The third round of the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup was held today at the Fairmont Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, with 32 players that remained in the competition.
The elo differences between the players were not as big as in previous rounds, and consequently many games were drawn.
FIDE World Chess Cup/ Official website / Live games with analysis / Live games with chat / Round 1 pairings/ Round 2 tie-break
Sergey Karjakin opened the score against the former World Junior Champion Yu Yangyi. In an interesting Sicilian game with both kings left in the center, the Chinese player blundered a tactical shot and resigned soon after.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov steamrolled SP Sethuraman in a sharp line of Caro-Kann. The temporary exchange sacrifice allowed white to reach a winning endgame, which he easily converted into full point.
Fabiano Caruana defeated the Canadian GM Anton Kovalyov, who earlier knocked out American’s trainer Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Following the slow-paced middlegame with lots of maneuvers, Caruana finally broke through after the first time control.
In one of the most exciting games of the day Pavel Eljanov stunned the 7th-seed Alexander Grischuk with black pieces. However, Grischuk had a tremendous chance but he failed to spot a victorious move shortly before the time control. In the resulting endgame white tried to set a fortress, but nevertheless the position should be winning for black with precise play.
The remaining 12 games were drawn.
Full set of results and pgn files can be found on http://www.bakuworldcup2015.
Photo gallery is available at http://www.bakuworldcup2015.
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.
Enjoy the photo report below kindly provided by Eteri Kublashvili!
Sergey Karjakin started the 3rd round with a win
Peter Svidler and Teimour Radjabov split the point
Lu Shanglei held Veselin Topalov to a draw
Excitement around Mamedyarov’s board
Pavel Eljanov scored an important win with black pieces
Fabiano Caruana at the post-game press conference
Le Quang Liem helping with the live commentary
Rauf Mamedov joined the Azeri live commentary
Michael Adams joined Emil Sutovsky for the English live commentary
