World Cup Round Three Kicks Off
It did not do without upsets.
![Photo credit: Anastasia Korolkova / FIDE](/upload/iblock/874/874fe1d3642c381e22ba0848ecc0b3ba.jpg)
July 18, the third round of the FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Women’s World Cup kicked off in Sochi.
The world champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Nikita Vitiugov, Dmitry Andreikin, Daniil Dubov, Vladimir Fedoseev (all from Russia), Pentala Harikrishna, R. Praggnanandhaa, Santosh Vidit (all from India), Velimir Ivic (Serbia), Anton Korobov (Ukraine), Jakhongir Vakhidov (Uzbekistan), Vladislav Kovalev (FIDE), Kacper Piorun (Poland), and Nils Grandelius (Sweden) won their games.
Martirosyan - Mamedyarov finished unexpectedly as the Armenian GM converted his opponent’s mistake as White on move 29. The Iranian M. Amin Tabatabaei’s victory over the latest World Cup semifinalist Yu Yangyi (China) is also worth noting. Saleh Salem (UAE) went down to Ante Brkic (Croatia).
Jumabayev – Caruana, Abdusattorov – Giri, Vachier-Lagrave – Paravyan, Cheparinov – Svidler, Wojtaszek – Matlakov, Tomashevsky – Idani, Sevian – Duda, Abasov – Esipenko, Artemiev – Gelfand, Cori – Sindarov, Shankland – Areshchenko, Bacrot – Amin, and Navara – Durarbayli ended in a draw.
Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alina Kashlinskaya, Valentina Gunina (all – Russia), Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), Tan Zhongyi (China), and Nino Batsiashvili (Georgia) scored victories in the women’s tournament.
The Georgian Nana Dzagnidze’s failure as White to Carissa Yip (USA) stands out as an unexpected result.
Mammadova – Paehtz, Assaubayeva – Khotenashvili, Danielyan – Saduakassova, Garifullina – Shuvalova, Mammadzada – Khademalsharieh, M. Muzychuk – Ushenina, and Pogonina – Stefanova ended in a draw.
The return games are scheduled on July 19. Further draws lead to tie-breaks.
***
The Norilsk Nickel Company will award Special Platinum Crown prizes at the FIDE World Cups.
A panel of commentators and FIDE representatives select the best games from the second, third, and fourth rounds. Thus, three winners from each section (totally six) will be entitled to Platinum Crown.
Based on round two results, the prizes went to Mikhail Krasenkow and Bibisara Assaubayeva for their games against Kirill Alekseenko and Zhansaya Abdumalik, respectively.