POLAND’S Jan-Krzysztof Duda produced the shocking surprise of the FIDE Open World Cup in Sochi, Russia, when he defeated and eliminated world champion, Magnus Carlsen, by winning their rapid semifinal tiebreak match, 1½-½.
The win meant Duda will face early finalist Sergey Karjakin of Russia for the Cup championship in what should be an exciting encounter, even if fans around the world were expecting a Carlsen-Karjakin finals battle.
The first game of the tiebreak showed Carlsen opting for the Berlin Defense to Duda’s Ruy Lopez and got equality right out of the opening. The Polish GM went for exchanges to keep the balance, and when Carlsen tried to force the situation, simply found the right replies to hold the draw after 33 moves. The second game was a roller-coaster. Carlsen responded with the Rossolimo variation to Duda’s Sicilian Defense. Duda then went for light-square domination, starting with 27…Na7!, gradually outplaying Carlsen by forcing the correct exchanges to gain a favorable bishop and pawn ending. Carlsen resigned on the 74th move, and Duda claimed the second finals slot.
In the battle for third place in the Women’s World Cup, which former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk already won against Aleksandra Goryachkina, former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China defeated Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk, 1½-½.
Duda, J-K (2738)-
Carlsen, M (2847) [C65]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Re1 0-0 9.h3 Nb8 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Bc2 b5 12.a4 Bb7 13.b4 c5 14.bxc5 Nxc5 15.axb5 axb5 16.Ba3 Re8 17.Qb1 Bc6 18.d4 exd4 19.cxd4 b4 20.Bb2 b3 21.dxc5 bxc2 22.Qxc2 dxc5 23.Ne5 Ba4 24.Rxa4 Rxa4 25.Qxa4 Qxd2 26.Qa1 Nh5 27.Bc3 Qc2 28.Qa7 Qb3 29.Qxc5 Nf4 30.Re3 Qd1+ 31.Re1 Qb3 32.Re3 Qd1+ 33.Re1 Qb3 ½-½
Carlsen, Magnus (2847) –
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof (2738) [B52]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.0-0 Nf6 6.Qe2 Nc6 7.c3 e6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.e5 Ne4 11.Nbd2 Nxd2 12.Bxd2 Bb4 13.Bf4 0-0 14.Qd3 Be7 15.a3 Rac8 16.g3 Na5 17.b3 Qc6 18.Bd2 Qb6 19.Rfb1 a6 20.Kg2 Nc6 21.Re1 Qb5 22.Qb1 Rc7 23.h4 Rfc8 24.Ra2 a5 25.Rh1 a4 26.b4 h6 27.Be3 Na7 28.Bd2 Qe2 29.Re1 Qc4 30.Re3 Nb5 31.Rd3 Rc6 32.Rb2 Bd8 33.g4 Bb6 34.Be3 Nc3 35.Qf1 Qb5 36.Rc2 Ne4 37.Rxc6 Rxc6 38.Rd1 Rc4 39.Nd2 Nxd2 40.Rxd2 Qc6 41.Qe2 Rc3 42.Ra2 Bd8 43.g5 hxg5 44.hxg5 Qc4 45.Qxc4 dxc4 46.d5 exd5 47.Rd2 Rd3 48.Rxd3 cxd3 49.f4 Kf8 50.Kf3 Ke7 51.Bc5+ Ke6 52.Ke3 Kf5 53.Kxd3 g6 54.Be3 Bc7 55.b5 Bd8 56.Kd4 Bb6+ 57.Kd3 Bd8 58.Kd4 Be7 59.Bc1 Ke6 60.Bb2 Bd8 61.Kc5 Ba5 62.Bc1 Bc3 63.b6 d4 64.Kc4 Kd7 65.Be3 Bb2 66.Bxd4 Bxa3 67.Be3 Bb2 68.Kb4 a3 69.Kb3 Ke6 70.Ka2 Kd5 71.Kb3 Ke4 72.Bd2 Bd4 73.Kxa3 Bxb6 74.Kb4 Bf2 0-1
Muzychuk, A (2527)-
Tan, Z (2511) [C42]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Nd7 7.Be3 Nf6 8.Qd2 g6 9.0-0-0 Bg7 10.Bg5 0-0 11.Qf4 d5 12.h4 c6 13.h5 Nxh5 14.Qh4 f6 15.Be3 f5 16.Bg5 Qa5 17.Kb1 Re8 18.Bd3 c5 19.Rhe1 Be6 20.Ne5 d4 21.c4 Bf7 22.Bd2 Qd8 23.Qh2 Qc7 24.f4 b5 25.Nxf7 Qxf7 26.b3 b4 27.g3 Nf6 28.Qg2 a5 29.a4 bxa3 30.Rxe8+ Rxe8 31.Bxa5 a2+ 32.Ka1 Qa7 33.Bd2 Ng4 34.Qd5+ Kh8 35.Qc6 Ra8 36.Bc1 Ne3 37.Rd2 Qa5 38.Bb2 h6 39.Re2 Kh7 40.g4 Nxg4 41.Re7 Ra7 42.Rxa7 Qxa7 43.Qa4 Qc7 44.Kxa2 Qxf4 45.Qc6 Qe5 46.b4 cxb4 47.c5 Ne3 48.Kb3 h5 49.Kxb4 h4 0-1
Tan, Z (2511)-
Muzychuk, A (2527) [D08]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.4) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne7 4.Nf3 Nbc6 5.Nbd2 dxc4 6.e3 b5 7.a4 Bg4 8.axb5 Nxe5 9.Qa4 Nd3+ 10.Bxd3 Qxd3 11.b6+ Bd7 12.Qxa7 Rd8 13.Ne5 Qd5 14.Nxd7 Qxg2 15.Rf1 Nc6 16.Qb7 Kxd7 17.Nxc4 Bb4+ 18.Bd2 Bxd2+ 19.Nxd2 Rb8 20.Qxc7+ Ke6 21.b7 Rhd8 22.Ra6 Rd6 23.Qc8+ Ke7 24.Qc7+ Ke6 25.Qc8+ Ke7 26.Qc7+ Ke6 27.Qc8+ ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…cxd4 2.Qa2#; 1…Kxd4 2.Qd2#; 1…exd4 2.Nc7#./PN
