Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Daniil Dubov were eliminated from the Open, while Bibisara Assaubayeva was knocked out of the Women’s competition after a loss to Elisabeth Paehtz

The World Cup in Baku has seen another set of top favourites eliminated as the pressure is mounting. While some of the strongest players directly qualified for Round 4, many will have to fight in the tiebreaks.

Among the favourites in the Open, Carlsen and Nakamura are through to the next stage. In the Women’s tournament, Alexandra Goryachkina qualified, as did Ju Wenjun, who scored a victory after miraculously saving a lost endgame.

The Open Tournament highlights:

The first qualifier to round four was the 23-year-old Alexey Sarana (playing for Serbia), who defeated Kirill Shevchenko today in just 26 moves, with an overall score of 1,5:0,5.

The 17-year-old Uzbek prodigy Javokhir Sindarov eliminated one of the top players in the tournament, Maxime-Vachier Lagrave (MVL). After a draw in game one, MVL had slightly more initiative in the second game, playing as White. After making a few inaccuracies in the middlegame the Frenchmen went for an attack on the black king which was refuted by several precise moves by the young Uzbek GM.

Daniil Dubov is out. After a shocking loss in the first game, he could not make more than a draw with black pieces against Daniele Vocaturo in the second. In fact, throughout the second game, Dubov was notably weaker and made errors. At the moment when the draw was agreed, Vocaturo had a better position in a rook and queen endgame.

Magnus Carlsen is through to round four after a draw with Aryan Tari (1,5:0,5 for Carlsen). Hikaru Nakamura also qualified after defeating Hungarian Benjamin Gledura in the second game with White. Leinier Dominguez Perez advanced to Round 4 after a lucky escape with a draw in a lost endgame against Guseinov. Parham Maghsoodloo also qualified, eliminating Alexander Donchenko (1,5:0,5) after making a hard-fought draw in the second game.

After scoring victories in game one, Peter Svidler and Sleh Salem lost today, which means they will go to the tiebreaks.

The 2021 World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda drew as White with Ivan Cheparinov and will be going to his first tiebreak in Baku.

Several top favourites will also be playing in the tiebreaks after two draws: Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Teimour Radjabov, Wesley So (who finished today after just 17 moves!), and Anish Giri. Other super GMs going to the tiebreaks after two draws are Yu Yangyi, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Nikita Vitiugov, Wang Hao, Wei Yi, Vasyl Ivanchuk and Radoslaw Wojtaszek who managed to level the score playing with the black pieces after losing the first game against Ivan Schitco.

The Women’s Tournament highlights:

The biggest story in round three of the Women’s World Cup is the elimination of the reigning World Blitz Champion, Bibisara Assaubayeva, who lost to Germany’s Elisabeth Paehtz. In the transition towards the endgame, Bibisara chose the wrong time to offer an exchange of queens, and from that moment on, her position went south. The two drew their first game.

Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun had a tough game against nearly 200 points lower-rated Ulviyya Fataliyeva. After the English opening, Fataliyeva (playing as Black) completely outplayed Ju in the Nimzo-Indian-type pawn structure and reached an overwhelming position. However, she misplayed in time trouble and allowed White to equalise. The two finally reached an endgame where Ju had a rook and a knight against Black’s rook, with no pawns on the board. There was a path to a draw, but Black needed to play precisely, which she did not, walking into checkmate. A lucky escape and victory for Ju.

Of the top women’s favourites, Aleksandra Goryachkina is through after drawing her second game, while Mariya Muzychuk won again today and qualifies for round four with two victories. Her sister, Anna, is also through to round four as she defeated the former Women’s World Champion and compatriot Anna Ushenina with an effective attacking combination to finish the match 1,5:0,5.

Polina Shuvalova eliminated American Irina Krush, while Humpy Koneru was better than Olga Badelka, outplaying her in the Torre Attack. Dutch champion Eline Roebers is also through with a maximum score, beating Poland’s Klaudia Kulon in both games.

The 2021 Women’s World Cup winner, and former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, will head to the tiebreaks as today again she could not break the resistance of Teodora Injac of Serbia. Zhu Jiner and Harika Dronavalli also go to the tiebreaks.

The full list of the results from the second game of round three can be found here: https://worldcup2023.fide.com/tree.

The tiebreaks of round three will take place on Monday, 7th August, at 3 PM local time in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Here follows a look at some of the most interesting positions from the second game of round three:

In a sharp line of the Morphy Defence, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave emerged with a slight edge.

White has three pawns and a knight for a rook, an advanced protected pawn on a6 and more control over the centre. Still, Black has resources to counter. The best option for White was to go 22.Qa5, offer an exchange of queens, then try to relocate the c1-bishop to e3.

Vachier-Lagrave decided to start an attack on the black king which backfired.

22.Qf5? Bxd4 23.Ng5 h6 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Nf3 Qb6 26.Nxd4?

MVL overlooked – 26…Rxa6! forcing White either to lose material or get checkmated.

27.g3 Qb7! Now a threat of checkmate from h1!

28.Qh8+ Ke7 29.Qg7 Rxa1 Black collects the rook

30.Nf5+

30...Ke6! Demonstrating precision to the very end. If 30…Kd8 then 31.Qf6+ and Black has chances to save the game.

31.Nd4+ Kd5 32.Nf3 Rxc1 32.Kg2 Rc4 33.Qxh Re6 and here the Frenchman realised it’s time to call it a day. 0-1

Kirill Shevchenko was very close to equality with the black pieces against Alexey Sarana, but one mistake cost him dearly.

Black should hold with the precise 20...Kc6!, whereas after 20...Nc7?? 21.Rhb1! he has no way out. Kirill tried 21...Rc7 but after 22.Nb5 a3 23.Na7 White won an exchange and forced capitulation just three moves later.

In the heavyweight derby of round three, Elisabeth Paehtz defeated the two-time Women Blitz Champion, Bibisara Assaubayeva, winning the match 1.5:0.5.

In the English Opening, Bibisara did not choose the most optimal plan in the transition towards the endgame and ended significantly weaker.

The position is even. The best option for White was 23. h2-h3 opening a luft for her king and see which way Black will go.

Instead, Bibisara played 23.Qc2?, offering an exchange of queens which favours Black as White’s queenside advanced pawns become vulnerable.

23…Qxc2 24.Nxc2 Nd6 25.Nd4 g6 26.a4 Nc4 27.Kf1 Kf8 28.Nb3 Ke7 29.Ne2 Kd6

30.Nc3? The second huge error after which White is doomed. Playing 30.a5 offered somewhat more hope.

Now 30…Ne4 31.Nxe4 dxe4 32.Ke2 Kd5 and Black is winning – her king is the first to reach the Queenside, after which White’s pawns will fall.

Bibisara resisted, but Paehtz never gave her a chance to make a comeback. 0-1, 57 moves

After confessing that he did ‘zero preparation’ for yesterday’s game, Svidler was punished by Jorden Van Foreest today.

Svidler went down after he made an error in an even rook and queen endgame. Black had a passer on the b-file but White was in time to hold everything. However, in an important moment of the endgame, Svidler stumbled.

Here Black should have proceeded with h5 or h6. Instead, Peter played 35…Rf8? giving a winning tempo to White.

36.Rc1 Threatening Rc7. 36…Rf7 37.Rc7 Qd8 38.Qa7 and Black resigned as there is no way to stop the d7 pawn from promoting. 1-0

Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun was lost as White in her game against Ulviyya Fataliyeva. By move 62 they reached the following position:

Black is dominating – her pieces are more active and pressuring White who has no option but to defend.

The most precise way was 61...Re1+ 62.Kf2 Nd3+ 63.Kg2 Rc1 and White’s paws fall one after another.

Ulviyya opted for 61…Rc1 62.Rg8 Rxc3+ 63.Kf2 Bxa4 64.Rb8 Rc2 69.Ke3 Rb2 70.Rb7 Bd7 71.Bd1 a4 and preserved her advantage as Black begins advancing her a-pawn.

72.Ra7 Ra2 73.Nb1

73...b5?! And from this point on, Black starts making critical mistakes in time trouble.

Despite some imprecisions by Black that occurred, she is completely winning. But now, with just one move, she spoils it all.

77…c4+ Instead, 77…Nd1! was the best move although not immediately obvious.

78.Kd2 Kf1 79.Kc2 Bxa4 and now Ju again made a mistake 80.Nxa4 but Black returns the favour with 80…Rd3 and now it’s even as the Black king is cut off and facing checks.

However, as the game progressed, Ju’s experience and her opponent’s inexperience came to the fore. Black first lost her c3-pawn. Then, she gave up her knight for White’s two pawns, but Ju’s king was now much more active in encircling the black monarch.

Soon, Black lost both of her pawns and the two reached this position.

Unfortunately for Ulviyyav Fataliyeva, she did not manage to hold this drawn position and ended up facing checkmate or losing her rook just sixteen moves down the road:

A huge windfall for Ju.

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/

Regulations: 

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

Women's event: handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WWorldCup2023Regulations.pdf

Schedule: worldcup2023.fide.com/schedule