Americans in Georgia: Big Three Win, Lenderman Upsets Eljanov

Our top three US players and Olympic gold medalists Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura all won the first game of their mini-matches today at the World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia.

[pgn]

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE World Cup"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Ruiz Castillo, Joshua Daniel"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2377"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Colombia"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "COL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "0:27:52"]
[BlackClock "0:50:04"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Bb4 13. a3 Bxd2+ 14. Qxd2
Qxd2+ 15. Nxd2 Ngf6 16. O-O-O Ke7 17. Nde4 Rad8 18. Rhe1 Nxe4 19. Rxe4 Nf6 20.
Re5 Ng4 21. Re2 Rd5 22. c4 Rd7 23. f3 Nf6 24. Re5 Rc8 25. Nf5+ Kf8 26. Ne3 Rcd8
27. Nc2 b6 28. Rde1 Rd6 29. c5 Rd5 30. cxb6 axb6 31. g4 R5d6 32. b4 Nd5 33. Kb2
Nf4 34. R1e3 f6 35. R5e4 e5 36. dxe5 Nd3+ 37. Kc3 fxe5 38. a4 Nf2 39. Rxe5 Nd1+
40. Kc4 Nxe3+ 41. Rxe3 Rd5 42. Rc3 Kf7 43. Ne3 b5+ 44. axb5 cxb5+ 45. Kb3 Rd3
46. Nf5 Kf6 47. Kc2 Rd2+ 48. Kc1 Rd1+ 49. Kc2 R8d2+ 50. Kb3 Rd3 51. Ne3 Rb1+
52. Kc2 Rxc3+ 53. Kxc3 Ke5 54. Nf5 Rf1 55. Nxg7 Rxf3+ 56. Kd2 Kf4 57. Nf5 Kxg4
58. Nxh6+ Kxh5 59. Ng8 Rf7 0-1

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE World Cup"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Solomon, Kenny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2398"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "South Africa"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RSA"]
[WhiteClock "0:32:30"]
[BlackClock "0:30:36"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1
b5 9. Bc2 Bb7 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. Nf1 Bf8 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 g6 14. Ne3 Bg7 15. a4
Qd7 16. b4 Nh5 17. Bb3 Nf4 18. Bg3 Nh5 19. Bh4 Nf4 20. h3 Kh8 21. Bg3 Nh5 22.
Bh2 Nf6 23. Qd2 Rab8 24. Rec1 Rf8 25. axb5 axb5 26. c4 bxc4 27. Rxc4 Ne7 28.
Qc2 c6 29. Ra5 Nh5 30. d4 exd4 31. Nxd4 Ra8 32. Nf3 Ba6 33. g4 Nf6 34. Rd4 Ne8
35. Rd2 Qb7 36. e5 d5 37. Qc5 Rb8 38. e6 Ra8 39. exf7 Nf6 40. Bc2 Rxf7 41. Ne5
Rff8 42. Qxe7 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE World Cup"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Mollah Abdullah, Al Rakib"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2454"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Bangladesh"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BAN"]
[WhiteClock "0:07:44"]
[BlackClock "0:02:44"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. d4 O-O 7. d5 Ne4 8. Nfd2
Nxd2 9. Qxd2 c6 10. Nc3 cxd5 11. cxd5 d6 12. b3 b5 13. Bb2 Qb6 14. Ne4 Bxb2 15.
Qxb2 Nd7 16. Rad1 Rfe8 17. h4 Ne5 18. h5 Bc8 19. Rd4 Bg4 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. f4
Bxe2 22. fxe5 dxe5 23. Qxe2 Qxd4+ 24. Kh2 f6 25. Qxb5 Kg7 26. Nf2 Rh8+ 27. Kg1
Rad8 28. Rd1 Qe3 29. Qd3 Qb6 30. Rc1 Rc8 31. Rc6 Rxc6 32. dxc6 Rd8 33. Qc3 Qd4
34. Qxd4 exd4 35. Nd3 f5 36. Nc5 Kf6 37. c7 Rc8 38. Na6 d3 39. Kf2 1-0

[/pgn]

US Championship runner-up Alex Onischuk won his match on forfeit against fellow US player Yaro Zherebukh. GM Ian Rogers, who will be reporting on the first week of the World Cup for US Chess, tweeted: https://twitter.com/GMIanRogers/status/904290021536145408 Zherebukh explained on his facebook page, where he also wished the Texas Tech University coach a Happy Birthday. https://www.facebook.com/yaro93/posts/1893218777672406 The best news of the round for the US was Lenderman's upset victory over Ukrainian Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov. In this position, Eljanov blundered with 54. Rd2? Why did that lose? And what should he do instead? Show Solution Play through the full game below.

[pgn]

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE World Cup"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2734"]
[BlackElo "2565"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Ukraine"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 dxc4 8.
Qxc4 b6 9. Rc1 Ba6 10. Qa4 Qd7 11. Qxd7 Nbxd7 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. e3 Bxf1 14.
Kxf1 Rfc8 15. Rc6 Nd5 16. Nf3 Ne7 17. Rc2 f6 18. Ke2 Kf7 19. Rhc1 c6 20. Ne1
Ke8 21. Nd3 Kd7 22. g4 g5 23. h4 h6 24. Rh1 Rh8 25. e4 Ng6 26. h5 Ne7 27. Ke3
Rhf8 28. f3 a5 29. Rhc1 Ra7 30. Rc3 Rg8 31. b3 Rf8 32. Nb2 Re8 33. Nc4 Ra6 34.
Kf2 Rd8 35. Rd3 Ke8 36. e5 f5 37. Nd6+ Kf8 38. d5 cxd5 39. Rc7 b5 40. Nxb5 Rc6
41. Nd4 Rxc7 42. Nxe6+ Kf7 43. Nxc7 d4 44. Nb5 Rd5 45. e6+ Kf6 46. Nxd4 Rd6 47.
b4 axb4 48. axb4 f4 49. b5 Ke5 50. Rd2 Kf6 51. Ke1 Nd5 52. Re2 Ne3 53. e7 Kf7
54. Rd2 Rxd4 55. Rb2 Rd7 56. b6 Rb7 57. Ke2 Nd5 0-1

[/pgn]

The tension mounts in Sam Sevian and Jeffery Xiong's matches, as both of our young stars drew their first round games against higher rated opponents.

[pgn]

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE World Cup"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2668"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]
[WhiteClock "0:39:51"]
[BlackClock "0:49:22"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qb3 a6 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qb3 e6 8. a4
Be7 9. e3 Bb7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Nbd7 12. Rd1 c5 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8
15. Qxb5 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE World Cup"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2610"]
[BlackElo "2674"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Germany"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]
[WhiteClock "0:06:31"]
[BlackClock "0:14:02"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Bf5 8.
Re1 O-O 9. c4 Nc6 10. cxd5 Qxd5 11. Nc3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Rae8 13. Rb1 Bxd3 14.
Qxd3 b6 15. c4 Qd7 16. d5 Bf6 17. Bf4 Na5 18. h3 Nb7 19. Nh2 Be7 20. Ng4 Bd6
21. Bxd6 Qxd6 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

The sorest news of round 1 for American fans was Varuzhan Akobian's loss.

[pgn]

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE World Cup"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Akobian, Varuzhan"]
[Black "Kovalyov, Anton"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2649"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Canada"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CAN"]
[WhiteClock "0:01:17"]
[BlackClock "0:20:43"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3 a6 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. O-O
Be7 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Qe2 Qc7 11. h3 O-O 12. Rd1 b6 13. e4 Nd7 14. Be3 Bxe3 15.
Qxe3 Nb4 16. Qe2 Bb7 17. Rac1 Nc5 18. Qe3 Rad8 19. Be2 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 h6 21.
Qd4 Nc6 22. Qc4 Na5 23. Qd4 Nc6 24. Qc4 a5 25. g3 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8 27. Kf1
Ba6 28. Nb5 Nb4 29. b3 Qf6 30. e5 Qf5 31. Kg2 Bb7 32. Nd6 Bxf3+ 33. Bxf3 Qxe5
34. Ne4 Nbd3 35. Nxc5 Ne1+ 36. Kh1 bxc5 37. Be4 f5 38. Bc6 Qd6 39. Qb5 Nd3 40.
f4 g5 41. Bf3 gxf4 42. Qe8+ Kg7 43. Bh5 Qd5+ 44. Kh2 fxg3+ 45. Kxg3 Qd6+ 46.
Kf3 Ne5+ 47. Ke2 Qd3+ 48. Ke1 Qe3+ 49. Kf1 Qxh3+ 50. Kg1 Qg3+ 51. Kf1 Qd3+ 52.
Ke1 Qd6 53. Be2 f4 54. Qa8 Qd5 55. Qxa5 f3 56. Bb5 Qe4+ 57. Kd2 Qd4+ 58. Kc2 c4
59. bxc4 f2 60. Qc7+ Kf6 61. c5 Nc4 0-1

[/pgn]

Good luck to Varuzhan tomorrow in turning the match around, and to our whole delegation as they move toward the round of 64 chess squares. Follow the games on chess24, see IM Greg Shahade's preview article here, and look for GM Ian Rogers first piece on the World Cup coming soon to uschess.org.