Tournament Information
The FIDE World Cup is one of the most prestigious events of the chess calendar year. It is the largest knockout tournament and awards three Candidates spots to the first three finishers. 206 players are playing the tournament, with each round only growing in intensity. The time control is 90+30 for the first 40 moves, with an extra 30 minutes after move 40. Matches are played in sets of two: first, a classical portion of 2 games. If the result remains tied, the players play 15+10 games, then, if still tied, 10+10 games, then 5+3, then 3+2, and finally, if still tied, a deciding Armageddon game.
Pairings for Round 2
The pairings for round 2 are available here.
Overview
The top 50 seeds received byes and directly qualified for the 2nd round, where they will face, by and large, the rating favorites of the 1st round, who barely experienced any upsets. The first rating upset occurred all the way on board 28, where 2402-rated IM Wang Shixu B bested 2620-rated GM Leon Luke Mendonca. In terms of tiebreak upsets, IM Faustino Oro’s defeated GM Ante Brkic, and GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra was able to right the ship against IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg, who had made matters difficult for Henriquez Villagra as he won the first classical game of their encounter.
Interviews
GM Andy Woodward with our director of operations, Theo Wait!
GM Andy Woodward: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eT6ynX5YV8
GM Michael Adams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWE_n1k5Mbk
GM Salem A. R. Saleh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUx2RLWvjlU
Classical Upsets
GM Leon Luke Mendonca’s first round game was certainly no uninteresting draw. In fact, the Catalan Opening chosen by Mendonca quickly turned exciting as, first, Mendonca gained a sizeable positional advantage, then offered his queen on move 21 with 21. Ne5!!. IM Wang Shixu B did not accept Mendonca’s sacrifice, though, and instead kept defending. Despite Mendonca’s best efforts, he soon saw his advantage slip away and had to acquiesce to a draw.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/t8DzIZPc/U832Yvnj#0
Wang too had an advantage in his White game against Mendonca, but, contrary to the round 1 game, Wang was able to nurture his edge and see it grow. The game was not without its dips, though. After the hard work of dismantling Mendonca’s Queen’s Indian Defense seemed to be coming to fruition, Wang blundered on move 42 with 42. Rc1??, allowing 42…Rxf4!. Mendonca, however, chose 42…Qe2?? instead, blundering the game away as Wang’s pieces, which were fighting off Mendonca’s queen, proved to be too powerful.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NUcmLDqC/0d4GW6BD#0
IM Wang Shixu B
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
To show just how predictable the results were from the players’ ratings, the only other* classical rating upset, and a very slight one at that, happened on board 62 when 2510-rated GM Felix Blohberger, who runs his own YouTube channel and regularly commentates for Lichess, defeated 2592-rated GM Constantin Lupulescu.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NUcmLDqC/bm3uo2Jz#0
*The third rating upset, 2540-rated GM Martin Petrov’s win against 2545-rated GM Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian, can be treated as a technicality.
GM Felix Blohberger
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE
GM Felix Blohberger interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5xLGGfczWc
Tiebreak Upsets
IM Faustino Oro’s match against GM Ante Brkic started off slowly in the classical portion but picked up the pace in the tiebreaks as each player traded blows in the 15+10 section.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Avwj3cFi/ZhM7VtwU#0
https://lichess.org/study/embed/RrQOdGhz/z40At3bB#0
The games in the 10+10 section were drawn, and it was in the 5+3 section where Oro prevailed, first showing impressive knowledge in the Symmetrical English.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NCe1LkEk/o7lANc1d#0
IM Faustino Oro vs. GM Ante Brkic
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Then, in a game where Brkic’s attack almost worked, in time trouble and as the game was dynamically equal, Brkic blundered a piece and handed Oro the match victory.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NWRoIgut/BILR5RRm#0
IM Faustino Oro interview:
Lichess regular IM Aronyak Ghosh played an exciting match against experienced GM Mateusz Bartel, coming back on demand in the second classical game after losing a tough opposite-colored bishop endgame that arose from a long Petrov’s Defense struggle.
Game 1:
https://lichess.org/study/embed/t8DzIZPc/eZXCBySC#0
Game 2:
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NUcmLDqC/voeRtvN9#0
After winning a game where he was on the brink of defeat (check out 34. Ng8!!),
https://lichess.org/study/embed/IEDghbGU/AwFahHpV#0
Aronyak was able to seal the deal with a sudden fork.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/ahnXg4pz/EhiW2sBv#0
GM Alisher Suleymenov prevailed against GM Arturs Neiksans, after he walked his king to safety following material-grabbing operations.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/RrQOdGhz/tmFHZU6u#0
GM Alisher Suleymenov interview:
Near-Upsets — The Tiebreaks
2605-rated GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra was in a perilous situation as he lost his first classical game against 2448-rated IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg, but was able to bounce back in the second classical game. Henriquez Villagra then finished the match off in style as he showed that a pair of knights can sometimes beat the bishop pair:
https://lichess.org/study/embed/RrQOdGhz/VVYgQmA7#0
GM Ahmed Adly played an intense match against GM Karen H. Grigoryan. Both players have had peaks north of 2600, so the match was clearly of an incredibly high quality. Adly ultimately triumphed as White in a 5+3 game which was as topsy-turvy as can be.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NWRoIgut/2RlHf5Ph#0
GM Ahmed Adly
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
GM Karen H. Grigoryan
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE
Honorable Mentions
2629-rated GM Robert Hovhannisyan faced a very well-prepared and in-form opponent in 2346-rated FM Kavin Mohan, who played precise opening theory and followed up with incredibly accurate chess in the classical portion of his match against Hovhannisyan. A staid opening in the 15+10 portion saw Mohan comfortably hold the draw with Black, but, in the following White game, Mohan was outplayed in an endgame as Hovhannisyan’s knight galloped to victory:
https://lichess.org/study/embed/RrQOdGhz/HmiJGzEu#0
GM Robert Hovhannisyan vs. FM Kavin Mohan
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE
2399-rated IM Shiyam Thavandiran played a grueling match against 2618-rated GM Daniil Yuffa but was ultimately unable to clinch victory as Yuffa won in back-to-back games in the 5+3 portion of the teibreaks. Despite danger lurking around each and every corner, Yuffa converted well in an imbalanced position which featured a queen vs. rook + minor piece.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NWRoIgut/MIiwUdsB#0
The Pragmatists
2649-rated GM Jeffery Xiong played it safe against 1994-rated CM Li Yiheng, who was able to draw without any issue against his much higher rated opponent, but was eliminated from the World Cup as a result. GM Nils Grandelius’ draw against CM Mohammed Damaj was less intentional as the former missed the only winning move in an endgame, 46…h5!!, instead playing 46…a2?? and drawing the game in short order.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/NUcmLDqC/FK6T1pDb#0
Simulated Predictions
We again simulated the tournament outcome a million times, including the results from the first round.
There aren’t any significant or meaningful changes compared to our simulations before the start of the tournament in our preview article.
- Who is most likely to win the tournament outright?
- Who is most likely to get in the top 3 and secure a Candidates spot?
- Who is most likely to get in the top 3 and qualify to the Candidates, with Gukesh (World Champion) and Giri (already qualified) removed?
