5 19.Bf4+ Ka8 20.Bc7 Rd5 21.e4 Rb5 22.a4 Rb6 23.Bxb6 axb6 24.Rxb4 Rd8 25.e5 Bg7 26.d4 Ka7 27.Rcb1 e6 28.Rxb6 Rd7 29.Rd6 Re7 30.Nd2 Rc7 31.Ne4 Bf8 32.Rd8 Be7 33.Rh8 h5 34.Rh7 Nc6 35.Rc1 Ba3 36.Rc4 Rd7 37.Nf6 Re7 38.f4 Bb2 39.d5 exd5 40.Nxd5 Rd7 41.Rxc6 bxc6 42.e6 Rxd5 43.e7 Rd2+ 44.Kf1 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2749)-Moradiabadi, Elshan (2553) [B40]
Krasnaya Polyana (2.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Qe2 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Rd1 0-0 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Rxd4 Bf6 12.Rd1 Qc7 13.c4 Nb6 14.Na3 Bd7 15.Bf4 e5 16.Be3 Rad8 17.c5 Nc8 18.Nb5 Qb8 19.Nc3 Rfe8 20.Nd5 Be7 21.Rd2 Be6 22.Rad1 Rd7 23.Nf6+ 1-0
Ivic, Velimir (2582)-Vallejo Pons, Francisco (2710) [C11]
Krasnaya Polyana (2.1) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Ne2 Qb6 9.Qc1 Be7 10.c3 f6 11.h4 0-0 12.h5 Qa5 13.h6 g6 14.Kf2 cxd4 15.cxd4 fxe5 16.fxe5 Ndxe5 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.Kg1 Ng4 19.Bd4 Bd7 20.Qe1 Qd8 21.Qg3 e5 22.Nxe5 Bd6 23.Qb3 Bxe5 24.Bxe5 Qg5 25.Bd4 Rf7 26.Qg3 Raf8 27.Rh4 Qf5 28.Rxg4 Qxg4 29.Qe5 Rf6 30.Nc3 Bc6 31.Nxd5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nb8 2.Qxb4#; 1…Nc5 2.Nhf5#; 1…Re6/h8 2.Q(x)e6#; 1…Nxc6 2.Nxb5#; 1…Nd5 2.Rxd5#; 1…Be5 2.Qxe5#./PN
