THE QUARTERFINAL round finish of the FIDE Open World Cup in Sochi, Russia, produced dramatic results for at least two of its participants – American Sam Shankland and Iranian M. Amin Tabatabaei.
Shankland, needing only a draw to enter the semifinal round, was instead eliminated by Sergey Karjakin after losing the second game of their regulation match and then lost the blitz tiebreak match after drawing the rapid tiebreak. On the other hand, Tabatabaei, who drew his opening regulation game versus Vladimir Fedoseev, botched a drawish second game by a careless blunder and lost in 79 moves of a protracted Open Catalan. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen was merciless in sweeping his quarterfinal match against France’s Etienne Bacrot, 2-0, while Jan-Krzysztof Duda ousted Santosh Gujrathi Vidit with a smooth win in 50 moves of a Ruy Lopez in their second game to take a semifinals slot.
The semifinals will see Carlsen meeting Duda and Karjakin facing compatriot Fedoseev.
Carlsen, M (2847)-Bacrot, E (2678) [B52]
Krasnaya Polyana (6.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 e5 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.d3 f5 8.exf5 Qxf5 9.Ng5 Be7 10.Nge4 Nf6 11.0-0 0-0 12.f4 exf4 13.Bxf4 Nxe4 14.dxe4 Qg6 15.Nd5 Bg5 16.Qd3 Nd4 17.Bg3 Rxf1+ 18.Rxf1 Re8 19.Re1 h5 20.h3 Kh7 21.Bf2 Nc6 22.b3 Ne5 23.Qe2 Bh6 24.Kh2 Nc6 25.Qf3 Ne5 26.Qe2 Rf8 27.Bg3 Nc6 28.Rf1 Re8 29.Re1 Nd4 30.Qf2 b6 31.h4 Rxe4 32.Ne7 Rxe7 33.Rxe7 Nf5 34.Re2 Nd4 35.Re1 Qd3 36.Bf4 Nf5 37.Bxh6 Nxh6 38.Qf3 Ng4+ 39.Kg3 1-0
Karjakin, S (2757)-Shankland, S (2709) [C00]
Krasnaya Polyana (6.2) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Ngf3 Be7 5.g3 a5 6.Bg2 a4 7.a3 c5 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Re1 0-0 10.e5 Nd7 11.Nf1 b5 12.h4 Bb7 13.h5 h6 14.Bf4 Qb6 15.Qd2 Rfc8 16.g4 Qd8 17.N1h2 Ra6 18.Kh1 b4 19.Rg1 Nf8 20.axb4 cxb4 21.d4 Na5 22.g5 Nc4 23.Qc1 hxg5 24.Bxg5 b3 25.Bxe7 Qxe7 26.Bf1 a3 27.Rxg7+ Kxg7 28.Ng4 f5 29.exf6+ Qxf6 30.Nxf6 axb2 31.Qg5+ Kf7 32.h6 Ng6 33.Nh4 bxa1Q 34.Qxg6+ Ke7 35.Qg7+ Kd6 36.Qd7# 1-0
Fedoseev, V (2696)-Tabatabaei, MA (2613) [E04]
Krasnaya Polyana (6.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.dxc5 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Nbd2 c3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.Nb3 Be7 12.c4 Bd7 13.Bb2 Rfc8 14.Ne1 Be8 15.Nd3 Rc7 16.c5 Rac8 17.Bc1 Nd5 18.Bxd5 exd5 19.Nf4 d4 20.Nd5 Rd7 21.Nxe7+ Rxe7 22.Kf1 Rd8 23.Bf4 Red7 24.Bd6 b6 25.Rac1 f6 26.f3 Bf7 27.Nxd4 Nxd4 28.Rxd4 Bxa2 29.Ra4 Be6 30.Ra6 Re8 31.Kf2 h5 32.h4 Bf7 33.Bf4 bxc5 34.Rxc5 Rb7 35.Ra3 Kh7 36.Be3 Ree7 37.Bd4 Kg6 38.Raa5 Kh7 39.Rc2 Red7 40.Be3 Re7 41.Bc5 Rec7 42.Rc3 Kg6 43.e4 Rc6 44.Bd4 Rxc3 45.Bxc3 Bc4 46.Rc5 Bb5 47.e5 Bd7 48.exf6 gxf6 49.Rd5 Be6 50.Rd6 Rb6 51.Rd8 Rc6 52.Bd4 a6 53.Ke3 Kf7 54.Rh8 Kg6 55.Rf8 Bf7 56.Rd8 Be6 57.Ke4 Kf7 58.Ra8 Kg6 59.Ra7 Bc8 60.Kd5 Rc2 61.Ke4 Rc6 62.Ke3 Bf5 63.Ra8 Bc8 64.Rb8 Kf7 65.Ke4 Be6 66.Rh8 Kg6 67.Rf8 Bf7 68.Rd8 Be6 69.Kf4 Rc4 70.Rd6 Kf7 71.Ke4 a5 72.f4 Ke7 73.Ra6 a4 74.Ra7+ Kd6 75.Ke3 Rb4 76.Bxf6 Rb3+ 77.Kd4 Rxg3 78.Be5+ Kc6 79.Ra6+ 1-0
Duda, J-K (2738)-Vidit, SG (2726) [C78]
Krasnaya Polyana (6.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 Bb7 12.Be3 Nxe4 13.d5 Bxe3 14.dxc6 Nxf2 15.Qe2 Nxh3+ 16.Kh1 Nf2+ 17.Rxf2 Bxf2 18.Qxf2 Bxc6 19.Nxe5 Bxg2+ 20.Kg1 Qf6 21.Nxf7 Qxf2+ 22.Kxf2 Rf8 23.Kxg2 Rxf7 24.Bxf7+ Kxf7 25.Nd2 Re8 26.Rf1+ Kg6 27.Kf2 h5 28.Rg1+ Kf6 29.Kf3 g6 30.Ne4+ Kg7 31.Nf2 Rf8+ 32.Kg2 Re8 33.Nd3 g5 34.Nb4 Re2+ 35.Kh1 Rxb2 36.Ra1 c5 37.Nxa6 b4 38.Nxb4 cxb4 39.a6 bxc3 40.a7 c2 41.a8Q Rb1+ 42.Kg2 c1Q 43.Ra7+ Kf6 44.Qf8+ Ke5 45.Re7+ Kd5 46.Qf3+ Kc5 47.Rc7+ Kb4 48.Qb7+ Ka5 49.Qa7+ Kb5 50.Qb8+ 1-0
Karjakin, S (2757)-Shankland, S (2709) [B90]
Krasnaya Polyana (6.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 Nc6 7.g4 g6 8.Be3 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Bg7 10.e5 Nd7 11.0-0-0 Bxe5 12.Qd2 Qa5 13.Nd5 Qxd2+ 14.Rxd2 Kd8 15.f4 Bg7 16.Bg2 a5 17.a4 Ra6 18.Bf1 Rc6 19.Bb5 h5 20.g5 h4 21.Re1 Nb8 22.Ba7 e6 23.Bxc6 Nxc6 24.Bb6+ Kd7 25.Ne3 Ke7 26.Bc7 Nd4 27.Rd3 Bd7 28.Nd5+ Ke8 29.Nf6+ Bxf6 30.gxf6 Nf5 31.Bxd6 Kd8 32.Red1 Bxa4 33.Be7+ Kc7 34.Bd8+ Kc8 35.Bb6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qf1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1..Nxb5 2.Qf7#; 1…Rxd6+ 2.Nxd6#; 1…R6xb5 2.Qc1#; 1…R4xb5 2.Qf4#; 1…Rb3 2 R3d4#; 1…Kxb5 2.R3d5#; 1…Qb1 2.Na3#; 1…Nxd3 2.Qxd3#./PN
