2023 FIDE World Cup and Women's World Cup: What to Watch this Weekend

Image

Image Caption

Baku, Azerbaijan (Creative Commons)

309 of the world’s top players are currently making their way to Baku, Azerbaijan for the FIDE World Cup 2023 and FIDE Women’s World Cup 2023.

Some of the details were spelled out in an earlier article, but, with the first round set to begin on Sunday, July 30, it’s time to break down the format and dig into the first-round pairings and exciting potential later-round match-ups.

One note: GM Fidel Corrales Jiminez is not competing, despite having qualified earlier this year, bringing the total of American competitors down to 14.

The Format

Both tournaments are unique in their single-elimination, knock-out format.

Each round consists of a pair of games played at a classical time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with an additional 30 minutes on move 40, and a 30-second increment per move beginning on move one.

One classical game is played per day for each of the first two days of the round. Then, day three features rapid tiebreaks for players who were tied after the two classical games. Full regulations for the tiebreak format can be found in Section 4.7 of the regulations. Roughly speaking, the players start out with a pair of 20-minute games featuring a ten-second increment and “work their way down” to a pair of 3-minute blitz games with two-second increments (repeated indefinitely) if all other previous pairs of games result in a tie. (Editor's note: a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that players would eventually reach Armageddon, but this is incorrect. There is no "draw odds" blitz game in the rules.)

Image

The two losers of the semifinals matches will play in a match for third place that takes on added significance this year (more on that below). This is the only “consolation” match of the tournament.

Also note that, since there are double the players in the World Cup than the Women’s World Cup, the World Cup lasts an additional round. The two events will start at the same time, with the Women’s World Cup finals and third-place match beginning on August 20, concurrently with the World Cup semifinals. The World Cup finals and third-place match will begin on August 23.

Another interesting nuance is that the only scheduled rest days are after rounds three and six. So, players who do not win their matches in classical will go straight from tiebreak rounds to the next classical round. And they might be paired against players who just had a day off!

The Stakes

Ask any player what their goal is for this tournament and they will say they want to win. Second place is first loser and all of that.

But! The first- second- and third-place finishers in both events earn automatic qualification spots for the 2024 FIDE Candidates/Women’s Candidates tournaments. So, making the semifinals (and winning the consolation match) will both be goals on many players’ minds.

Image

Image Caption

Return of the Chess Queen? 2021 Women's World Cup champion and former Women's World Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (courtesy Anastasiia Korolkova/FIDE)

There is also a possibility that players who have already qualified for the 2024 Candidates (such as Nepomniachtchi) or who will not need to play in the Women’s Candidates (such as reigning champion Ju), which could make merely making the semifinals and finishing fourth sufficient to qualify.

Of course, prizes also increase after each round. Those who lose in round one of the World Cup earn $3,000 USD, with that amount going up to $6,000 if they make it to round two and $10,000 for round three, with those numbers continuing to go up to $50,000 for fourth prize and $110,000 for first. In the Women’s World Cup, those prizes begin with $3,750 for those who lose in the first round and go up to $50,000 for the winner.

The Big Guns

Astute readers may have noticed that neither the number 206 nor the number 103 — which are the number of players in the World Cup and Women’s World Cup, respectively — are divisible by two. Because of this, the top 50 players in the World Cup (and top 25 in the Women’s World Cup) are seeded directly into round two. This works out to round two beginning with 128 players in the World Cup and 64 in the Women’s World Cup.

Of the 11 Americans competing in the World Cup, over half of them received a first-round bye. This includes the second- and third-seeded players GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Fabiano Caruana. Also receiving byes are GM Wesley So (seeded sixth), GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (11th), GM Sam Shankland (22nd), and GM Ray Robson (35th).

Image

Image Caption

Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana shake hands after round 8 of the 2022 FIDE Candidates Tournament. Photo: Stev Bonhage/FIDE.

Other noticeable players receiving byes include top-seeded GM Magnus Carlsen, world runner-up GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (seeded fourth), beloved Dutch GM Anish Giri (fifth), and wild cards GM Peter Svidler (37th) and GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (49th).

In the Women’s World Cup, only GM Irina Krush (seeded 21st) received a first-round bye.

Image

Image Caption

Don't get too comfortable, grandmaster! (courtesy SLCC)

Fans of these players will have to wait until Wednesday, August 2, to see them in action. Check out the pairing trees to see who they’re slated to play.

Joining Us For Round One

The two other Americans joining Krush in the Women’s World Cup are WGM Jennifer Yu and IM Carissa Yip, both of whom begin their tournament on Sunday.

Yip will play WIM Maria Jose Campos and Yu will play Cuban IM Lisandra Teresa Ordez Valdes. Yu enters as a slight 15-point underdog by rating, while Yip has a 157-point rating edge (according to official FIDE ratings).

Image

Image Caption

courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

In the World Cup, three of the six Americans playing in the first round enter as ratings favorites. GM Awonder Liang (2649) plays Tajikistani FM Alisher Karimov (2273), while GM Christopher Yoo (2606) plays an untitled Chinese player, Renjie Huang, who boasts a FIDE rating of 2445. GM Timur Gareyev (2581) is a slight ratings favorite against Peruvian GM Emilio Cordova (2542). Cordova is a frequent competitor in American events, adding extra intrigue to this pairing.

Image

Image Caption

courtesy SLCC / Lennart Ootes

IM Josiah Stearman (2444) has the toughest pairing of any American, playing Russian GM Mikhail Antipov (2606). The other “underdog,” GM Gregory Kaidanov, is playing Indian GM Karthik Venkataraman, who outrates Kaidanov by a whopping two rating points.

Looking Ahead

As competitors in knock-out tournaments, it is essential that they focus on the game right in front of them and avoid getting caught up in “what could be” in future rounds.

But, as fans, we’re allowed to daydream a little. In the Women’s World Cup, Krush would be slated for a third-round duel with GM Alexandria Kosteniuk (now playing under the Swiss flag). That would just be the beginning of the gauntlet, with Russian GM Kateryna Lagno then being a likely quarterfinals opponent and Women’s World Champion GM Ju Wenjun being the favorite to reach the semifinals.

Both Yu and Yip are on the “other half” of the bracket, meaning neither of them would see Krush until the final (wouldn’t that be cool?). If Yu wins her first-round match-up, her next opponent will be Russian GM (and 2020 Women’s World Championship challenger) Aleksandra Goryachkina. Yip would face Chinese GM Zhao Xue and, most probably, Georgian GM Nino Batsiashvili just to reach the first rest day.

An interesting cluster in the World Cup bracket centers on Caruana. If Liang were to beat (most likely) the similarly rated Turkish GM Mustafa Yilmaz in round two, he could face Caruana in an all-American third-round match-up. From there, the winner would face (most likely) the winner of Robson’s match with Spanish GM David Anton Guijarro.

Another cluster involves a possible fourth-round pairing between Dominguez and Shankland, although the latter would have to get through Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (most likely) first. This could set up a round-of-sixteen encounter with So and (going by ratings) a quarterfinals match with Caruana. Also lingering on this half of the bracket is Nakamura, who is the favorite to reach the semifinals.

Carlsen will be looming large on the other side of the bracket, which conveniently enough, does not feature a single American. I’m sure nobody is complaining about not having to see Carlsen until the final, although at the same time, that means any American would most likely have to get through Nakamura to reach the final, so, really, there’s no easy path to the final regardless of bracket seeding. As it should be!

Games begin Sunday, July 30, at 3:00 p.m. local time, which is 6:00 a.m. CDT. All games can be followed live on Chess.com and LiChess.org, with numerous live streams likely available as well.

Follow Chess Life Online for reports tracking the progress of the American players as well as highlights from other key matchups.

Quick Links:

Chess.com World Cup event page

Chess.com Women’s World Cup event page

LiChess.org Broadcast page (to be updated when event pages are live)