FIDE World Cup R3.2: Caruana Knocked Out
Day two of the FIDE World Cup's third round saw a huge upset as the second seed, GM Fabiano Caruana, was knocked out by Kazakhstani GM Rinat Jumabayev.
The tournament also said goodbye to rating favorites GM Jorge Cori, GM Jorden van Foreest, GM David Navara, GM Yu Yangyi, and GM Elina Danielian. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and GM Nana Dzagnidze survived their first-day scare as they won on demand to force tiebreaks. In a fantastically wild game, GM Michal Krasenkow managed to do the same vs. GM Praggnanandhaa R.
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It was a huge shock for this year's FIDE World Cup to see the second seed leave so early. Caruana had been content with his draw in the first game, knowing he would have a white game next. Nobody expected him to lose that one.
In an Exchange Queen's Gambit, Caruana started moving his pieces and pawns toward Jumabayev's king. The Kazakhstani, who called it "a very fighting game from move one," was in time trouble at one point. This might have given Caruana extra confidence to sacrifice an exchange.
"Luckily, I found a very interesting defensive resource in the position," said Jumabayev, who soon made a big mistake, though. He had to give his queen for a bishop and a rook, after which the material balance as well as the position were roughly equal. However, one move after the time control, Caruana was the last one to err, missing a nasty pawn move that threatened mate in two.
"I suppose that if I would do my best, I will have a chance to beat Fabiano. Indeed, he is one of the best players in the world, but I tried to fight in every single game," said Jumabayev.
For the first time since April 2018, Caruana is not the world number-two player anymore. In the live ratings, he has dropped below GM Ding Liren, who isn't playing in Sochi. Note that Caruana’s rating will be rounded up to 2799 in the next rating list, and as the more active player he will still be taking the number-two position.
Caruana's drop below 2800 makes World Champion Magnus Carlsen the only player with a 2800+ rating now. The last time that was the case was almost seven years ago.
Carlsen himself saw his lead in the rankings increase to 55.6 Elo points as he also won his second game vs. GM Aryan Tari. He is now the only player in both the open and women's sections on 4/4.
After the game, Carlsen joined the Chess.com live broadcast where he pointed out that he was also the only player to win his first four games in the last World Cup he played, but that he was knocked out in the next round! "I hope it's not gonna happen again!"
Carlsen also said that in other circumstances he might have offered a draw to Tari at some point in the game, but that he's playing in Sochi as part of his preparation for the world championship: "I really needed the practice."
No fewer than six players who started with a loss on the first day managed to come back. One was 57-year-old Krasenkow, who beat Praggnanandhaa in a fantastically wild game.
Bojkov: "More than 20 years back, Krasenkow crossed the 2700 mark in the time when this was a sign of a super-GM. This game was a nice reminder of those glorious times!"
GM Jeffery Xiong was fresh enough to beat GM Nils Grandelius after their long game on Sunday, and Mamedyarov made up for his bad black game as he ground down GM Haik Martirosyan in an endgame as White.
GM Baskaran Adhiban was another player who leveled the score in his match, in his case against his compatriot GM Vidit Gujrathi. As if he was playing No Castling chess, Adhiban had his king on d1 by move 11 but got it into safety soon while maintaining compensation for a sacrificed pawn. What followed was a textbook example of an opposite-colored bishop middlegame, combined with the mysterious rook move 32.Rh1, mostly intended to avoid the rook trade.
In the open section, 13 matches are going to tiebreaks, while six matchups for round four are known: Dubov-Esipenko, Piorun-Sindarov, Grischuk-Korobov, Kovalev-Fedoseev, Ivic-Andreikin, and Harikrishna-Tabatabaei. Carlsen will be playing against the winner of Matlakov-Wojtaszek.
Results round 3
| Fed | Player | Rtg | - | Fed | Player | Rtg | G1 | G2 | TB |
| GM Carlsen, Magnus | 2847 | - | GM Tari, Aryan | 2639 | 1-0 | 1-0 | |||
| GM Caruana, Fabiano | 2806 | - | GM Jumabayev, Rinat | 2637 | ½-½ | 0-1 | |||
| GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2782 | - | GM Haik Martirosyan | 2632 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Grischuk, Alexander | 2778 | - | GM Pichot, Alan | 2630 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Giri, Anish | 2776 | - | GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2634 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Karjakin, Sergey | 2757 | - | GM Oparin, Grigoriy | 2654 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2749 | - | GM Paravyan, David | 2625 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2738 | - | GM Sevian, Samuel | 2647 | ½-½ | 1-0 | |||
| GM Harikrishna, Pentala | 2730 | - | GM Lupulescu, Constantin | 2659 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2726 | - | GM Adhiban, B. | 2660 | 1-0 | 0-1 | . | ||
| GM Andreikin, Dmitry | 2724 | - | GM Nihal, Sarin | 2620 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Vitiugov, Nikita | 2724 | - | GM Shirov, Alexei | 2662 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Esipenko, Andrey | 2716 | - | GM Abasov, Nijat | 2656 | ½-½ | 1-0 | |||
| GM Svidler, Peter | 2714 | - | GM Cheparinov, Ivan | 2667 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Dubov, Daniil | 2714 | - | GM Malakhov, Vladimir | 2666 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Xiong, Jeffery | 2709 | - | GM Grandelius, Nils | 2661 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Shankland, Sam | 2709 | - | GM Areshchenko, Alexander | 2687 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 2706 | - | GM Idani, Pouya | 2614 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Yu, Yangyi | 2705 | - | GM Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2613 | 0-1 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Artemiev, Vladislav | 2704 | - | GM Gelfand, Boris | 2675 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Amin, Bassem | 2703 | - | GM Bacrot, Etienne | 2678 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2696 | - | GM Gareyev, Timur | 2596 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 2691 | - | GM Matlakov, Maxim | 2688 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Van Foreest, Jorden | 2688 | - | GM Piorun, Kacper | 2608 | 0-1 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Korobov, Anton | 2683 | - | GM Georgiev, Kiril | 2594 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Salem, Saleh | 2682 | - | GM Brkic, Ante | 2592 | 0-1 | 0-1 | |||
| GM Navara, David | 2675 | - | GM Durarbayli, Vasif | 2625 | ½-½ | 0-1 | |||
| GM Bluebaum, Matthias | 2669 | - | GM Ivic, Velimir | 2582 | 0-1 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Cori, Jorge | 2652 | - | GM Sindarov, Javokhir | 2558 | ½-½ | 0-1 | |||
| GM Kovalev, Vladislav | 2637 | - | GM Cheng, Bobby | 2552 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Ponkratov, Pavel | 2629 | - | GM Vakhidov, Jakhongir | 2534 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Praggnanandhaa, R | 2608 | - | GM Krasenkow, Michal | 2591 | 1-0 | 0-1 | . |
The first day had seen just one upset in the women's section as IM Carissa Yip beat Dzagnidze. The Georgian grandmaster tried an interesting idea for a must-win situation: 5...h6 in the Open Sicilian. It's not a great move, but it served its purpose well as it provoked Yip to play sharply. The American IM's king was very unsafe in the remainder, but she did get one more opportunity to get an equal position with a stunning knight move:
Four matches in the women's section are going to tiebreaks, while four matchups for round four are known: Goryachkina-Stefanova, Kashlinskaya-Saduakassova, Batsiashvili-Gunina, and Tan-Khademalsharieh.
Results round 3
| Fed | Player | Rating | Fed | Player | Rating | G1 | G2 | TB | |
| GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2596 | - | IM Badelka, Olga | 2418 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Lagno, Kateryna | 2559 | - | IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag | 2428 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Muzychuk, Mariya | 2550 | - | GM Ushenina, Anna | 2429 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Muzychuk, Anna | 2527 | - | IM Guichard, Pauline | 2413 | 1-0 | ½-½ | . | ||
| GM Dzagnidze, Nana | 2523 | - | IM Yip, Carissa | 2430 | 0-1 | 1-0 | . | ||
| GM Harika, Dronavalli | 2515 | - | GM Gunina, Valentina | 2437 | 0-1 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Tan, Zhongyi | 2511 | - | GM Sebag, Marie | 2483 | 1-0 | 1-0 | |||
| IM Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2494 | - | IM Mammadzada, Gunay | 2460 | ½-½ | 1-0 | |||
| IM Shuvalova, Polina | 2489 | - | WGM Garifullina, Leya | 2390 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| IM Kashlinskaya, Alina | 2488 | - | IM Galliamova, Alisa | 2442 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Batsiashvili, Nino | 2487 | - | WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta | 2403 | 1-0 | 1-0 | |||
| IM Saduakassova, Dinara | 2483 | - | GM Danielian, Elina | 2407 | ½-½ | 1-0 | |||
| GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2472 | - | GM Cramling, Pia | 2459 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| GM Khotenashvili, Bela | 2471 | - | IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2389 | ½-½ | ½-½ | . | ||
| WGM Pogonina, Natalija | 2469 | - | GM Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2463 | ½-½ | 0-1 | |||
| IM Paehtz, Elisabeth | 2466 | - | IM Mammadova, Gulnar | 2385 | ½-½ | 1-0 |
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.
Previous reports:
- FIDE World Cup R3: Dzagnidze, Mamedyarov, Yu In Trouble
- FIDE World Cup: Dominguez, Firouzja Out On Wild Armageddon Day
- FIDE World Cup: Nihal, Praggnanandhaa Among Qualifiers For Round 3
- Covid-19 Hits FIDE World Cup; Aronian Withdraws
- 14-Year-Old Murzin Reaches Round 2 FIDE World Cup
- FIDE World Cup: 28 Matches Go To Tiebreaks
- FIDE World Cup Begins With Chilean Brilliance
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