FIDE World Cup

14-year-old IM Volodar Murzin looked shocked, then thrilled, then determined as he checkmated 44-year-old Viorel Iordachescu to qualify for a Round 2 clash with fellow Russian Vladislav Artemiev. The FIDE World Cup Round 1 tiebreaks largely saw the favourites win, but English IM Ravi Haria convincingly outplayed Russian GM Vadim Zvjaginsev, while Egyptian no. 9 Abdelrahman Hesham beat Egyptian no. 2 Ahmed Adly. Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Aleksandra Goryachkina and all the other top seeds now join the event.

19 matches went to tiebreaks in the Open Section on Wednesday, with the stakes high — it was not just about the chance to play some of the world’s best players, but that Round 2 losers take home $6,000. The format for the tiebreaks is the same as in previous World Cups, with two 25-minute + 30-second increment rapid games follow by pairs of games at increasingly fast time controls, until a potential Armageddon game. Let’s take a look at how the matches went.

25 min + 30 sec: 14 matches completed

1. GM Evgeny Alekseev 2.5:1.5 GM Adham Fawzy (EGY), plays Radoslav Wojtaszek in Round 2
2. GM Hjorvar Gretarsson (ISL) 2.5:1.5 GM Kirill Stupak (BLR), plays Maxim Matlakov
3. GM Gukesh D (IND) 2.5:1.5 GM Pawel Tecla, plays Daniil Dubov
4. IM Ravi Haria (ENG) 3:1 GM Vadim Zvjaginsev, plays Etienne Bacrot
5. GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan (ARM) 3:1 GM Bilel Bellahcene (ALG), plays Bassem Amin
6. GM Benjamin Bok (NED) 3:1 IM Asyl Abdyjapar (KGZ), plays Samuel Sevian
7. GM Varuzhan Akobian (USA) 2.5:1.5 IM Esteban Alb Valderrama Quiceno (COL), plays Nils Grandelius
8. GM Boris Savchenko (RUS) 2.5:1.5 GM Nikita Afanasiev (RUS), plays Anish Giri
9. GM Bobby Cheng (AUS) 3:1 GM Vahap Sanal (TUR), plays Levon Aronian
10. GM Abdelrahman Hesham (EGY) 2.5:1.5 GM Ahmed Adly (EGY), plays Constantin Lupulescu
11. GM M.amin Tabatabaei (IRI) 2.5:1.5 IM Basheer Al Qudaimi (YEM), plays Ferenc Berkes
12. GM Haik Martirosyan (ARM) 3:1 IM Chitumbo Mwali (ZMB), plays Mustafa Yilmaz
13. GM Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian (BRA) 2.5:1.5 GM Juan Carlos Gonzalez Zamora, plays Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
14. GM Susanto Megaranto (IDN) 2.5:1.5 GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (IRI), plays Fabiano Caruana

The clear favourites such as Benjamin Bok, Varuzhan Akobian and Haik Martirosyan largely took over in tiebreaks.

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