The return games of the third round of the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup were completed in the Fairmont Flame Towers in Baku.
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Ukrainian legend Vassily Ivanchuk surprised everyone, including his opponent, by resigning in a position that was, although weaker, still playable for black. Thus Dmitry Jakovenko advances to the 4th round.
Chinese players Ding Liren and Wei Yi took advantage of the white pieces to defeat Gadir Guseinov and Alexander Areshchenko, respectively, and qualify for the next stage. Yu Yangyi, on the contrary, could not strike back against Sergey Karjakin as the Russian obtained advantage and accepted a draw in better position.
Radoslaw Wojtaszek earned some advantage with white pieces, forcing his opponent Julio Granda Zuniga to sacrifice an exchange. The play got sharper and the Peruvian representative made several mistakes which led him to defeat and elimination from the World Cup.
In an innocuous middlegame Peter Leko, unusually for him, defended meekly and allowed Anish Giri to make substantial progress. The Dutch jumped on the opportunity, seized the initiative and shortly concluded the game.
Speaking of the players who won the first game yesterday, Fabiano Caruana and local star Shakhriyar Mamedyarov held the ground with black, achieving draws, and qualifying for the next round where they will meet each other.
Pavel Eljanov won all six games since the beginning of the World Cup, without conceding a single draw. He won the return game against Alexander Grischuk, to knock the 7th-seed out of the competition.
Seven matches will be settled in the games with quick time control.
Some of the round 4 pairings are already known: Chinese derby Ding Liren – Wei Yi, Giri – Wojtaszek, Eljanov – Jakovenko, Caruana – Mamedyarov.
The total prize fund of the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup is 1,6 million USD. In addition, the tournament also awards two places in the 2016 Candidates Tournament, part of the FIDE World Championship cycle.
The players are getting 100% of their prizes, not 80% as most are quoting. This is because the Organizers paid the FIDE share on top of the Prize Fund.
Full set of results and pgn files can be found on http://www.bakuworldcup2015.
Photo gallery is available at http://www.bakuworldcup2015.
According to the Regulations (3.8 Tie-breaks), after a new drawing of colors, two tie-break games with the time control 25min + 10sec will be played.
If the scores are still level, then, after a new drawing of colors, a match of two games with the time control 10min + 10sec will be played.
In case of a level score, another match of two games will be played, with a blitz time control of 5min + 3sec.
If still there is no winner, one sudden-death game will be played. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the opponent with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of 3 seconds for each move from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.
Anish Giri is through to the next round
Grischuk and Eljanov
Lu Shanglei held Veselin Topalov and the match will be decided in tie-break
The match between the finalists of 2013 FIDE World Cup
Teimour Radjabov and Peter Svidler made a quick draw, moving on to rapid tie-breaks
Wei Yi qualified to the next round
Dmitry Jakovenko analyzing his game with Emil Sutovsky
Sergey Karjakin interviewed after the game
Wesley So started the press conference by praising the playing conditions in Baku
