Dominguez and Xiong Join So in Round Four

After Wednesday’s dramatic tiebreak round, Leinier Dominguez and Jeffery Xiong join Wesley So as the three American players advancing to the fourth round of the 2019 FIDE World Cup beginning Friday.

Wesley So (photo Kiriill Merkuryev)

So had today off, winning his third round mini-match against Santosh Gujrathi Vidit in regulation play. His grinding 93 move victory with White in the first leg of the match allowed him to advance with a draw in Tuesday’s second leg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djM30QzlIbo

[pgn] [Event "FIDE World Cup 2019"] [Date "2019.09.16"] [Round "3.1"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2718"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/5pk1/p7/P1R1K3/4P3/5r2/8/8 w - - 0 62"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2019.09.10"] [EventType "k.o."] 62. Rc6 Rh3 ({Only} 62... f6+ {holds:} 63. Ke6 Rf4 64. Kd5 (64. e5 fxe5 65. Kxe5 Ra4 66. Rxa6 Rh4) 64... Rf1 65. Rxa6 f5 66. exf5 Rxf5+ $11 {should turn into Vancura}) 63. Kd5 Rd3+ 64. Kc5 Re3 65. Kd4 Ra3 66. Rxa6 Ra1 67. e5 Rd1+ 68. Kc5 Rc1+ 69. Kd5 Rd1+ 70. Kc6 Re1 71. Rb6 Rxe5 72. a6 Re7 73. Rb7 Re6+ 74. Kb5 Re5+ 75. Kb6 Re6+ 76. Ka5 Re5+ 77. Rb5 Re7 78. Rc5 Kg6 79. Kb6 f5 80. a7 Re8 81. Kb7 Kg5 82. Rc8 Re7+ 83. Kb8 Rxa7 84. Kxa7 Kf4 85. Kb6 Ke3 86. Re8+ Kd3 87. Rf8 Ke4 88. Kc5 f4 89. Kc4 Ke3 90. Kc3 f3 91. Re8+ Kf2 92. Kd2 Kf1 93. Ke3 1-0 [/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "FIDE World Cup 2019"] [Date "2019.09.17"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A29"] [WhiteElo "2718"] [BlackElo "2767"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2019.09.10"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 Re8 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. Bd2 Qd8 11. Rc1 Bb6 12. b4 Nd4 13. a4 a6 14. Bc3 Nxf3+ 15. Bxf3 c6 16. b5 cxb5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Qb3 Bd7 19. Bxb7 Rb8 20. Be4 Qf6 21. e3 Bf5 22. Bb4 Bxe4 23. dxe4 h5 24. Qd1 Qg6 25. Qf3 Bd8 26. Rfd1 Be7 27. Rb1 Bxb4 28. Rxb4 Qg4 29. Kg2 f6 30. Rd5 Qxf3+ 31. Kxf3 g5 32. Ke2 Rec8 33. f4 exf4 34. gxf4 gxf4 35. Rxh5 fxe3 36. Kxe3 Kf7 37. h4 Rh8 38. Rbxb5 Rxb5 39. Rxh8 Kg7 40. Ra8 Rh5 41. Ra7+ Kg6 42. Ra6 Kg7 43. Ra7+ Kg6 44. Ra6 Kg7 45. Ra7+ 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Following two draws in classical chess, Jeffery Xiong took the fight to second seed Anish Giri in the tiebreaks, finally prevailing in the quick round (G/10+10) after some absolute slugfests of games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGilKHj-HWw

[pgn] [Event "FIDE World Cup 2019"] [Date "2019.09.18"] [Round "3.4"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A30"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2707"] [PlyCount "131"] [EventDate "2019.09.10"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 Ne4 8. Nxe4 Bxe4 9. d3 Bb7 10. e4 Nc6 11. d4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 O-O 14. Be3 Qc7 15. Rac1 Qc6 16. Qd2 f5 17. Bd4 f4 18. gxf4 Bd6 19. f5 Rxf5 20. b4 Rh5 21. h3 Rf8 22. Red1 Rxh3 23. Bxg7 Rh2 24. Qg5 Rf5 25. Qg4 Kf7 26. Bb2 Bf4 27. b5 Qc7 28. Qg7+ Ke8 29. Bf6 Rxg2+ 30. Kxg2 Bxe4+ 31. Kf1 Bd6 32. Bh4 Bf8 33. Qg3 Qxg3 34. Bxg3 Bf3 35. Rd4 Be7 36. Ke1 Bb4+ 37. Kf1 Be7 38. Ke1 Rh5 39. Kd2 Bf6 40. Rd3 Bg5+ 41. Re3 Kd8 42. Bd6 Rh1 43. Rxh1 Bxe3+ 44. Kxe3 Bxh1 45. Kd4 Bf3 46. Kc3 h5 47. a4 h4 48. Kb4 h3 49. a5 Ke8 50. axb6 axb6 51. c5 Kf7 52. cxb6 Kf6 53. Bg3 e5 54. Kc3 Ke6 55. Kd3 Bb7 56. f4 exf4 57. Bxf4 Kd5 58. Bh2 Kc5 59. Bg1+ Kxb5 60. Ke2 d5 61. Kf2 d4 62. Kg3 d3 63. Be3 Bc8 64. b7 Bxb7 65. Kxh3 d2 66. Bxd2 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "FIDE World Cup 2019"] [Date "2019.09.18"] [Round "3.6"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2707"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2019.09.10"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Be3 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Qd2 Nc6 7. d5 Nb8 8. Bh6 c6 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. O-O-O cxd5 11. exd5 Bg4 12. Be2 Nbd7 13. Rhe1 Rc8 14. Nd4 Bxe2 15. Rxe2 Ne5 16. f4 Nc4 17. Qd3 Qb6 18. b3 Na3 19. Rxe7 Qb4 20. Nde2 Rc5 21. Qd4 a5 22. Kb2 Rc4 23. Qd3 Rfc8 24. Rc1 b5 $5 25. f5 $2 (25. Qh3 $1 { allows Giri to draw in the nick of time:} a4 {shows the main idea of Qh3, i.e.} (25... R8c7 26. Rxc7 Rxc7 27. Qd3 Nc4+ 28. Ka1 Na3) 26. Rxf7+ Kxf7 27. Qe6+ Kg7 28. Qe7+ Kg8 29. Qe6+ Kg7 30. Qe7+ Kg8) 25... Rxc3 $1 26. Nxc3 Rxc3 27. Qe2 ( 27. Qxc3 Nc4+ {loses the queen}) 27... Nc4+ 28. Ka1 Ne5 29. fxg6 hxg6 30. Rf1 Qd4 31. Kb1 Nxd5 32. Rd1 Rd3 $1 33. Rxd3 Nxd3 34. Qxd3 Qxd3 35. Rxf7+ Kxf7 36. cxd3 Nf4 0-1 [/pgn]

Leiner Dominguez and Wang Hao went into the blitz portion of their playoff, where Dominguez finally defeated the Chinese player 1.5-0.5 (4.5-3.5 overall) to move on to round four. The two traded wins in both the G/25 and G/10 mini-matches before Dominguez conjured this win from a drawn position in the first blitz game.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE World Cup 2019"] [Date "2019.09.18"] [Round "3.7"] [White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Black "Wang, Hao"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2726"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/6pk/5p2/5P2/3RP3/6KP/7r/8 b - - 0 52"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "2019.09.10"] [EventType "k.o."] {[#]} 52... Ra2 53. Rd3 Re2 54. Kf3 Rh2 55. Kg4 Rg2+ 56. Rg3 Ra2 57. Kf4 Rf2+ 58. Ke3 Ra2 59. Kd4 Ra4+ 60. Kd5 Ra5+ 61. Ke6 Ra6+ 62. Kf7 Ra7+ 63. Kf8 Ra8+ 64. Ke7 Ra7+ 65. Kd6 Ra6+ 66. Kc5 Ra5+ 67. Kc6 Re5 68. Rg4 Kg8 69. Kd6 Kh7 70. Rf4 Kg8 71. Rh4 Kf7 72. Rg4 Kg8 73. h4 Kh7 74. h5 Re8 75. Kd5 Re5+ 76. Kd4 Re7 77. Rg6 {Progress. It should still be a draw, but the h5-h6 idea at least provides a glimpse of winning chances.} Rf7 78. Kd5 (78. h6 $1) 78... Rf8 79. Ke6 Ra8 80. h6 $1 Ra6+ 81. Kf7 Ra7+ 82. Ke6 Ra6+ 83. Ke7 Ra7+ 84. Kd8 Ra8+ 85. Kc7 Re8 86. hxg7 Kg8 87. Rxf6 Rxe4 88. Rg6 Re1 89. Kd6 Rf1 90. Ke6 Re1+ 91. Kf6 Rh1 92. Ke6 Re1+ 93. Kf6 Rh1 94. Ke7 Ra1 95. f6 Ra7+ 96. Ke6 {And now the king goes towards safety on the h-file.} Ra6+ 97. Kf5 Ra5+ 98. Kg4 Ra4+ 99. Kh5 Ra5+ 100. Rg5 Ra7 101. Rc5 Kh7 102. Rc8 1-0 [/pgn]

He then wrangled his way to a perpetual, while desperately short of time, to win the mini-match and advance.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE World Cup 2019"] [Date "2019.09.18"] [Round "3.8"] [White "Wang, Hao"] [Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A08"] [WhiteElo "2726"] [BlackElo "2763"] [PlyCount "128"] [EventDate "2019.09.10"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. e4 Nc6 8. Re1 Qc7 9. e5 Nd7 10. Qe2 b5 11. Nf1 Bb7 12. Bf4 Rfc8 13. h4 Qd8 14. h5 h6 15. N1h2 b4 16. Ng4 Bf8 17. Qd2 Ne7 18. Ne3 d4 19. Nc4 Nd5 20. g4 Nxf4 21. Qxf4 Be7 22. Qg3 Nb6 23. Nfd2 Bd5 24. b3 Rab8 25. a3 Bxg2 26. Qxg2 Nd5 27. Ne4 a5 28. a4 Bg5 29. Qf3 Ra8 30. Ned6 Rc7 31. Nb5 Rd7 32. Re4 Qe7 33. Rae1 Rdd8 34. Kg2 Rf8 35. Qg3 f5 36. exf6 Rxf6 37. Ne5 Bf4 38. Rxf4 Nxf4+ 39. Kg1 Raf8 40. Re4 Nd5 41. f3 Qd8 42. Kf2 Ne3 43. Ke2 Qb8 44. f4 Nd5 45. g5 Nxf4+ 46. Kd2 hxg5 47. Nd7 Qd8 48. Nxf8 Rxf8 49. Kc1 Qd5 50. Kb2 Rf7 51. Qe1 g4 52. Qg3 Qg5 53. Nd6 Rf8 54. Nc4 Nxh5 55. Rxg4 Nxg3 56. Rxg5 Ne2 57. Nxa5 Rf1 58. Nc4 Nc3 59. Nd2 Rd1 60. Rg2 Rh1 61. a5 Nd1+ 62. Ka2 Nc3+ 63. Kb2 Nd1+ 64. Ka2 Nc3+ 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Thursday is a rest day, and the event resumes Friday at 6am EDT when So meets Nikita Vitiugov, Dominguez faces Alexander Grischuk, and Xiong is paired with Jan-Kryzsztof Duda. Here are the complete pairings: Ding - Alekseenko Duda - Xiong Vachier-Lagrave - Svidler Vitiugov - So Nepomniachtchi - Yu Le - Aronian Mamedyarov - Radjabov Grischuk - Dominguez

FIDE World Cup Quick links 2019 World Cup Official Webpage Pairings and Results Live YouTube Coverage (daily, 6am EDT)