The Chess World Cup 2017

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 3, 2017

Round One
Some Round One games:

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Carlsen, Magnus – Balogun, Oluwafemi
B06 Robatsch Defence

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qe2 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.O-O Bg4 7.c3 O-O 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 e5 10.Rd1 Qe8 11.d5 Ne7 12.Qe2 Nh5 13.Bb5 Qc8 14.Na3 a6 15.Ba4 f5 16.Bc2 f4 17.Qg4 Qxg4 18.hxg4 Nf6 19.g5 Nd7 20.Nc4 b6 21.b4 h6 22.gxh6 Bxh6 23.g4 Nf6 24.f3 Bg5 25.Kg2 Kg7 26.a4 Bh4 27.Bd2 g5 28.Rh1 Ng6 29.Kf1 Rh8 30.Ke2 Bg3 31.a5 b5 32.Na3 Ne7 33.c4 c6 34.dxc6 Nxc6 35.Bc3 Rxh1 36.Rxh1 bxc4 37.Nxc4 Rb8 38.Nxd6 Kg6 39.Nf5 1-0

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Fier Alexandr – Bacrot, Etienne
D31 QGD, Charousek Exchange

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.g4 Be6 8.h4 Nd7 9.h5 Nh6 10.Be2 Nb6 11.Nh3 g5 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.a4 Ng8 14.Qb3 Qd7 15.Nb5 Kf8 16.Nc7 Rd8 17.Nxe6+ fxe6 18.O-O-O Kg7 19.Be5+ Bf6 20.Bg3 Bh4 21.Be5+ Bf6 22.Bg3 Bh4 23.e4 Qe7 24.a5 Bxg3 25.Qxg3 Nd7 26.e5 c5 27.f4 Nh6 28.Ng5 cxd4 29.Qa3 Rde8 30.Qxe7+ 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Vakhidov, Jakhongir – Svidler, Peter
A35 English, symmetrical, Four Knights System

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.a3 cxd4 7.exd4 Be7 8.c5 Ne4 9.Qc2 Nxc3 10.Qxc3 a5 11.Bd3 O-O 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 Rxa1 14.Qxa1 Nxb4 15.Bxh7+ Kxh7 16.Qb1+ Kg8 17.Qxb4 b6 18.Bf4 bxc5 19.dxc5 f6 20.Nd4 Bd7 21.Nb3 e5 22.Bd2 Qb8 23.Qb6 Qxb6 24.cxb6 Rb8 25.Ba5 Ba4 26.Nc1 Ra8 27.Bd2 Ra6 28.O-O Rxb6 29.Ne2 Rb2 30.Nc3 Bc6 0-1

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Kjusenkhojaev, Muhammad – MVL
E60 King’s Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O cxd4 7.Nxd4 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nb5 e6 10.N1c3 a6 11.Nxd5 axb5 12.Nb4 Qe7 13.Qb3 Ra4 14.Nd3 Nc6 15.Qxb5 Ra5 16.Qb6 Bd4 17.Qb3 Rd8 18.Bd2 Ra6 19.e3 Rb6 20.Qc2 Bg7 21.Bc3 e5 22.a3 Bf5 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Eljanov, Pavel – Lenderman, Aleksandr
E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 O-O 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Bg5 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Rc1 Ba6 10.Qa4 Qd7 11.Qxd7 Nbxd7 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.e3 Bxf1 14.Kxf1 Rfc8 15.Rc6 Nd5 16.Nf3 Ne7 17.Rc2 f6 18.Ke2 Kf7 19.Rhc1 c6 20.Ne1 Ke8 21.Nd3 Kd7 22.g4 g5 23.h4 h6 24.Rh1 Rh8 25.e4 Ng6 26.h5 Ne7 27.Ke3 Rhf8 28.f3 a5 29.Rhc1 Ra7 30.Rc3 Rg8 31.b3 Rf8 32.Nb2 Re8 33.Nc4 Ra6 34.Kf2 Rd8 35.Rd3 Ke8 36.e5 f5 37.Nd6+ Kf8 38.d5 cxd5 39.Rc7 b5 40.Nxb5 Rc6 41.Nd4 Rxc7 42.Nxe6+ Kf7 43.Nxc7 d4 44.Nb5 Rd5 45.e6+ Kf6 46.Nxd4 Rd6 47.b4 axb4 48.axb4 f4 49.b5 Ke5 50.Rd2 Kf6 51.Ke1 Nd5 52.Re2 Ne3 53.e7 Kf7 54.Rd2 Rxd4 55.Rb2 Rd7 56.b6 Rb7 57.Ke2 Nd5 0-1

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Grischuk, Alexander – El Gindy, Essam
C24 Bishop’s Opening

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 Bd6 6.Nc3 d4 7.Ne2 O-O 8.O-O c5 9.Ng3 Nc6 10.Nh4 g6 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Nf3 Kg7 13.h3 Ng8 14.Bd2 h6 15.c3 Bd6 16.Rc1 Bd7 17.cxd4 cxd4 18.a3 Qe7 19.Nh2 Rac8 20.Bc4 Rc7 21.Ne2 Be6 22.Bxe6 fxe6 23.Ng4 h5 24.Nh2 Qh4 25.Be1 Rcf7 26.Kh1 Qd8 27.Ng1 Nf6 28.b4 a6 29.Bd2 Nh7 30.Qe2 Be7 31.Ngf3 Bd6 32.h4 Rc7 33.Ng5 Nxg5 34.Bxg5 Be7 35.Nf3 Qd6 36.g3 Bxg5 37.Nxg5 Rfc8 38.Qd2 Nd8 39.Rxc7+ Qxc7 40.b5 Qc2 41.Qb4 Qc5 42.bxa6 Qxb4 43.axb4 bxa6 44.Ra1 Nc6 45.Ra4 Kf6 46.Rxa6 Nxb4 47.Ra7 1-0

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Dai, Changren – Kramnik, Vladimir
C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer, Borisenko variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 c5 12.d5 Qc7 13.Bc2 c4 14.Nf1 a5 15.Ng3 Nc5 16.b3 cxb3 17.axb3 Bd7 18.Be3 Rfc8 19.Qd2 a4 20.bxa4 Nxa4 21.Bxa4 Rxa4 22.Rxa4 bxa4 23.Rc1 Qc4 24.Qc2 h5 25.Nd2 Qa6 26.c4 h4 27.Ne2 Nh5 28.Ra1 Bd8 29.Nc3 Nf4 30.Ra2 Ra8 31.Qb1 Qc8 32.Qd1 Nd3 33.Nb5 Ra6 34.Qa1 Nc5 35.Qb1 Be7 36.Qa1 Bd8 37.Qb1 Be7 38.Qa1 Kh7 39.Bxc5 Qxc5 40.Rxa4 Rxa4 41.Qxa4 Bg5 42.Nb3 Qc8 43.Kh2 Bf4+ 44.g3 Bxh3 45.Nxd6 hxg3+ 46.fxg3 Qg4 47.Nf5 Qh5 48.gxf4 Bxf5+ 49.Kg3 Qg4+ 50.Kf2 Qxf4+ 51.Ke2 Qxe4+ 0-1

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Giri, Anish – Dzagnidze, Nana
A27 English, Three Knights System

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.g3 Ne7 8.Bg2 O-O 9.O-O d6 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Qd3 Rb8 12.b3 c5 13.Qd2 Qd7 14.Rad1 Nc6 15.Ne4 f6 16.Nxc5 dxc5 17.Qxd7 Bxd7 18.Rxd7 Ne5 19.Rxg7+ Kxg7 20.Be3 Nd7 21.Rd1 Rfd8 22.Rd5 Kf7 23.Bh3 Ke7 24.Bxc5+ Nxc5 25.Rxc5 Rd1+ 26.Kg2 Kd6 27.Ra5 Ra8 28.c5+ Ke7 29.Bg4 a6 30.Bf3 Ra7 31.b4 Rc1 32.Bc6 Rc4 33.a3 Rc3 34.f4 g5 35.fxg5 fxg5 36.Kf2 Kd8 37.Ke1 Re3 38.b5 Re6 39.Bd5 Rh6 40.c6 Rf6 41.bxa6 Ke7 42.Be4 h6 43.h3 Re6 44.Bd5 Re3 45.Kf2 Rc3 46.Be4 Ke6 47.a4 Ra3 48.h4 gxh4 49.gxh4 Kf6 50.Bd3 Kg7 51.Rd5 Rxa4 52.Rd7+ Kf6 53.Kg3 Ra3 54.Kg4 Ra4+ 55.Kh5 Ra5+ 56.Kxh6 Rc5 57.Rg7 Rh5+ 58.Kxh5 Kxg7 59.Kg5 Ra8 60.h5 Rd8 61.h6+ Kf8 62.a7 Ra8 63.Kf6 Kg8 64.h7+ Kh8 65.Ke7 Rxa7 66.Kd7 Kg7 67.Kc8 1-0

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri – Harikrishna, P.
C42 Petrov, Nimzowitsch Attack

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 Be6 9.O-O-O Qd7 10.Kb1 Bf6 11.Bg5 Bxg5 12.Nxg5 O-O-O 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.g3 e5 15.Bg2 Rhf8 16.Qe3 Kb8 17.Rd2 Rf6 18.Rhd1 Rdf8 19.c4 Qg4 20.c5 Rxf2 21.Bxc6 bxc6 22.cxd6 cxd6 23.Rxd6 Qc4 24.Rd8+ Rxd8 25.Rxd8+ Kc7 26.Qxe5+ Kb6 27.Qe3+ Qc5 28.Qb3+ Qb5 29.Qe3+ Qc5 30.Qd3 Qe5 31.a3 Qe1+ 32.Ka2 Qe6+ 33.c4 a5 34.Qd4+ Kc7 35.Ra8 Qf6 36.Ra7+ 1-0

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Piorun, Kacper – Hou Yifan
E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Qxc4 b6 11.Ne5 Ra7 12.Nd3 Be7 13.Bf4 Bb7 14.Bxb7 Rxb7 15.Nd2 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Qc2 Nd5 18.Be5 Nd7 19.Bd4 Qb8 20.Nf3 h6 21.Rfc1 Rc7 22.Qb3 Rfc8 23.Rxc7 Rxc7 24.Nfe5 Bf6 25.e4 Bxe5 26.Nxe5 N5f6 27.Qe3 Qd8 28.Nd3 Rc4 29.f3 Qb8 30.b3 Rc8 31.Qd2 e5 32.Be3 Qd6 33.Nb4 Qe6 34.Qd3 Nc5 35.Bxc5 Rxc5 36.Kg2 Kh7 37.Ra7 Rc1 38.Nd5 Nxd5 39.exd5+ Qg6 40.Qxg6+ 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Smirnov, Anton – Karjakin, Sergey
E10 Queen’s Pawn game

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bf4 dxc4 6.e3 b5 7.Nxb5 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 Nd5 9.a3 Nxc3 10.Qd2 Nd5 11.axb4 Nxf4 12.exf4 Bb7 13.Be2 O-O 14.O-O Nb6 15.Rfd1 Qd6 16.Ne5 a6 17.Rac1 Rfb8 18.Nxc4 Nxc4 19.Rxc4 Bd5 20.Rc5 Rb6 21.Rdc1 c6 22.Bc4 h6 23.Bxd5 exd5 24.g3 Qd7 25.b5 axb5 26.Re1 Rba6 27.Rc3 Ra1 28.Re3 Rxe1+ 29.Rxe1 Re8 30.Rxe8+ 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Ruiz Castillo, Joshua – So, Wesley
B19 Caro-Kann, Classical, Spassky variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bf4 Qa5+ 12.Bd2 Bb4 13.a3 Bxd2+ 14.Qxd2 Qxd2+ 15.Nxd2 Ngf6 16.O-O-O Ke7 17.Nde4 Rad8 18.Rhe1 Nxe4 19.Rxe4 Nf6 20.Re5 Ng4 21.Re2 Rd5 22.c4 Rd7 23.f3 Nf6 24.Re5 Rc8 25.Nf5+ Kf8 26.Ne3 Rcd8 27.Nc2 b6 28.Rde1 Rd6 29.c5 Rd5 30.cxb6 axb6 31.g4 R5d6 32.b4 Nd5 33.Kb2 Nf4 34.R1e3 f6 35.R5e4 e5 36.dxe5 Nd3+ 37.Kc3 fxe5 38.a4 Nf2 39.Rxe5 Nd1+ 40.Kc4 Nxe3+ 41.Rxe3 Rd5 42.Rc3 Kf7 43.Ne3 b5+ 44.axb5 cxb5+ 45.Kb3 Rd3 46.Nf5 Kf6 47.Kc2 Rd2+ 48.Kc1 Rd1+ 49.Kc2 R8d2+ 50.Kb3 Rd3 51.Ne3 Rb1+ 52.Kc2 Rxc3+ 53.Kxc3 Ke5 54.Nf5 Rf1 55.Nxg7 Rxf3+ 56.Kd2 Kf4 57.Nf5 Kxg4 58.Nxh6+ Kxh5 59.Ng8 Rf7 0-1

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Nakamura, Hikaru – Mollah Abdullah, Al Rakib
A05 Reti Opening

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.O-O g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.d4 O-O 7.d5 Ne4 8.Nfd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 c6 10.Nc3 cxd5 11.cxd5 d6 12.b3 b5 13.Bb2 Qb6 14.Ne4 Bxb2 15.Qxb2 Nd7 16.Rad1 Rfe8 17.h4 Ne5 18.h5 Bc8 19.Rd4 Bg4 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.f4 Bxe2 22.fxe5 dxe5 23.Qxe2 Qxd4+ 24.Kh2 f6 25.Qxb5 Kg7 26.Nf2 Rh8+ 27.Kg1 Rad8 28.Rd1 Qe3 29.Qd3 Qb6 30.Rc1 Rc8 31.Rc6 Rxc6 32.dxc6 Rd8 33.Qc3 Qd4 34.Qxd4 exd4 35.Nd3 f5 36.Nc5 Kf6 37.c7 Rc8 38.Na6 d3 39.Kf2 1-0

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Caruana, Fabiano – Solomon, Kenny
C77 Ruy Lopez, Anderssen variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 b5 9.Bc2 Bb7 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Nf1 Bf8 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 g6 14.Ne3 Bg7 15.a4 Qd7 16.b4 Nh5 17.Bb3 Nf4 18.Bg3 Nh5 19.Bh4 Nf4 20.h3 Kh8 21.Bg3 Nh5 22.Bh2 Nf6 23.Qd2 Rab8 24.Rec1 Rf8 25.axb5 axb5 26.c4 bxc4 27.Rxc4 Ne7 28.Qc2 c6 29.Ra5 Nh5 30.d4 exd4 31.Nxd4 Ra8 32.Nf3 Ba6 33.g4 Nf6 34.Rd4 Ne8 35.Rd2 Qb7 36.e5 d5 37.Qc5 Rb8 38.e6 Ra8 39.exf7 Nf6 40.Bc2 Rxf7 41.Ne5 Rff8 42.Qxe7 1-0

Round 1, Game 1, Sept. 3
Yeoh, Li Tian – Anand, Vishy
B22 Sicilian, Alapin

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nf6 8.Nc3 Qd6 9.O-O O-O 10.Qb3 Na6 11.Rd1 b6 12.Ne5 Nc7 13.Nc4 Qd8 14.Bf4 Ncd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Be5 Be6 17.Qa3 Bh6 18.Ne3 a5 19.Bf3 Ra7 20.Bxd5 Bxd5 21.Nf5 Bg5 22.Qg3 Bf6 23.Bxf6 exf6 24.Ne3 Rd7 25.Rd2 Re8 26.b3 h5 27.Rad1 Kh7 28.Qf4 Re4 29.Nxd5 Rxf4 30.Nxf4 Rc7 31.d5 Qd6 32.Ne2 b5 33.h3 h4 34.Kh1 Kg7 35.Ng1 g5 36.Nf3 Rc5 37.Kg1 Kg6 38.Rd4 f5 39.Nh2 f6 40.Nf1 Rc2 41.a4 Rc5 42.axb5 Rxb5 43.R1d3 Rc5 44.Ne3 Rc1+ 45.Rd1 Rxd1+ 46.Rxd1 Kf7 47.Nxf5 Qb4 48.Nd4 Qb7 49.d6 Qd5 50.f3 Qxd6 51.Rd3 f5 52.Kf2 Kf6 53.Ke2 Qh2 54.Kf2 Qd6 55.Ke2 Qe5+ 56.Kf2 Qc5 57.Kf1 Qc1+ 58.Kf2 Qb1 59.Rc3 f4 60.Ne2 Ke7 61.Rc7+ Kd6 62.Rc3 Qd1 63.Rc1 Qxb3 64.Ke1 a4 65.Nc3 a3 66.Kd2 a2 0-1

[Hal Bond]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Fantastic day for Canada! Two players, two victories. Never before in the World Cup. Bator drew first blood against Morosevich at his last World Cup, and Anton is no stranger to subsequent rounds after his 4 round romp in 2015. Good luck lads!

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 3, 2017

Round One

Anton Kovalyov wins his first round game against Varuzhan Akobian!:

FIDE World Cup 2017
Round 1, Sept. 3, 2017
Akobian, Varuzhan – Kovalyov, Anton
D24 QGA

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.O-O Be7 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Qe2 Qc7 11.h3 O-O 12.Rd1 b6 13.e4 Nd7 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.Qxe3 Nb4 16.Qe2 Bb7 17.Rac1 Nc5 18.Qe3 Rad8 19.Be2 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 h6 21.Qd4 Nc6 22.Qc4 Na5 23.Qd4 Nc6 24.Qc4 a5 25.g3 Rd8 26.Rxd8+ Qxd8 27.Kf1 Ba6 28.Nb5 Nb4 29.b3 Qf6 30.e5 Qf5 31.Kg2 Bb7 32.Nd6 Bxf3+ 33.Bxf3 Qxe5 34.Ne4 Nbd3 35.Nxc5 Ne1+ 36.Kh1 bxc5 37.Be4 f5 38.Bc6 Qd6 39.Qb5 Nd3 40.f4 g5 41.Bf3 gxf4 42.Qe8+ Kg7 43.Bh5 Qd5+ 44.Kh2 fxg3+ 45.Kxg3 Qd6+ 46.Kf3 Ne5+ 47.Ke2 Qd3+ 48.Ke1 Qe3+ 49.Kf1 Qxh3+ 50.Kg1 Qg3+ 51.Kf1 Qd3+ 52.Ke1 Qd6 53.Be2 f4 54.Qa8 Qd5 55.Qxa5 f3 56.Bb5 Qe4+ 57.Kd2 Qd4+ 58.Kc2 c4 59.bxc4 f2 60.Qc7+ Kf6 61.c5 Nc4 0-1

- it is all over and the fat lady doesn't even have to sing

- anton having a rough time finishing akobian off

- Look at the board- i think I hear Sarah Brightman singing ......Time to say goodbye

[Simon Perkins]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Wow, nice win by GM Sambuev, he has been playing a lot of chess against strong competition. "Power of the Bracelet."

Simon

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The World Chess Cup 2017

September 3, 2017

Round One

Bator beats Wei Yi!:

FIDE World Cup 2017
Round 1, Sept. 3
Sambuev, Bator – Wei Yi
D38 QGD, Ragozin

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Bb4 5.g3 O-O 6.Bg2 dxc4 7.O-O Nc6 8.a3 Be7 9.e4 Na5 10.Be3 Rb8 11.Qe2 b5 12.Rad1 Bb7 13.Ne5 a6 14.g4 Ne8 15.d5 exd5 16.Nxd5 Nd6 17.g5 Bxd5 18.Rxd5 c6 19.Rdd1 Qc7 20.Qh5 g6 21.Qh6 Nxe4 22.Nd7 Nd6 23.Bh3 Rfd8 24.Rd4 1-0

Final position after White’s 24.Rd4



Bator was interviewed by Anastasiya Karlovich after the game and said that he looked over games by Wei Yi in his prep and saw some positions where he had an advantage on the kingside.

Wei Yi got into time pressure and would have had compensation if Bator had taken one of the rooks in the knight fork but Bh3 stopped that.

Bator said that his goal is to stay in Tbilisi as long as possible.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 3, 2017

Round One

The broadcast of the first round has begun. The coverage is great with Ivan Sokolov on the English icon, Damaris Abarta and Divis on the Spanish icon, Jan Gustafsson on the German icon, Sergey Shipov on the Russian and Yasser Seirawan and Robin van Kampen on the Chessbrah.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...cup-2017/1/1/1

"Chess.com will relay the games at Chess.com/Live. Besides, you can watch live commentary on Chess.com/TV provided by the Chessbrahs, which includes some of the best commentators of the planet: GM Eric Hansen, GM Robin van Kampen, GM Yasser Seirawan and IM Aman Hamilton." (sic)

https://www.chess.com/tv

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 2, 2017

The games begin tomorrow, September 3, at 7:00 a.m. The official broadcast has Ivan Sokolov and Evgeny Miroshnichenko as the commentators.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...cup-2017/1/1/1

The playing schedule is as follows:

1/64 final - Game 1 Sep 03, 2017 - 15:00
1/64 final - Game 2 Sep 04, 2017 - 15:00
1/64 final - Play-Offs Sep 05, 2017 - 15:00
1/32 final - Game 1 Sep 06, 2017 - 15:00
1/32 final - Game 2 Sep 07, 2017 - 15:00
1/32 final - Play-Offs Sep 08, 2017 - 15:00
1/16 final - Game 1 Sep 09, 2017 - 15:00
1/16 final - Game 2 Sep 10, 2017 - 15:00
1/16 final - Play-Offs Sep 11, 2017 - 15:00
1/8 final - Game 1 Sep 12, 2017 - 15:00
1/8 final - Game 2 Sep 13, 2017 - 15:00
1/8 final - Play-Offs Sep 14, 2017 - 15:00
1/4 final - Game 1 Sep 15, 2017 - 15:00
1/4 final - Game 2 Sep 16, 2017 - 15:00
1/4 final - Play-Offs Sep 17, 2017 - 15:00
REST DAY
1/2 final - Game 1 Sep 19, 2017 - 15:00
1/2 final - Game 2 Sep 20, 2017 - 15:00
1/2 final - Play-Offs Sep 21, 2017 - 15:00
REST DAY
Final - Game 1 Sep 23, 2017 - 15:00
Final - Game 2 Sep 24, 2017 - 15:00
Final - Game 3 Sep 25, 2017 - 15:00
Final - Game 4 Sep 26, 2017 - 15:00
Final - Play-Off Sep 27, 2017 - 15:00
_________
Today, Magnus Carlsen at the Opening Ceremony drew a piece of paper which said that Carlsen and everyone with an odd number, will start tomorrow with the white pieces. Players will switch colours in Round 1 Game 2.

WHITE TITLE RATING vs BLACK TITLE RATING

Carlsen, Magnus GM 2827 "- Balogun, Oluwafemi FM 2255
Ruiz Castillo, Joshua Daniel IM 2377 "- So, Wesley GM 2792
Caruana, Fabiano GM 2799 "- Solomon, Kenny GM 2398
Dai, Changren 2422 "- Kramnik, Vladimir GM 2803
Aronian, Levon GM 2802 "- Cawdery, Daniel IM 2449
Liu, Guanchu IM 2455 "- Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar GM 2797
Nakamura, Hikaru GM 2781 "- Mollah Abdullah, Al Rakib GM 2454
Khusenkhojaev, Muhammad IM 2455 "- Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime GM 2804
Grischuk, Alexander GM 2788 "- El Gindy, Essam GM 2455
Yeoh, Li Tian IM 2478 "- Anand, Viswanathan GM 2794
Ding, Liren GM 2771 "- Haddouche, Mohamed GM 2487
Smirnov, Anton IM 2508 "- Karjakin, Sergey GM 2780
Giri, Anish GM 2777 "- Dzagnidze, Nana GM 2519
Sambuev, Bator GM 2529 "- Wei, Yi GM 2748
Nepomniachtchi, Ian GM 2741 "- Palac, Mladen GM 2535
Vakhidov, Jakhongir GM 2518 "- Svidler, Peter GM 2756
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw GM 2739 "- El Debs, Felipe de Cresce GM 2533
Pourramezanali, Amirreza GM 2534 "- Yu, Yangyi GM 2750
Li, Chao b GM 2745 "- Krysa, Leandro GM 2540
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri GM 2547 "- Harikrishna, P. GM 2741
Radjabov, Teimour GM 2742 "- Ziska, Helgi Dam GM 2545
Kunin, Vitaly GM 2531 "- Le, Quang Liem GM 2739
Adams, Michael GM 2738 "- Batchuluun, Tsegmed GM 2566
Hjartarson, Johann GM 2539 "- Navara, David GM 2720
Eljanov, Pavel GM 2734 "- Lenderman, Aleksandr GM 2565
Bacallao Alonso, Yusnel GM 2573 "- Fedoseev, Vladimir GM 2731
Gelfand, Boris GM 2737 "- Stupak, Kirill GM 2579
Sadorra, Julio Catalino GM 2574 "- Matlakov, Maxim GM 2728
Ivanchuk, Vassily GM 2727 "- Kazhgaleyev, Murtas GM 2570
Kulaots, Kaido GM 2571 "- Vitiugov, Nikita GM 2728
Vallejo Pons, Francisco GM 2717 "- Karthikeyan, Murali GM 2574
Fier, Alexandr GM 2569 "- Bacrot, Etienne GM 2728
Bu, Xiangzhi GM 2714 "- Flores, Diego GM 2580
Antipov, Mikhail Al. GM 2578 "- Tomashevsky, Evgeny GM 2710
Najer, Evgeniy GM 2694 "- Aleksandrov, Aleksej GM 2580
Pantsulaia, Levan GM 2593 "- Duda, Jan-Krzysztof GM 2698
Andreikin, Dmitry GM 2708 "- Goganov, Aleksey GM 2567
Sengupta, Deep GM 2589 "- Wang, Hao GM 2701
Inarkiev, Ernesto GM 2694 "- Mchedlishvili, Mikheil GM 2607
Tari, Aryan GM 2588 "- Howell, David W L GM 2701
Cheparinov, Ivan GM 2695 "- Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios GM 2573
Hovhannisyan, Robert GM 2594 "- Rodshtein, Maxim GM 2695
Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi GM 2702 "- Delgado Ramirez, Neuris GM 2614
Bok, Benjamin GM 2620 "- Artemiev, Vladislav GM 2692
Ponomariov, Ruslan GM 2694 "- Sethuraman, S.P. GM 2617
Sevian, Samuel GM 2610 "- Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter GM 2674
Jobava, Baadur GM 2702 "- Salgado Lopez, Ivan GM 2627
Zherebukh, Yaroslav GM 2621 "- Onischuk, Alexander GM 2682
Amin, Bassem GM 2699 "- Erdos, Viktor GM 2619
Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son GM 2629 "- Adhiban, B. GM 2670
Rapport, Richard GM 2675 "- Cordova, Emilio GM 2616
Xiong, Jeffery GM 2633 "- Motylev, Alexander GM 2668
Dubov, Daniil GM 2666 "- Fridman, Daniel GM 2625
Kovalenko, Igor GM 2634 "- Kravtsiv, Martyn GM 2670
Akobian, Varuzhan GM 2662 "- Kovalyov, Anton GM 2649
Cori, Jorge GM 2648 "- Jones, Gawain C B GM 2668
Grachev, Boris GM 2654 "- Melkumyan, Hrant GM 2642
Bruzon Batista, Lazaro GM 2651 "- Anton Guijarro, David GM 2656
Kuzubov, Yuriy GM 2688 "- Zhigalko, Sergei GM 2642
Piorun, Kacper GM 2644 "- Hou, Yifan GM 2670
Areshchenko, Alexander GM 2645 "- Demchenko, Anton GM 2650
Lenic, Luka GM 2646 "- Fressinet, Laurent GM 2657
Mareco, Sandro GM 2649 "- Bluebaum, Matthias GM 2633
Bachmann, Axel GM 2634 "- Dreev, Aleksey GM 2648

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

August 29, 2017

An excellent history of the World Cup by Colin McGourty in chess24.com:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/the...ek-predictions

A very brief history of the World Cup

These huge knockouts (100 players until 2000, with top players seeded into Round 2, then 128 afterwards) began their life, controversially, as official World Championships introduced by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in 1998. There was much criticism of the potential randomness of such short knockout matches, but the experiment continued until 2004, with the 1st and 2nd placed players as follows:

1998: 1. Anand, 2.Adams (but Karpov was seeded into a final match where he defeated Anand 5:3)
1999: 1. Khalifman, 2. Akopian
2000: 1. Anand, 2. Shirov
2002: 1. Ponomariov, 2. Ivanchuk
2004: 1. Kasimdzhanov, 2. Adams

In 2005, though, the same 128-player knockouts became biennial World Cups, only qualifying 2 or 3 players for the Candidates stage of the World Championship. Almost all the objections to the event had gone and we could simply enjoy the show. Since then we’ve seen the following finalists:

2005: 1. Aronian, 2. Ponomariov
2007: 1. Kamsky, 2. Shirov
2009: 1. Gelfand, 2. Ponomariov
2011: 1. Svidler, 2. Grischuk
2013. 1. Kramnik, 2. Andreikin
2015. 1. Karjakin, 2. Svidler

Some facts about the 128-player field

The 128 players in 2017 were picked by a complicated system of ratings, qualification events, nominees and more, but ensured that we ended up with almost all the top players and a lot of variety. For instance:

Missing 2700+ players: No. 17 Veselin Topalov, no. 24 Leinier Dominguez, no. 36 Dmitry Jakovenko, no. 35 Arkadij Naiditsch and no. 40 Zoltan Almasi. Everyone else plays!

Oldest player: 6-time Icelandic Champion Johann Hjartarson at 54. Other veterans include Egypt’s Essam El-Gindy (51), Alexey Dreev and Vassily Ivanchuk (48) and Vishy Anand (47)

Youngest player: Australia’s Anton Smirnov (16) is slightly younger than fellow 16-year-olds Sam Sevian and Jeffery Xiong

Most represented nation: Russia has 20 players, over 15% of the field, while the USA and China have 9 each

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

August 24, 2017

From the FIDE website:

FIDE World Cup starts soon in Tbilisi

The FIDE World Cup will be held from 2nd to 27th of September in Hualing Hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia. The final will take place in the Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi from 23rd till 27th of September.

128 player Knock Out tournament brings together the strongest players in the world, as well as qualifiers from every region of the globe and has an impressive prize fund of 1.6 million US dollars.

Participants include the World Champion and number one in rating list Magnus Carlsen, three former World Champions Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov, the winner of the previous World Cup in Baku, Sergey Karjakin. The participation of the 15 top players makes this event the strongest World Cup in history.

There will be also top two women players – the world number one and former Women`s World Champion Hou Yifan and also the number one Georgian woman player and current European woman champion Nana Dzagnidze.

The top two players will qualify for the next FIDE Candidates Tournament, which will take place in March 2018 and determine the challenger for the FIDE World Championship match in 2018.

The opening ceremony will take place at 4 pm and the technical meeting at 6 pm at the Funicular restaurant. The organizers are FIDE, the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia, the Check In Georgia Sports, the Georgian Chess Federation, Organising Committee of The 2018 World Chess Olympiad and Tbilisi City Hall The title Sponsor is SOCAR.

The time control for each two-game match is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. If the score is equal there are two rapid chess tiebreak games, played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds per move. If the score is still equal then two accelerated games will be played, with a time control of 10 min + 10 sec. If the score is still equal two more games will be played at 5 min + 3 sec. If the winner is still not determined then a final Armageddon game with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 sec increment after move 60, will be played. In this game Black has draw odds (i. e. he wins if the game is drawn). The games start at 3 pm local time on 3rd of September.

The official world cup website is:

http://tbilisi2017.fide.com

(3 pm Tbilisi time is 7 am Toronto/Montreal time)

[Hans Jung]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Its nice to know Magnus is such a chess fan.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

August 22, 2017

From Peter Doggers at chess.com:

https://www.chess.com/news/view/carl...-loophole-6023

Carlsen will be participating in the World Cup and has been criticized because it is now part of the world championship cycle, and therefore directly influences the road to the Candidates' tournament and the next match against himself. (You could also argue that by playing top tournaments Carlsen influences the ratings of the two players who qualify by rating, but that's another story.)

"I think the reason people [world champions - PD] haven't been playing before is that you don't actually have to play. For me, I just want to play. It's an interesting tournament. I think the format is great, mixing different skill sets of classical and faster chess. Besides, you've got all the best players in the world playing, and those are the ones I want to compete with, be it a world championship event or not."

Carlsen agreed that it's a slightly remarkable decision to play a tournament where he will be part of the selection process of his opponent in his next match.

"It is strange, for sure. For me it's not a factor in deciding whether to play or not but it is a bit odd that the rules allow me to play when it's a world championship qualifier; you cannot say it in any other way. But as long as the rules are there then I want to sort of exploit this loophole to get an interesting experience.

"To participate in one of the greatest events there are in the chess calendar... I've been following the events the last few times when I haven't been playing with awe. It's one of my favorite events to watch from early on. You've got all these tiebreaks twists and turns. The 2015 final was amazing. I just want to be part of it."

This year is going to be the strongest World Cup in history, with the world's top 15 playing. Carlsen's first opponent will be FM Oluwafemi Balogun (2255) of Nigeria.

The top GMs who are in "Carlsen's half" are e.g. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Anish Giri, Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin. Big names in the other half, who can only meet Carlsen in the final, are Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and Vishy Anand.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

August 7, 2017

The first round pairings for the World Cup are out at:

http://www.fide.com/images/stories/N..._2017_tree.pdf



and it appears that our players have these opponents:

14 Wei Yi-115 Sambuev, Bator

55 Akobian, Varuzhan-74 Kovalyov, Anton

Does anyone know how to make the bracket image larger?

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

July 25, 2017

FIDE may have to tweak chess World Cup rules

Archiman Bhaduri Jul 25, 2017

KOLKATA: The world's top 15 chess players, going by the July rating list, have all signed up for the World Cup, making it the strongest tournament this year.

Interestingly, both World championship winner Magnus Carlsen and runner-up Sergey Karjakin will feature in the 128-player knockout tournament, which will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from September 2-28.

But their participation has landed world chess body Fide in a unique situation.

The World Cup, held every two years, consists of seven rounds, with the contestants first playing a mini-match of two games with classical time-control. If these two games fail to produce a decisive result, a tie-breaker with rapid and, if necessary, blitz games, is played to decide the winner.

The top two finishers in the World Cup will qualify for the 2018 Candidates tournament, which will identify Carlsen's challenger for the 2018 World championship match.

With both Carlsen and Karjakin already eligible for the Candidates, Fide may need a relook into the World Cup rules to decide on the qualifiers from this tournament.

If either Karjakin or Carlsen reaches the final in Tbilisi, the third-placed finisher - to be decided by an extra match - will earn a spot in the Candidates. But the rules are not clear in case of both Karjakin and Carlsen advancing to the final, which is always a possibility.

The reigning World champion earns the right to defend his title in the next title match, but there is no rule barring him from playing in the Candidates. Carlsen has still not expressed his desire to play the Candidates, but there are instances of a reigning World champion joining the new cycle to determine the next champion.

"Alexander Khalifman, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov took part in such events, as did Vladimir Kramnik in 2007," Fide executive director Nigel Freeman told a chess website.

But in those cases, non-participation would result in losing the World title. The rule changed once the knockout format was introduced in World Cups in 2005.

The Norwegian world No. 1 is a big fan of the knockout format and is keen to play the World Cup.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spo

[Paul Leblanc]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

I consider that fair - paying for travel costs for the Canadian champion

[Neil Frarey]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Ahem..... plenty of computer engine tournaments with average rating that make even these top 15 HUMANS look pathetic.

Not for much longer:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...ng-film-on-dna

...a whole new set of rules will soon be needed :D