THE SIX Round 5 tiebreak matches of the FIDE Open World Cup ended Tuesday, July 27, with the only surprising result coming by way of the elimination of Russia’s Alexander Grischuk in the hands of Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
World champion and top seed Magnus Carlsen walked the tightrope against Russia’s Andrey Esipenko, before finally dominating in the blitz (five minutes plus three seconds) match to advance to the quarterfinals. The knockout of Grischuk by Jan-Krzysztof Duda left Carlsen the only world top ten player remaining in the tournament. The other quarterfinalists are Russia’s Sergey Karjakin, who gave France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave the boot; Iran’s M. Amin Tabatabaei, who knocked out a tired and nervous Haik Martirosyan of Armenia; Russia’s Vladimir Fedoseev who eliminated the Serbian teen sensation Velimir Ivic, and France’s Etienne Bacrot ousting Poland’s Kacper Piorun.
The quarterfinal pairingss will be Carlsen versus Bacrot, Duda versus Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Fedoseev versus Tabatabaei, and Karjakin versus Sam Shankland.
Duda, J-K (2738)-
Grischuk, A (2778) [C65]
Krasnaya Polyana (5.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Nd7 7.Nc4 f6 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.Nxe3 Nc5 10.0-0 0-0 11.Kh1 a5 12.a4 Be6 13.Qe1 Bf7 14.Nh4 Ne6 15.g3 Qd6 16.f4 Qc5 17.Qd2 Rfd8 18.Rf2 Rd7 19.Raf1 b6 20.b3 Rad8 21.Nhf5 Bg6 22.fxe5 Qxe5 23.Nc4 Qc5 24.g4 Ng5 25.Qe1 Re8 26.h4 Nf7 27.Nfe3 h6 28.Rf4 Ne5 29.Qg3 Nxc4 30.Nxc4 b5 31.Ne3 Qe5 32.Qe1 Qc5 33.R1f3 bxa4 34.bxa4 Rd4 35.Qa1 Rb8 36.Kg2 Rdb4 37.Qa2+ Bf7 38.Qa3 Be6 39.Rg3 Qe5 40.Rf2 c5 41.g5 fxg5 42.hxg5 h5 43.Nf5 Rb1 44.Rgf3 Ra1 45.d4 Rxa3 46.Ne7+ Kh7 47.dxe5 Rxf3 48.Rxf3 Rb4 49.g6+ Kh6 50.Nf5+ Kxg6 51.Rg3+ Kf7 52.Rxg7+ Kf8 53.Rg6 Bf7 54.Rf6 Rb6 55.Kf3 Rxf6 56.exf6 Be8 57.e5 Kf7 58.Kf4 Bxa4 59.Nh6+ Ke6 60.f7 Ke7 61.e6 Be8 62.Nf5 Kf8 63.fxe8Q+ Kxe8 64.Ke5 1-0
Fedoseev, V (2696)-
Ivic, V (2582) [A15]
Krasnaya Polyana (5.3) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 c6 5.b3 Ne4 6.d4 d5 7.0-0 0-0 8.Bb2 Bf5 9.Nh4 Be6 10.Qc2 Nd7 11.Bxe4 dxe4 12.Qxe4 b5 13.Nd2 c5 14.Rad1 cxd4 15.Bxd4 Nf6 16.Qd3 bxc4 17.Nxc4 Qd5 18.Ng2 Qb5 19.Bxf6 Bxf6 20.Nf4 Bf5 21.e4 Bg4 22.f3 Bc8 23.Qd5 Qb8 24.Qa5 Bb7 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.Rxd5 Qc8 27.Kg2 e6 28.Rd3 Qc6 29.Rd6 Qb7 30.Rfd1 a6 31.Qb6 Qc8 32.Qc6 a5 33.Qb5 Qb8 34.Rb6 Qe8 35.Rd7 Rd8 36.Rbb7 Rxd7 37.Qxd7 Qxd7 38.Rxd7 a4 39.e5 Bg7 40.bxa4 Rc8 41.Rd4 f6 42.exf6 Bxf6 43.Re4 Bc3 44.Kf2 Ra8 45.Nd6 e5 46.Nb5 Bb2 47.Ke2 Kf7 48.Kd3 Bc1 49.Kc2 Rc8+ 50.Kb3 Bd2 51.Nd6+ 1-0
Tabatabaei, MA (2613)-
Martirosyan, HM (2632) [C67]
Krasnaya Polyana (5.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.d4 Ne8 10.c4 Bf6 11.Re1 d5 12.cxd5 Qxd5 13.Be3 Qd8 14.Nc3 Nd6 15.Bf4 Be6 16.Be5 Bxe5 17.dxe5 Nf5 18.Bd3 c5 19.Be4 Nd4 20.Ne2 Nxe2+ 21.Qxe2 Qc7 22.f4 g6 23.Qf3 Rae8 24.b3 b5 25.h4 c4 26.bxc4 Bxc4 27.h5 Qe7 28.Qg3 f5 29.Bf3 Kg7 30.Rad1 Rd8 31.Qf2 a5 32.Qb2 gxh5 33.Bxh5 Kg8 34.Rxd8 Rxd8 35.e6 h6 36.Qe5 Rd5 37.Qb8+ Kg7 38.Qe8 Qxe8 39.Bxe8 Kf8 40.Bc6 Ke7 41.Bxd5 Bxd5 42.Re5 Bc4 43.Kf2 h5 44.g3 a4 45.a3 b4 46.axb4 a3 47.Ra5 a2 48.Ke3 Kxe6 49.Kd4 Bb3 50.Kc5 Kd7 51.Ra7+ Kc8 52.b5 Kb8 53.b6 Bf7 54.Kd6 Kc8 55.Ke5 Bc4 56.Kxf5 Kb8 57.Kf6 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2749)-
Karjakin, S (2757) [A45]
Krasnaya Polyana (5.6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 cxd4 6.exd4 Bg4 7.Be2 Nc6 8.Ne5 Bxe2 9.Nxe2 e6 10.c3 Be7 11.h4 h5 12.Nd3 Ne4 13.Ng3 Bxh4 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Nc5 Be7 16.Rxh5 Rxh5 17.Qxh5 Qd5 18.Qxd5 exd5 19.Nxb7 g5 20.Bd6 Ra7 21.Bxe7 Rxb7 22.Ba3 f5 23.Ke2 Rh7 24.Bc5 f4 25.b4 Rh2 26.a4 Rxg2 27.Kf1 f3 28.b5 e3 29.fxe3 Na5 30.Ba3 Nb3 31.Rd1 axb5 0-1
Carlsen, M (2847)-
Esipenko, A (2716) [C65]
Krasnaya Polyana (5.7) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.0-0 a6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 c5 9.Nc6 Qd7 10.Na5 Qa4 11.Bd2 Bg4 12.f3 Be6 13.Bc3 Be7 14.b3 Qd7 15.Nd2 d5 16.Qe1 0-0 17.Rd1 Rad8 18.Ndc4 Qe8 19.exd5 Nxd5 20.Bb2 Kh8 21.Qg3 f6 22.Rfe1 Qf7 23.Nc6 Rde8 24.Nxe7 Rxe7 25.Qf2 Rfe8 26.Qxc5 h5 27.Ba3 Rd7 28.Re4 Bf5 29.Rxe8+ Qxe8 30.Qf2 Nc3 31.Re1 Qg6 32.Ne3 Be6 33.Bb2 Nd5 34.Nxd5 Bxd5 35.Qe2 Kh7 36.Bc1 Bc6 37.Bf4 h4 38.h3 Qf5 39.Be3 Re7 40.Qd2 Qg6 41.Qf2 Kg8 42.Bd2 Rxe1+ 43.Bxe1 Bd7 44.Kh2 Bf5 45.c4 Bb1 46.Qa7 Bd3 47.Qxc7 Bf1 48.Qd8+ Kh7 49.Qd2 Qh5 50.Qc2+ Kg8 51.Qe4 Qg5 52.Qd5+ Qxd5 53.cxd5 g5 54.a4 Kf7 55.Bc3 Bd3 56.b4 Bc2 57.b5 axb5 58.axb5 Bb3 59.d6 Ke6 60.b6 Bd5 61.d7 Kxd7 62.Bxf6 1-0
Esipenko, A (2716)-
Carlsen, M (2847) [C53]
Krasnaya Polyana (5.8) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 a6 9.a4 Ba7 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.b4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Rxe6 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Nf1 d5 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.Nxe3 Ne7 17.Rab1 Rd8 18.a5 Ng6 19.c4 c6 20.Red1 Nf4 21.Nf5 g6 22.Nxh6+ Kg7 23.Ng4 Nxg4 24.hxg4 Ree8 25.Nh2 Rh8 26.f3 dxe4 27.dxe4 Qe7 28.Rxd8 Qxd8 29.g3 Qd4+ 30.Kh1 Nd3 31.Qe2 Qxc4 32.Rd1 Rd8 33.Rf1 Qxb4 34.f4 exf4 35.gxf4 Qxa5 36.g5 Nc5 37.Qb2+ Kg8 38.Ng4 Nxe4 39.Nh6+ Kh7 40.Qh2 Rd2 41.Qh4 Kg7 42.f5 Qd5 43.f6+ Nxf6+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxe5 2.Nbd5#; 1…Kxe5 2.Nec6#; 1…Nh4/e3 2.Qf4#./PN
