Amidst the expected victories of the favourites, the World Cup's opening showcased a hint of unpredictability, as a handful of upsets set the stage for potential surprises in the games ahead.

At 3 PM sharp local time in Baku (Azerbaijan), the first round of the World Cup began, where altogether 228 players in the Open and the Women's tournament are fighting for the top three places in each group leading to the Candidates tournament, the final qualifying stage to select the next challenger for the title of World Champion.

Not all of the players are taking part in the first round. As per regulation, the top 50 players in the Open and the top 25 in the Women's section will join the event from the second round.

Altogether, 114 games were played in round one – 76 in the Open tournament and 38 in the Women's. Three players did not manage to show up in Baku despite being registered – Eric Hansen and Christopher Yoo in the Open, and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya in the Women's tournament.

In line with chess tradition, the first round started with the ceremonial making of the first move on board one in each section. In the Open event, the first move was made by Farid Gayibov, Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan, while FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich made the first move in the Women's section.

Both the Open and the Women's tournament are taking place in the same hall, at the Baku Marriott Hotel Boulevard, situated right on the Caspian coastline.

The Open tournament

The first victory in the 2023 World Cup was scored by the youngest player in the tournament. The 14-year-old Turkish IM Ediz Gurel (rated 2500) defeated the more experienced Serbian Grandmaster VelimirIvic (2590), who made a terrible mistake on move 21, allowing a piece sacrifice which led to unavoidable checkmate.

Black has just captured the c5-pawn, completely overlooking 22. Bxh7+!  Kxh7 23. Qh5+ Kg8 24. Qh6 g6 25. Ne4 Be7 26. Rf3! - Black has no defence against Nf6+ - 26...Bf5 27. Rxf5 Ra6 28. Rf3 1-0

If he manages to pass Ivic, Gurel is going to face the super-strong Spanish GM Vallejo Pons.

On the top two boards in round one, Bulgaria's Ivan Cheparinov and France's Etienne Bacrot were somewhat struggling against their significantly lower-rated opponents.

In the Queen's Gambit Declined, 18-year-old Lybian Yousef A. Alhassadi, who played as Black, was posing problems to Cheparinov. Reaching a knight endgame with a pawn down but where Black could hold if he played precisely, Alhassadi blundered.

Here Black made a fatal error. Instead of 42…Kc5, he played 42.Kb5? and lost several moves down the road 1-0.

In the end, experience prevailed, and Cheparinov won, but Alhassadi – who is rated just 2030 – put on strong resistance to his 630+ higher-rated opponent.

On board two, French Number Three, Etienne Bacrot (rated 2662) was playing as Black against Myanmar's Nay Lin Tun (rated 2055). In the transition to the queen endgame, Bacrot won a pawn, but the position was even. Still, Bacrot was an hour ahead of his opponent. White completely misplayed in time trouble, allowing Bacrot to win, but it wasn't simple for the Frenchman.

Ivan Saric from Croatia was facing difficulties against nearly 500 points lower-rated International Master Dante Beukes from Namibia. After a tense struggle in the middlegame, Beukes offered a move repetition, but Saric refused, entering an inferior position. At one point, after Saric sacrificed an exchange, Beukes was winning, but he misplayed, and the game ended in a draw.

When it comes to other top players who took part in this round - Salem, Guseinov, Sindarov, Predke, and Tari (pictured below) – all scored victories.

Apart from Velimir Ivic, another negative surprise among the 2600-rated players was Denis Kadric of Montenegro, who lost to significantly lower-rated Chilean Grandmaster Pablo Salinas Herrera, who won a piece in the middlegame.

There were a few more upsets in the Open section. Mongolia's Ganzorig Amartuvshin (rated 2407) defeated the top Spanish Grandmaster Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (rated 2612) with Black pieces, while Iran's Pouria Darini (rated 2412) prevailed over Hungary's Ferenc Berkes (rated 2615).

The Women's tournament

In the Women's tournament, there were no big surprises. The Dutch Women's Champion, Eline Roebers, defeated Yamama Asif Abdula Al-Fayyadh of Iraq after the latter played 20 moves with a piece down.

White is winning as her kingside attack is way too dangerous. Here Black opted to give up a piece with 19...Nxf5 and managed to hold on for the next 20 moves but eventually lost.

All other frontrunners in the women's section won their games.

As was the case in the Open section, some of the lower-rated players posed considerable challenges to the favourites.

Serbia's top-rated woman player Teodora Injac (rated 2415) was clinched in an even endgame against Kyrgyzstan's 1823 rate player, Nurai Sovetbekova. The Kyrgyz player made an imprecision in the endgame and was slightly weaker, but then she blundered, allowing Injac an effective finish.

Black just played 41…Kh6-g5? (41...Nxf2 was the only chance) allowing White a nice winning combination.

42.Nxe4! Kg4 (42...fxe4 43.Qd8+Kf5 44.Qc8+ winning the queen) 43.f3+!! and Black resigned in view of 43...Kxf3 44.Ng5+ 1-0.

Munkhzul Turmunkh from Mongolia (rated 2226) stunned Ukraine's Woman Grandmaster Natalia Buksa, defeating her with a spectacular mating combination.

36.Nh6! (36...gxh6 37.Qxg8!+) Ng3+ 37.Qxg3 Qxg3 38.Nf7#

While there have not been any major surprises in the first part of the first round, the strong resistance and some upsets set by the lesser-known players announce a lot of tension ahead of game two.

The event continues on Monday, 31st of July, at 3 PM, with game two of the first round.

Text: Milan Dinic

Photo: Stev Bonhage, Anna Shtourman and Maria Emelianova (chess.com)

About the event

The FIDE World Cup 2023 is taking place from 29 July to 25 August 2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In the Open tournament, 206 players were eligible to take part and 103 in the Women's event.

There will be eight rounds in the Open and seven in the Women's tournament. Each round will be played under a knock-out system, consisting of a 2-game match. In the case of a tie, the players will play a rapid and, if necessary, a blitz tiebreak until the winner is determined.

The winners of the top-three places in both sections will qualify for the 2024 Candidates tournament.

In both events, the time control for each game 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 1.

The prize fund for the entire event is 2,5 million US Dollars, with $1,834,000 in the Open and $676,250 in the Women's tournament. The 2023 FIDE World Cup has the largest prize fund for any chess tournament ever played.

More information about the event: worldcup2023.fide.com/

Regulation, Open tournament: handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WorldCup2023Regulations.pdf

Regulation, Women's tournament: handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WWorldCup2023Regulations.pdf

Schedule: worldcup2023.fide.com/schedule