FIDE World Cup Open Sochi 2021

[Hans Jung]

Magnus was especially awesome. F5 even though Ne3 for Black is coming! and then sacrificing both rooks! Just awesome. Magnus is putting on a showcase performance.

[Wayne Komer]

FIDE World Cup Open Sochi 2021

August 5, 2021

Final

Game 2

Game 2, August 5
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof – Karjakin, Sergey
D41 QGD, Semi-Tarrasch

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 O-O 9.Rd1 Nc6 10.Qa4 Be6 11.Bb5 Qb6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.Rxd5 Bxb2 15.Ke2 Bf6 16.Rhd1 Rac8 17.Bc4 Qb4 18.Qb3 Qxb3 19.Bxb3 Nb8 20.g4 h6 21.h4 g6 22.g5 hxg5 23.hxg5 Be7 24.Re5 Nc6 25.Rd7 Bd8 26.Rb5 Na5 27.Bd5 Rc7 28.Bxf7+ Kg7 29.Rxc7 Bxc7 30.Bd5 1-0

Vidit - Congratulations to @GM_JKDuda for winning the World cup! Great show! Not feeling so bad for my loss in QF now

With the Olympics, it's been hard for @GM_JKDuda's chess achievements to get top spot in the Polish media, but winning the #FIDEWorldCup has done it! The story reads: "The greatest achievement in the history of Polish chess! Duda has won the World Cup"

Magnus Carlsen: "The right person definitely won the tournament!

Third Place Match

Game 2, August 5
Carlsen, Magnus – Fedoseev, Vladimir
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.Ne2 Qd8 8.a3 Ba5 9.Ng3 Ne7 10.Bc4 Bg6 11.h4 h6 12.h5 Bh7 13.Qg4 Kf8 14.O-O Nd7 15.Nce4 Bc7 16.Ba2 Nf5 17.Nxf5 Bxf5 18.Qf3 Qe7 19.Ng3 Bh7 20.Qg4 c5 21.Bd2 Rd8 22.f4 Nb6 23.Bc3 Nd5 24.f5 Ne3 25.Qf3 Nxf5 26.Nxf5 Bxf5 27.d5 Bb6 28.Bc4 Kg8 29.d6 Qh4 30.b3 Rd7 31.Qe2 Qg4 32.Rxf5 Qxf5 33.Rf1 Qg5 34.Bd2 Qd8 35.Qg4 a6 36.Rxf7 Kxf7 37.Qxe6+ Kf8 38.Qf5+ Ke8 39.Qg6+ Kf8 40.Qf5+ Ke8 41.Qg6+ Kf8 42.e6 Qf6 43.exd7 Qxg6 44.hxg6 Bd8 45.Be6 h5 46.Kf2 h4 47.Bg4 b5 48.Kf3 b4 49.axb4 cxb4 1-0

Peter Doggers at chess.com:

https://www.chess.com/news/view/jan-...fide-world-cup

GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the 2021 FIDE World Cup on Thursday, beating GM Sergey Karjakin convincingly in his white game, thereby avoiding a tiebreak. The 23-year-old Polish grandmaster finished the tournament undefeated and takes home $88,000.

Karjakin won $64,000 for coming second and, like Duda, he qualified for the 2022 FIDE Candidates Tournament.

GM Magnus Carlsen also won his second game against GM Vladimir Fedoseev to score 2-0 and come in third in the tournament, earning $48,000. Fedoseev won $40,000 for fourth place.

[Hans Jung]

The compliment from Magnus says it all. Huge congratulations for GM Duda - best Polish performance in history and undefeated - and beating the world champion!

[Frank Dixon]

A few comments on the 2021 World Cup:
1) First, thanks to Wayne Comer for super-human dedication on providing so many games from the event!! Wayne is spending hours per day to give chesstalk site viewers all this info!!
2) I don't recall a previous occasion when the reigning World Champion (in this case GM Magnus Carlsen) played in the World Cup. Can anyone offer further insight? Perhaps it was because so many major events had been cancelled due to the pandemic, that Magnus simply wanted to get some practice, prior to defending his title against GM Nepo this fall!
3) The World Cup format is super-demanding; it is really a marathon with never-ending pressure, as long as a player is still alive in it!
4) GM Duda is likely Poland's first world-class GM since GM Savielly Tartakower (1887-1956). GM Tartakower, who was a lawyer, also served with distinction as an intelligence agent in both world wars, risking his life repeatedly. He had one of the more interesting off-board lives of any chess player!
5) And I promise this will be my last really bad pun for months to come! The champion, GM Duda, already has a celebration song: the well-known, popular minstrel song 'Camptown Races', by American wizard songwriter Stephen Foster (1850).
Here are a few bars:
"Camptown ladies sing this song
Doo Dah, Doo Dah
Camptown racetrack's five miles long
Oh, Doo Dah Day!"

[Tony Boron]

A few comments on the 2021 World Cup:
..
2) I don't recall a previous occasion when the reigning World Champion (in this case GM Magnus Carlsen) played in the World Cup. Can anyone offer further insight? Perhaps it was because so many major events had been cancelled due to the pandemic, that Magnus simply wanted to get some practice, prior to defending his title against GM Nepo this fall!
...

IIRC Bu knocked Carlsen out of the 2017 World Cup.

[Hans Jung]

Wojtaszek deserves to be included but your post is full of enthusiasm and good points Frank. The pun is bad but as I was watching Duda's games I caught myself humming that same song. Its funny sometimes how are minds work.

[Wayne Komer]

FIDE World Cup Open Sochi 2021

August 6, 2021

The winners of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prizes for the #FIDEWorldCup were announced today at the closing ceremony of the event: World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Aleksandra Goryachkina for the Open and Women's World Cup, respectively.

Magnus was rewarded for his creative win against Vladimir Fedoseev in the first game of their 3rd place match, with an exchange sacrifice culminating in complete domination.

Aleksandra was rewarded for her straightforward attacking play against Antoaneta Stefanova in Game 2 of Round 4.

Third Place Match
Game 1, August 4
Fedoseev, Vladimir – Carlsen, Magnus
E60 King’s Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Nc6 6.d5 Ne5 7.Be2 h5 8.Bf4 O-O 9.Nf3 Nxf3+ 10.gxf3 c6 11.Qd2 cxd5 12.cxd5 Kh7 13.a4 Nd7 14.a5 f5 15.Ra3 Ne5 16.Be3 f4 17.Bxf4 Bd7 18.Nd1 Rxf4 19.Qxf4 Bh6 20.Qg3 Qf8 21.Ne3 Bf4 22.Qg2 Rc8 23.Rc3 Rxc3 24.bxc3 Qc8 25.c4 b5 26.axb6 axb6 27.Qg1 Qa8 28.Kf1 Qa2 29.Ng2 Qa1+ 30.Ne1 Qb2 31.Ng2 Qc1+ 32.Ne1 Qd2 33.Qg2 Kg7 34.Rg1 Kf8 35.Qh1 e6 36.Rg3 exd5 37.exd5 Bf5 38.Rg1 Kf7 39.Rg3 Nd7 40.Rg5 Bxg5 41.hxg5 Ne5 0-1

Round Four
Game 2, July 23
Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Stefanova, Antoaneta
D45 QGD, Semi-Slav, Accelerated Meran

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 e6 6.b3 Bb4 7.Bd2 Nbd7 8.Bd3 O-O 9.O-O Bd6 10.Re1 Re8 11.Qc2 h6 12.h3 b6 13.Rad1 Qc7 14.e4 dxc4 15.bxc4 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 Bxe5 18.Ne2 Bd6 19.Be3 Nd7 20.f4 Bc5 21.Bxc5 Nxc5 22.e5 b5 23.Ng3 Nxd3 24.Rxd3 bxc4 25.Rde3 Qb6 26.Kh2 c5 27.Nh5 Kh8 28.Rg3 Rg8 29.f5 Rb8 30.e6 f6 31.Qc1 Qc7 32.Nxf6 Qxg3+ 33.Kxg3 gxf6+ 34.Kh2 Kh7 35.Qc3 Bb7 36.Re2 Rg5 37.Qxf6 Rbg8 38.g4 h5 39.e7 hxg4 40.Qxg5 1-0

[Don Parakin]

The winners of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prizes ...

In these modern times, I thought Brilliancy Prizes were replaced by Cheating Investigations. :)