WORLD’s number six Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and world’s number eight Anish Giri were knocked out of the ongoing FIDE World Cup at Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, Russia, after the Round 3 tiebreak round Monday, July 18.
Mamedyarov was eliminated by Armenia’s GM Haik M. Martirosyan, while Giri was sent home by Uzbekistan’s teen sensation GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Mamedyarov fought fiercely but Martirosyan was up to the challenge and won, 1½-½, in the rapids; while Giri was completely outplayed by the 16-year old Abdusattorov in two straight rapid games, 2-0.
The other elite GMs rated Elo 2700+ who failed to make the cut were Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706) of Russia, who was ousted by Iran’s Pouya Idani and Etienne Bacrot, who ambushed Bassem Amin (2703).
Meanwhile, the elite who survived their Round 3 tiebreak opponents by the skin of their teeth and advanced to Round 4 were Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2726), Peter Svidler (2714), Jeffery Xiong (2709), Vidit Gujrathi (2726), Sam Shankland (2709), and Vladislav Artemiev (2704).
Martirosyan, HM (2632)-Mamedyarov, S (2782) [D79]
Krasnaya Polyana (3.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 d5 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Ne5 Bf5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.Be3 c5 13.Nxd5 e6 14.Nf4 cxd4 15.Nxh5 gxh5 16.Bd2 Rc8 17.Bb4 Re8 18.Rc1 Qb6 19.Qa4 d3 20.exd3 Bxd3 21.Rfd1 Bb5 22.Qb3 Bd4 23.Be1 e5 24.Bd5 Kg7 25.Bxf7 Rf8 26.Rxc8 Rxc8 27.Bxh5 Rf8 28.Bf3 Qa6 29.Rc1 1-0
Giri, A (2776)-Abdusattorov, N (2634) [C09]
Krasnaya Polyana (3.3) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nc6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Bb5 Qe7+ 7.Be2 Qc7 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Nb3 Bb6 10.0-0 Nge7 11.Nfd4 0-0 12.Be3 a6 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Bxb6 Qxb6 15.Qd4 Qxd4 16.Nxd4 Rb8 17.Nb3 Bf5 18.Rfc1 a5 19.Rab1 a4 20.Nc5 Ra8 21.Bd3 Ra5 22.Bxf5 Nxf5 23.Nd7 Re8 24.c4 d4 25.b4 axb3 26.axb3 Ra2 27.Nc5 Ree2 28.Nd3 Nd6 29.Ra1 Ne4 30.Rxa2 Rxa2 31.Re1 f5 32.g4 Ng5 33.Kg2 fxg4 34.Kg3 Nf3 35.Re7 Rd2 36.Nf4 d3 37.Re3 h5 38.Nxh5 Rd1 39.Kxg4 Nxh2+ 40.Kf4 d2 41.Rd3 Nf1 0-1
Idani, P (2614)-Tomashevsky, E (2706) [C65]
Krasnaya Polyana (3.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Re1 a6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3 Nh5 12.Nxe5 Nxg3 13.Nxc6 Qd7 14.Nd4 Bxd4 15.cxd4 Nf5 16.exf5 Qxf5 17.Nc3 Rb8 18.b3 Bb7 19.Re3 Qf6 20.Ne2 Bd5 21.Rc1 c6 22.Ng3 Rb4 23.Qg4 Be6 24.Qe2 Bd5 25.Ne4 Qg6 26.Nc3 Be6 27.Qf3 Rc8 28.Ne2 Bd5 29.Qh3 Rf8 30.f4 Rbb8 31.fxg5 hxg5 32.Rg3 Qg7 33.Qf5 f6 34.h4 Qh7 35.Qg4 Rb7 36.hxg5 fxg5 37.Qxg5+ Rg7 38.Qxg7+ Qxg7 39.Rxg7+ Kxg7 40.Nc3 Rf4 41.Ne2 Rg4 42.g3 Rg6 43.Kf2 Rh6 44.Ke3 Kf6 45.Nf4 Rh2 46.Nxd5+ cxd5 47.Rc6 1-0
Areshchenko, A (2687)-Shankland, S (2709) [B90]
Krasnaya Polyana (3.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Kb1 Nb6 14.Na5 Rc8 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Qxa5 18.c4 Nf4 19.Bxf4 exf4 20.cxb5 axb5 21.Qxb5 Qa7 22.h4 Rc5 23.Qa6 Qc7 24.Bd3 Rb8 25.Rc1 d5 26.Rxc5 Bxc5 27.Rc1 Qe5 28.Bb5 d4 29.Bd3 g6 30.Ka1 Bf8 31.Qc4 Qe3 32.h5 Rb4 33.Qc2 gxh5 34.Bxh7+ Kg7 35.Bd3 h4 36.g6 h3 37.gxf7 Rb6 38.Rh1 Rh6 39.a3 h2 40.Qg2+ Kf6 41.Be4 Kxf7 42.Ka2 d3 43.Rxh2 Rxh2 44.Qxh2 d2 45.Qh5+ Ke7 46.Qe5+ Kd8 47.Qd5+ Ke7 48.Qe5+ Kd8 49.Qb8+ Ke7 50.Qc7+ Kf6 51.Bc2 Kg5 52.Qf7 Qxf3 53.Qf5+ Kh4 54.Qxf8 Qd5+ 55.b3 d1Q 56.Bxd1 Qd2+ 57.Kb1 Qxd1+ 58.Kb2 Qd2+ 59.Kb1 Qd3+ 60.Kb2 f3 61.Qh6+ Kg3 62.Qg5+ Kf2 63.a4 Ke1 64.Qg3+ Ke2 65.Qg4 Kd2 66.Qf4+ Kd1 67.a5 Qe2+ 68.Ka3 f2 69.Qd4+ Kc2 70.Qc5+ Kb1 71.Qf5+ Qc2 72.Qf6 Qc1+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxe6 2.Ng3#; 1…Rxg6 2.Ne7#; 1…Bg5/xg7 2.R(x)g5#; 1…Ke5 2.Qxf6#./PN
