The Hidden World Cup: Six US Players Survive Round One

Georgia has in recent years been keen to promote itself as a desirable tourist destination. Add to that a chess tradition which includes producing some of the top women players of the previous century and Tbilisi could be viewed as an ideal place to host a major tournament. So when billionaire Prime Minster Bidzina Ivanishvili was presented with a proposal back in 2012 to try to bring the Chess Olympiad to Georgia in 2018, he happily allocated the needed government funds, both to promote chess and to help advertise Georgia to 150+ countries around the world. FIDE also requires the bidding country to host the World Cup in the year before the Olympiad, so at the start of September the Georgian capital Tbilisi found itself hosting the ever-entertaining – but expensive – 128 player knock-out event with a first prize of $96,000. Players qualify for the World Cup from zones around the world, supplemented by players selected on rating or gaining their places through the Women’s World Championship, the World Junior Championship plus various wild cards. The 2017 World Cup is being held in Tbilisi’s best hotel, the Preference Hualing, part of a massive commercial development and (massive) residential project by the Chinese company Hualing on the outskirts of Tbilisi. Players are required to stay at the hotel for the duration of their survival in the tournament – those who initially chose to book an Airbnb apartment discovered that they would be slugged the $247 per day hotel rate by the tournament organizers anyway! (With 128 players staying from four days to almost a month, that totals more than the tournament’s first prize, a significant savings even allowing that some of that money must go to the hotel.) The World Cup has attracted a sensational field, including the top 16 players in the world, yet walking around the centre of Tbilisi one would be hard-pressed to know that any chess tournament is taking place in Georgia’s capital. In another apparent cost-saving measure, there are no posters advertising the tournament around the city – nor even in the tournament hotel. There have been items about the event in the local media but the absence of local buzz was clear from the spectator numbers on the first day: 60 for the start of the round on a Sunday, and far fewer the next day. Certainly the advertisers, had they been asked, would have had a wonderful event to promote thanks to Magnus Carlsen’s decision to compete in the World Cup, which also happens to be a World Championship qualifier. Carlsen’s reasons for playing were simply that a 128 player knock-out World Cup was a unique and exciting event on the tournament calendar and a “loophole” allowed him to take part. While some questioned the World Champion taking part in an event where he would have a chance to influence which players qualified for next year’s Candidates tournament, most welcomed Carlsen’s participation as creating – arguably, as all these claims inevitably are - the strongest tournament of all time (at the top end, at least). The tournament format involves each pair playing two classical games and if the score is tied at 1-1 they compete at pairs of games at faster and faster time limits, culminating in an Armageddon game (where White has extra time but if Black draws, Black wins the match). The pairing system is designed to reward high ratings, as the top seeds are likely to progress confidently in the early rounds, as seed 1 plays seed 128 in the first round, seed 2 meets seed 127, and so on. The US contribution to the field consists of nine players, including three of the favorites – Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and second seed Wesley So – all placed in the opposite half of the draw to Carlsen. Caruana disputed his, or anyone else’s, favorite tag, saying “Nobody is really favourite to win. We calculated that Carlsen has about a 25% chance of making the final and even that may be too high.” Nonetheless, for the US to have three players seeded to reach the quarterfinals (where Nakamura is due to run into So) is promising and all three won relatively comfortably in the first round. Nakamura did, however, have his nervous moments in game one.

[pgn]

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2017"]
[Site "Tbilisi GEO"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Mollah Abdullah, Al Rakib"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2454"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3r3/p3p1k1/5pp1/1Q1Pp3/3qN3/1P4P1/P5BK/5R2 w - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]

26. Nf2 {"How lost was I?" said Nakamura immediately after the game.
After being shown the computer only favored Black only slightly had he played 26...f5, he concluded, "So it wasn't so bad after all."}
Rh8+ 27. Kg1 Rad8 28. Rd1 Qe3 29. Qd3 Qb6 30. Rc1 $1 Rc8 $2 (30... f5 {was
still unclear.}) 31. Rc6 $1 Rxc6 32. dxc6 Rd8 33. Qc3 Qd4 {Losing, but by now
Black has little counterplay.} 34. Qxd4 exd4 35. Nd3 f5 36. Nc5 Kf6 37. c7 Rc8
38. Na6 d3 39. Kf2 1-0[/pgn]

The most remarkable US result in round one came from Alex Lenderman who defeated world number 15 Pavel Eljanov 2-0 in a match which hinged on a few moments of madness/overconfidence by Eljanov.

[pgn]

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2017"]
[Site "Tbilisi GEO"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2734"]
[BlackElo "2565"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r4/4nk2/7p/pN2PppP/3p2P1/PP1R1P2/5K2/8 b - - 0 44"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]

{Black is suffering but only after Lenderman's unfortunate next move does
White take complete control.} 44... Rd5 $2 (44... fxg4 $1 45. Rxd4 (45. fxg4
Nc6 {is nothing for White.}) 45... g3+ $1 46. Kg2 Rb8 {keeps Black in the game.
}) 45. e6+ $1 Kf6 46. Nxd4 $1 Rd6 {"I had intended} (46... Nc6 {," said
Lenderman, "but had missed} 47. Nxc6 $1 Rxd3 48. e7 $1 Kf7 49. Ne5+ {, winning.
So now I am just two pawns down."}) 47. b4 axb4 48. axb4 f4 49. b5 {Around
here Eljanov admitted to starting to get ahead of himself, using Lenderman's
thinking time to decide what he would play with Black the next day. Meanwhile
Lenderman was concentrating on the game in front of him, however depressing...}
Ke5 50. Rd2 $1 Kf6 (50... Rxd4 $2 51. Rxd4 Kxd4 52. b6 Nc6 53. b7 Kd5 54. e7 {
is hopeless for Black.}) 51. Ke1 Nd5 {[#]} 52. Re2 $2 {Now it is Eljanov's
turn to miscalculate. After} (52. Kd1 $1 {, neither knight check is effective
and White's king will soon activate and decide the game.}) 52... Ne3 $1 53. e7
Kf7 $1 {"I guess this is what Eljanov missed - it's not a very natural move,"
explained Lenderman. "I suppose he expected} (53... Rxd4 54. Rxe3 $1 {when
White wins."}) 54. Rd2 $2 {The final error.} (54. Rxe3 {was necessary, when
after} fxe3 55. Nf5 Rd3 $1 {, heading for b3, a draw is the most likely result.
Lenderman also thought}) (54. Rb2 {might be playable, but he had missed that
after} Rxd4 55. b6 Rb4 $1 {Black wins easily.}) 54... Rxd4 $1 {"Now I could
see that he was upset," said Lenderman. "It went from [lost for me] to about
equal to lost for him in just a few moves."} 55. Rb2 Rd7 56. b6 Rb7 57. Ke2 Nd5
{"I got very lucky," admitted Lenderman.} 0-1

[/pgn]

With Black in the second game, Eljanov was given no chance to fight back and was summarily crushed, providing the only major upset of the first round of the World Cup. (Carlsen and the other 14 of the top 16 seeds made it to round 2 safely.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl3BtkLZfRw Lenderman will meet Norway’s Aryan Tari in the next round, the Norwegian junior also pulling off an upset in beating England’s David Howell in an extended rapid playoff. The other US player to score an upset was 16-year-old Sam Sevian who took on and beat the German number one Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Sevian should have finished the match in the second classical game but failed to convert an extra piece against Nisipeanu.

[pgn]

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2017"]
[Site "Tbilisi GEO"]
[Date "2017.09.04"]
[White "Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter"]
[Black "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2687"]
[BlackElo "2620"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/4qk2/1Q2b3/4P2p/1r3p2/4nP1P/1P3BPK/6R1 w - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]

{The first time control has been reached and at first sight Black is just
applying the finishing touches before securing the point. However Nisipeanu
finds a way to keep the game going...} 41. Qc6 $1 Rxb2 42. Bxe3 Qh4 $1 {
Threatening mate on h3.} 43. Kh1 (43. Bf2 Rxf2 44. Qc7+ Kg6 45. Kh1 {was a
better try, because} Bxh3 $2 {loses to} 46. gxh3+ {check!}) 43... fxe3 $6 {
The first misstep. After} (43... Bxh3 $1 {White has nothing better than} 44.
Qf6+ Qxf6 45. exf6 Bxg2+ $1 46. Rxg2 Rxg2 47. Kxg2 (47. Bxf4 {is a better try,
but after Black wins the two f pawns, he must only make sure not to push his h
pawn to h4 too early to be sure of reeling in the point.}) 47... fxe3 {with a
winning pawn endgame for Black. See your Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual for
further details.}) 44. Qc7+ Qe7 45. Qc3 Rb3 46. Qc2 Kg7 47. Ra1 Qf7 48. Re1
Qg6 49. Qc5 Rb2 50. Rg1 e2 51. Qc7+ Bf7 52. Qc3 Rc2 53. Qe3 Ra2 54. Qf2 Kh7 55.
Re1 Qd3 56. Kh2 Bg6 57. Qc5 Qf5 58. Qe3 Qd3 59. Qc5 Qd2 60. Qe7+ Kh6 61. Qf8+
Kh7 62. Qe7+ Kg8 63. Qf6 Be8 {[#] Sevian finally seems to be closing in on
the win but Nisipeanu finds an amazing resource...} 64. Rxe2 $3 Qxe2 65. Qg5+
Kf8 66. Qh6+ Kf7 67. Qf6+ Kg8 68. Qg5+ Kf8 {A remarkable decision by Sevian.
Black could play} (68... Bg6 $1 69. Qxg6+ Kf8 {and try to run his king out via
the queenside. Whether it is successful or not, the very best White can hope
for is a perpetual check, so it seemed worth a try. However Sevian preferred
to save his energy for the rapid matches the next day.}) 69. Qh6+ 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

The rapid playoffs on the third days looked at first as if Sevian was again squandering chances, when he agreed a draw in game 3 just when his solid defence with Black was about to bear fruit and leave Nisipeanu in trouble. However Sevian kept his cool in game four and this time took his opportunities when they presented themselves.

[pgn]

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2017"]
[Site "Tbilisi GEO"]
[Date "2017.09.05"]
[White "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2620"]
[BlackElo "2687"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1rr3k1/3R1pp1/p3p2n/np2P1Pp/5P2/1BP4P/P4B2/1K5R b - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]

{Sevian has been trying to make something of his bishop pair, but had
Nisipeanu simply exchanged on b3 and played ...Nf5, then his position would be
quite satisfactory, Instead Nisipeanu hesitated for one move and was
demolished...} 26... Nf5 $2 27. g6 $1 Nxb3 28. gxf7+ Kf8 29. axb3 Nh6 {The f
pawn must be elimated as soon as possible since} (29... Rxc3 {loses to} 30. Be1
$1) 30. Ba7 Ra8 31. Bd4 $1 {Ready to answer 31...Nxf7 with 32.f5!} Rc6 32. Rg1
Nxf7 33. Rg6 Rd8 34. Rb7 Nh8 {Desperation, but Black has effectively run out
of moves, while Sevian has plenty of ways to improve his position, e.g. Kb2
and b4.} 35. Rgxg7 a5 {and Black resigned without waiting for 36.Rh7.} 1-0[/pgn]

Early on the second day, Alexander Onischuk had reserved his place in the second round by winning his second game on forfeit against compatriot Yaroslav Zherebukh, who did not arrive in Tbilisi. Zherebukh is apparently unable to travel due to restrictions after applying for green card, but many were wondering why he did not then give up his place to another player since he will not receive his first round loser's prize money ($4,800) and may even face disciplinary sanctions by FIDE. Apart from Zherebukh, the US has two other players who are going home from Georgia after the first KO round. Varuzhan Akobian was rated slightly above his Canadian opponent Anton Kovalyov but admitted that he didn’t have a chance in the two games. Akobian lost the first game with White – almost always fatal in this format – saying “My brain just didn’t work that day.” The following day he created some complications against Kovalyov’s English Opening but the Canadian always had the position in hand and could have played for a win had the position required it. Jeffery Xiong was another who exited quickly. The World Junior Champion’s match-up with the former Russian and European Champion,Alexander Motylev, was keenly anticipated but Xiong made nothing of the White pieces in the first game, drawing in just 15 moves, and found himself steadily outplayed in the second. US Pairings for Round 2 So v Bluebaum (GER) Caruana v Luka Lenic (SVN) Nakamura v Bruzon (CUB) Onischuk v Wojtaszek (POL) Sevian v Li Chao (CHN) Lenderman v Tari (NOR) Games begin at 5am AEST and may be viewed via Chess24.com and Chess.com as well as the official site http://tbilisi2017.fide.com/