THE first games of the semifinal matches in the FIDE Open World Cup in Sochi, Russia, started rather quietly on Sunday, August 1, with all games drawn.
Magnus Carlsen and Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda halved the point after 32 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted. Carlsen introduced a rather less-known idea but Duda, who sacrificed a pawn for development, played it safe and defended well. Russians Sergey Karjakin and Vladimir Fedoseev agreed to split the point after 69 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Semi-Tarrasch. Fedoseev pressed throughout and was a pawn up in a rook and pawn endgame, but decided to accept a draw.
Meanwhile, in the all-Russian FIDE Women’s World Cup final between GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2596) and former world women’s champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2472), the latter surged ahead with a win in a roller-coaster Game 1. Kosteniuk and Goryachkina exchanged errors, but the former took the point after 69 moves of a complicated Open Catalan when the latter misplayed the ending. In the battle for third place, former world champion Zhongyi Tan and Anna Muzychuk drew their first game.
Carlsen, M (2847)- Duda, J-K (2738) [D37]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bxc4 Nxe4 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qe2 0-0 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 Be7 11.Rad1 Nc6 12.Rfe1 Nd5 13.Bxd5 Bxh4 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.Qc4 Rb8 16.Nxh4 Qxh4 17.b3 Rd8 18.Qxc6 Bb7 19.Qc5 Qg5 20.Qxg5 hxg5 21.h3 Bd5 22.Re5 f6 23.Nxd5 fxe5 24.Ne7+ Kf8 25.Nc6 Ra8 26.Nxd8 Rxd8 27.Rc1 exd4 28.Rxc7 d3 29.Rc1 Ke7 30.f3 Rc8 31.Rd1 Rc2 32.Rxd3 ½-½
Fedoseev, V (2696)- Karjakin, S (2757) [D41]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 h6 10.Bh4 Nc6 11.Qd3 Qb6 12.0-0 Rd8 13.Nb5 Bg4 14.Nfd4 Bxe2 15.Qxe2 a6 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Nc3 Qb4 18.Bg3 Ne4 19.Be5 Bd6 20.Bxd6 Rxd6 21.Rac1 a5 22.Rfd1 Re8 23.Qc2 Nxc3 24.bxc3 Qc5 25.Rd4 Re4 26.h3 Rde6 27.Rb1 g6 28.Qb2 Kg7 29.Rbd1 Kh7 30.a4 h5 31.Qa1 h4 32.Qb2 Re8 33.Rb1 R8e7 34.Qa1 Qa7 35.Qb2 Qc5 36.Rbd1 Re8 37.Rc1 R8e7 38.Rb1 Kg7 39.Qa1 Qa7 40.Rbd1 Rxd4 41.cxd4 Rb7 42.Qc3 Qa6 43.Rc1 Rb4 44.Qxc6 Qxc6 45.Rxc6 Rxa4 46.Kf1 Ra2 47.Rc5 a4 48.Rxd5 a3 49.Ra5 f5 50.Ra6 Kf7 51.d5 g5 52.f3 Ra1+ 53.Kf2 Ra2+ 54.Kg1 Ra1+ 55.Kh2 a2 56.e4 fxe4 57.fxe4 Ke7 58.e5 Rd1 59.Ra7+ Ke8 60.Ra8+ Ke7 61.Ra7+ Ke8 62.Rxa2 Rxd5 63.Re2 Ke7 64.e6 Rd8 65.g4 hxg3+ 66.Kxg3 Rd6 67.Kg4 Rxe6 68.Rxe6+ Kxe6 69.Kxg5 ½-½
Goryachkina, A (2596)- Kosteniuk, A (2472) [E04]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Nf3 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Be3 Nd5 8.Qc1 Nxe3 9.Qxe3 Be7 10.Rc1 0-0 11.Rxc4 Bd7 12.a3 a5 13.Nbd2 a4 14.Ne5 Na5 15.Rc2 Bb5 16.Re1 Ra6 17.h4 Rd6 18.Qc3 c6 19.e3 f6 20.Nef3 e5 21.b4 axb3 22.Nxb3 Nxb3 23.Qxb3+ Kh8 24.a4 Ba6 25.dxe5 Rd3 26.Rc3 Rxc3 27.Qxc3 fxe5 28.Qxe5 c5 29.h5 c4 30.h6 Bf6 31.hxg7+ Bxg7 32.Qh5 Qf6 33.Ng5 Qxf2+ 34.Kh2 Qc2 35.e4 h6 36.Nf7+ Kg8 37.Qd5 c3 38.Nxh6+ Kh7 39.Nf7 Qf2 40.Ng5+ Kg6 41.Rh1 Qd4 42.Nh3 Qxd5 43.exd5 Bh6 44.Re1 Bd3 45.Nf4+ Bxf4 46.gxf4 Rxf4 47.d6 Rxa4 48.Bxb7 Rd4 49.Kg3 Bf5 50.Bf3 c2 51.Rc1 Kf6 52.Kf2 Ke5 53.Ke3 Rd3+ 54.Ke2 Rxd6 55.Ke1 Kd4 56.Bd1 Ke3 57.Rxc2 Bxc2 58.Bxc2 Rd2 59.Bf5 Rf2 60.Be6 Rf6 61.Bd5 Rd6 62.Bb3 Rb6 63.Bc2 Ra6 0-1
Tan, Z (2511)- Muzychuk, A (2527) [D41]
Krasnaya Polyana (7.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 h6 10.Bh4 Nc6 11.Qd3 Qb6 12.0-0 Rd8 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nxd5 Qxb2 15.Nxf6+ Qxf6 16.Qb5 b6 17.Rac1 Bb7 18.Rc4 Rd6 19.Rf4 Qe7 20.Rd1 Rad8 21.Rxd6 Rxd6 22.h3 Bc8 23.Nh4 Rf6 24.Nf5 Bxf5 25.Rxf5 Nd4 26.exd4 Rxf5 27.Qxf5 Qxe2 28.d5 Qd1+ 29.Kh2 Qd4 30.Qc8+ Kh7 31.Qc6 Qxf2 32.d6 Qf4+ 33.Kg1 Qd4+ 34.Kf1 Qd1+ 35.Kf2 Qd2+ 36.Kg3 Qe3+ 37.Kh2 Qe5+ 38.g3 Qe2+ 39.Kg1 Qe1+ 40.Kg2 Qe2+ 41.Kg1 Qe1+ 42.Kg2 Qe2+ ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qe4 2.Bxa7#; 1…Bc4 2.Qf6#; 1…Nc4 2.Nge6#; 1…Ne4 2.Nf3#./PN
