World Cup: Round 3 completed in Khanty-Mansiysk
The Round 3 tiebreaks were played on September 18.
Three matches were decided in rapid games. Peter Svidler (Russia) proved his strength by stopping Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Germany). In the first game, the Russian GM had no particular problems equalizing with black, whereas in the second encounter he seamlessly carried out a pawn-roller on the queenside.
"I can't say that this World Cup goes that smooth for me, but I am still participating in it, which can’t be considered anything but positive," commented Svidler, who won this competition in 2011 and was very close to the second title in 2015.
Ding Liren (China) won both games against Alireza Firouzja (Iran). First, the Chinese GM demonstrated an excellent technique in a drawish rook endgame, and then refuted Alireza’s attempts to get something going in a clinical fashion. Yu Yangyi (China) beat his compatriot Wei Yi.
Other matches took more time.
The 18-year-old American Jeffrey Xiong sensationally defeated the second seed player of the tournament, Anish Giri (Netherlands). The match was a very exciting affair, with Xiong narrowly escaping on a couple of occasions. Finally, after several fighting draws Jeffrey won the second 10-minute game and the match. The young American was very humble after his triumph: “In the final game, I was also lucky because my position out of the opening was probably dubious. But was able two find a couple of tricks, he blundered something and that was it.”
Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) lost the first 10-minute game to Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) and was unable to come back in the second one. The Vietnamese grandmaster advances to the fourth round.
The last three qualifiers were determined in blitz.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) exchanged blows in rapid games, then made two draws in 10-minute games, but in blitz the Frenchman was superior.
In the Russian closely contested derby, Ian Nepomniachtchi won the first 10-minute game, but Evgeny Tomashevsky, the reigning Russian champion, managed to level the score in the second one. In blitz, however, Nepomniachtchi had a clear edge and won both encounters.
The match between Wang Hao (China) and Lenier Dominguez (USA) was a close-fought battle: each player made a comeback after losing a starting game, first in rapid, then in 10-minute chess. However, in blitz it was all Dominguez who made it to the next round.
September 19 is a rest day.
Fourth Round starts on September 20.
Pairings of Round 4:
Ding Liren - Alekseenko
Duda - Xiong
Vachier-Lagrave - Svidler
Vitiugov - So
Nepomniachtchi - Yu Yangyi
Le Quang Liem - Aronian
Mamedyarov - Radjabov
Grischuk - Dominguez
The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation.
Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/
General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.
Official airline – Utair.
Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.
FIDE official partner – JSCo "RZD".
General media partner – News Agency TASS.
Media partners – Match TV, World of Chesssocial network, OTRC "Ugra", Ugra-news.ruNews of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.