FIDE World Cup – Kosteniuk is World Cup Champion

Alexandra Kosteniuk is the 2021 FIDE Women’s World Cup Champion after offering a draw in a winning position to clinch victory against Aleksandra Goryachkina. Her feat of winning the title without needing tiebreaks once was a repeat of how she won the Women’s World Championship in 2008, while the 43 rating points she picked up took her back into the women’s Top 10. Elsewhere Sergey Karjakin reached the final and booked a spot in the Candidates after an opening disaster for Vladimir Fedoseev, while Magnus Carlsen and Jan-Krzysztof Duda will play tiebreaks after Duda pressed hard but couldn’t break through.

37-year-old Alexandra Kosteniuk has repeated the knockout triumph she achieved in 2008 as a 24-year-old, when she won the Women’s World Championship title by defeating Atousa Pourkashiyan, Tatiana Kosintseva, Anna Ushenina, Pia Cramling and then Hou Yifan, all without the need for tiebreaks.

Back then Kosteniuk was seeded 9th, while this time she was seeded 14th but also won all her matches without tiebreaks, against Deysi Cori, Pia Cramling (as in 2008!), Mariya Muzychuk, Valentina Gunina, Tan Zhongyi and finally Aleksandra Goryachkina. She talked about what it meant to win such a knockout again.

See also:

• Official website
• All the games with computer analysis and commentary on chess24: Open | Women
• Magnus Carlsen plays the 2021 World Cup
• FIDE World Cup 2021 pairings are out
• FIDE World Cup 1.1: The battle begins
• FIDE World Cup 1.2: 80 players out, 28 tiebreaks
• FIDE World Cup 1.3: 14-year-old Volodar Murzin scores upset win
• FIDE World Cup 2.1: Aronian forfeits, Caruana in doubt
• FIDE World Cup 2.2: Krasenkow shocks Alekseenko
• FIDE World Cup 2.3: Sindarov knocks out Firouzja
• FIDE World Cup 3.1: Mamedyarov & Yu among 28 in danger
• FIDE World Cup 3.2: Caruana is out!
• FIDE World Cup 3.3: Giri & Mamedyarov join mass exodus
• FIDE World Cup 4.1: Carlsen slowed, Goryachkina beaten
• FIDE World Cup 4.2: Hari, Xiong and Pragg knocked out
• FIDE World Cup 4.3: 18-year-old Ivic knocks out Andreikin
• FIDE World Cup 5.1: Martirosyan & Kosteniuk strike
• FIDE World Cup 5.2: Shankland & Vidit in quarterfinals
• FIDE World Cup 5.3: Carlsen through after Esipenko thriller
• FIDE World Cup 6.1: Carlsen & Shankland take the lead
• FIDE World Cup 6.2: It’s a Duda-Carlsen semi-final!
• FIDE World Cup 6.3: Karjakin ousts Shankland
• FIDE World Cup 7.1: Kosteniuk close | Duda holds Carlsen