Carissa Yip shocked Nana Dzagnidze on Sunday. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

FIDE World Cup R3.1: Dzagnidze, Mamedyarov, Yu In Trouble

PeterDoggers

Updated: Jan 5, 2022, 5:38 AM | 34 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov needs to win on-demand in the third round's second game at the FIDE World Cup. The recent winner of the Superbet Chess Classic stumbled on Sunday vs. GM Haik Martirosyan. Other rating favorites who started with a loss include GM Nana Dzagnidze, who lost to IM Carissa Yip, and GM Yu Yangyi, who lost to GM Amin Tabatabaei.

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With 64 players left in the open and 32 in the women's section, the World Cup playing hall saw a huge change on Sunday. Almost all of the top players had survived so far, but some of them stumbled early in round three.

The biggest surprise of the round was Mamedyarov's quick loss to Martirosyan, who had turned 21 just four days earlier.

It was not just the result that surprised, but also the way Mamedyarov lost. From a rather comfortable position as Black out of the opening, he attacked f2 himself, which White could easily parry, and then apparently underestimated the pressure on his own weakness on f7:

A surprisingly easy win for Haik Martirosyan. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Three more 2700-grandmasters went down on the first day of round three. For starters, there was the Chinese player Yu, who was overrun by a powerful attack from Tabatabaei. He and GM Pouya Idani are the only Iranian-born players left, now that GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Parham Maghsoodloo are out.

Amin Tabatabaei. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE.

Wijk aan Zee winner GM Jorden van Foreest is in danger of elimination as well after losing to five-time world champion in chess problem-solving GM Kacper Piorun. In an equal position, Van Foreest went wrong with the last move before the time control:

Jorden van Foreest, one of the players who needs a win. Photo: Anastasiya Korolkova/FIDE.

GM Jeffery Xiong was involved in one of the longest games of the tournament so far and ended up losing after 120 moves to GM Nils Grandelius.

The players ended up in one of the most difficult endgames that exist. It is enough to get completely bewildered when the tablebase points out that Black draws with a king on a2 but not on c4, which Xiong played. (This actually does follow a well-known rule that the king often is better being far away so that defensive checks don't lead to the trade of queens.)

GM Magnus Carlsen won his third game in the tournament. He beat his compatriot GM Aryan Tari, who played an excellent game but blundered shortly before the time control:

Carlsen vs. Tari. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

In another matchup between two compatriots, GM Vidit Gujrathi beat GM Baskaran Adhiban, who had prepared deeply but then simply blundered a pawn on move 19. Vidit wasn't sure about his technique in the remainder, saying: "I just tried to keep the game really simple."

After the unfortunate events in the previous round, GM Fabiano Caruana was happy to be back in the playing hall. He doesn't seem to have contracted the virus. "I was tested twice after the second match. I always felt fine. I never had any symptoms or anything," he said.

The American top grandmaster drew with the Kazakh GM Rinat Jumabayev but considered it a good result as he had the black pieces.

GM Daniil Dubov won one of the best games of the day against his compatriot GM Vladimir Malakhov. Our annotator GM Dejan Bojkov watched Dubov's press conference with GM Sergey Shipov and included their conclusions:

Dubov with Shipov at the press conference. Photo: Anastasiya Korolkova/FIDE.

The 15-year-old GM Praggnanandhaa R. defeated his 42-year-older opponent GM Michal Krasenkow and showed wonderful mature chess as he ground down his opponent in the endgame:

Nice win by @rpragchess. Got a great position out of opening, a mistake, equality, then won after a hard fought endgame. Maturing gradually. #FIDEWorldCup2021
— Ramesh RB (@Rameshchess) July 18, 2021

Praggnanandhaa vs. Krasenkow. Photo: Anastasiya Korolkova/FIDE.

Results round 3

Fed	Player	Rtg	-	Fed	Player	Rtg	G1	G2	TB
	GM Carlsen, Magnus	2847	-		GM Tari, Aryan	2639	1-0	.	.
	GM Caruana, Fabiano	2806	-		GM Jumabayev, Rinat	2637	½-½	.	.
	GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2782	-		GM Haik Martirosyan	2632	0-1	.	.
	GM Grischuk, Alexander	2778	-		GM Pichot, Alan	2630	1-0	.	.
	GM Giri, Anish	2776	-		GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2634	½-½	.	.
	GM Karjakin, Sergey	2757	-		GM Oparin, Grigoriy	2654	1-0	.	.
	GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2749	-		GM Paravyan, David	2625	½-½	.	.
	GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	2738	-		GM Sevian, Samuel	2647	½-½	.	.
	GM Harikrishna, Pentala	2730	-		GM Lupulescu, Constantin	2659	1-0	.	.
	GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2726	-		GM Adhiban, B.	2660	1-0	.	.
	GM Andreikin, Dmitry	2724	-		GM Nihal, Sarin	2620	1-0	.	.
	GM Vitiugov, Nikita	2724	-		GM Shirov, Alexei	2662	1-0	.	.
	GM Esipenko, Andrey	2716	-		GM Abasov, Nijat	2656	½-½	.	.
	GM Svidler, Peter	2714	-		GM Cheparinov, Ivan	2667	½-½	.	.
	GM Dubov, Daniil	2714	-		GM Malakhov, Vladimir	2666	1-0	.	.
	GM Xiong, Jeffery	2709	-		GM Grandelius, Nils	2661	0-1	.	.
	GM Shankland, Sam	2709	-		GM Areshchenko, Alexander	2687	½-½	.	.
	GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny	2706	-		GM Idani, Pouya	2614	½-½	.	.
	GM Yu, Yangyi	2705	-		GM Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2613	0-1	.	.
	GM Artemiev, Vladislav	2704	-		GM Gelfand, Boris	2675	½-½	.	.
	GM Amin, Bassem	2703	-		GM Bacrot, Etienne	2678	½-½	.	.
	GM Fedoseev, Vladimir	2696	-		GM Gareyev, Timur	2596	1-0	.	.
	GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	2691	-		GM Matlakov, Maxim	2688	½-½	.	.
	GM Van Foreest, Jorden	2688	-		GM Piorun, Kacper	2608	0-1	.	.
	GM Korobov, Anton	2683	-		GM Georgiev, Kiril	2594	1-0	.	.
	GM Salem, Saleh	2682	-		GM Brkic, Ante	2592	0-1	.	.
	GM Navara, David	2675	-		GM Durarbayli, Vasif	2625	½-½	.	.
	GM Bluebaum, Matthias	2669	-		GM Ivic, Velimir	2582	0-1	.	.
	GM Cori, Jorge	2652	-		GM Sindarov, Javokhir	2558	½-½	.	.
	GM Kovalev, Vladislav	2637	-		GM Cheng, Bobby	2552	1-0	.	.
	GM Ponkratov, Pavel	2629	-		GM Vakhidov, Jakhongir	2534	0-1	.	.
	GM Praggnanandhaa, R	2608	-		GM Krasenkow, Michal	2591	1-0	.	.

The only American player left in the women's section has a good chance to reach the round of 16. Yip was the only player to score an upset, beating the strong Georgian grandmaster Dzagnidze with the black pieces in a rather topsy-turvy game:

Carissa Yip. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE.

GM Valentina Gunina and GM Harika Dronavalli played each other after both had enjoyed two rest days. This was because their Indonesian opponents in the previous round voluntarily withdrew from the tournament when other members of the Indonesian delegation had tested positive for corona.

Gunina leads the match as she played a winning kingside attack:

Gunina vs. Harika. Photo: Anastasiya Korolkova/FIDE.

Results round 3

Fed	Player	Rating		Fed	Player	Rating	G1	G2	TB
	GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2596	-		IM Badelka, Olga	2418	1-0	.	.
	GM Lagno, Kateryna	2559	-		IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	2428	1-0	.	.
	GM Muzychuk, Mariya	2550	-		GM Ushenina, Anna	2429	½-½	.	.
	GM Muzychuk, Anna	2527	-		IM Guichard, Pauline	2413	1-0	.	.
	GM Dzagnidze, Nana	2523	-		IM Yip, Carissa	2430	0-1	.	.
	GM Harika, Dronavalli	2515	-		GM Gunina, Valentina	2437	0-1	.	.
	GM Tan, Zhongyi	2511	-		GM Sebag, Marie	2483	1-0	.	.
	IM Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat	2494	-		IM Mammadzada, Gunay	2460	½-½	.	.
	IM Shuvalova, Polina	2489	-		WGM Garifullina, Leya	2390	½-½	.	.
	IM Kashlinskaya, Alina	2488	-		IM Galliamova, Alisa	2442	1-0	.	.
	GM Batsiashvili, Nino	2487	-		WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta	2403	1-0	.	.
	IM Saduakassova, Dinara	2483	-		GM Danielian, Elina	2407	½-½	.	.
	GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2472	-		GM Cramling, Pia	2459	1-0	.	.
	GM Khotenashvili, Bela	2471	-		IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2389	½-½	.	.
	WGM Pogonina, Natalija	2469	-		GM Stefanova, Antoaneta	2463	½-½	.	.
	IM Paehtz, Elisabeth	2466	-		IM Mammadova, Gulnar	2385	½-½	.	.

The FIDE World Cup takes place in the Galaxy Leisure Complex in Sochi, Russia, until August 6, 2021. Each round consists of two classical games and, if necessary, a rapid/blitz tiebreak on the third day. Starting from round two, the Open section has 128 players and the women's section, 64.

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Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

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