The FIDE World Cup 2021 kicked off in Sochi, Russia. The event takes place from 10 July – 8 August 2021 at the Galaxy Entertainment And Leisure Complex.
Of the 309 qualified players in the Open and Women’s groups, there were only 8 justified nonappearances, essentially due to travel-related problems. The event opened with an inaugural move made by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich in the game between GM Sanan Sjugirov and Elmer Prudente.
The first round of the FIDE World Cup 2021 brought a few upsets. 38 players in Open section and 18 players in Women’s section proceeded to tiebreak day which decided the round 2 participants.
The biggest surprise result happened after only two classical games played in a match between WIM Turmunkh Munkhzul (Mongolia 2278) and WGM Marina Brunello (Italy 2379). Scoring 2-0, Turmunkh Munkhzul reserved the seat for Round 2.
Another upset happened in an Egyptian encounter between GM Abdelrahman Hesham (2397) and GM Ahmed Adly (2625). Abdelrahman won the second rapid game which appeared to be decisive and proceeded to 2nd round.
IM Ravi Haria (England 2440) won the match against GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (Russia 2608) with decisive 2-0 result in the rapid tiebreaks.
15 year old IM Volodar Murzin (Russia 2502) defeated GM Viorel Iordachescu (2589) with final 3.5-2.5 result and advanced to the next round.
The Open group will have 50 new players joining in the second round, including the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, while the Women’s group will be expanded with 25 players, all of them qualified directly by ranking.
The top encounters of the following rounds will be LIVE broadcasted through chessdom.com:
Martinovic Sasa – Magnus Carlsen
Fabiano Caruana – Susanto Megaranto
Anish Giri – Boris Savchenko
Perez Ponsa Federico – Aleksander Grischuk
Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova – Aleksandra Goryachkina
Kateryna Lagno – Teodora Injac
Inna Gaponenko – Muzychuk Mariya
Muzychuk Anna – Tatev Abrahamyan
