FIDE World Cup 2023 R1.1: A great start for India
Indian contingent have made a great start at FIDE World Cup and Women's World Cup 2023. Nine out of 17 Indians are playing in the first round. All of them remained undefeated. GM Harsha Bharathakoti, GM S L Narayanan, GM Abhimanyu Puranik, WGM Mary Ann Gomes and IM Divya Deshmukh have won their respective first game. They all need a draw each in the second game to advance to the second round. GM Adhiban B, GM Karthik Venkataraman, WGM Nandhidhaa P V and WGM Priyanka Nutakki drew their respective games. Who all do you think will advance to the next round without needing tie-breaks? Round 1.2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. All photos are by Shahid Ahmed unless stated otherwise.
Nandhidhaa misses a win
Harsha was playing on the last board, which is actually the strongest board as the rating difference was minimum among all 76 boards. The same logic is applicable in the Women's event too. There were a quite a few lower rated players who held their stronger opponent to either a draw or defeated them.
Harsha - Levan: 1-0
GM Harsha Bharathakoti (2563) had a tough challenge in the form of GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO, 2564). Their head-to-head score in Classical rated games was 1-1 before this game. Both of them have crossed 2600 before, so it was going to be a great battle.
Harsha likes to play imbalanced/volatile positions. So 17...Qxf5 created the opportunity he was looking for 18.Ng5 Qg6 19.Ne6 Nb6 20.Bd3 e4 21.Nc7+ the position was absolutely in White's wheelhouse. He had no trouble converting his advantage into a win.
Nandhidhaa - Tianqi
WGM Nandhidhaa P V (2329) got herself a great opportunity to win against WIM Tianqi Yan (CHN, 2277). However, she missed it. White played 50.Re6 Rg3 and the game meandered into a draw. 51.Rg7is what White needed to play to win the game.
Highlights
One of the most exciting win of the round 1.1 was scored by 14-year-old IM Ediz Gurel (TUR, 2500) against GM Velimir Ivic (SRB, 2590).
21...Bxc5 was a mistake. Try to think like the strong teenager and find out the best continuation.
Video Gallery
Some nice finishes
Photo Gallery
Round 1.1 results
GM Harsha Bharathakoti - GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO): 1-0
GM S L Narayanan - IM Providence Oatlhotse (BOT): 1-0
GM Luis Fernando Ibarra Chami (MEX) - GM Abhimanyu Puranik: 0-1
GM Hendersson de La Fuente (AND) - GM Adhiban B: 0.5-0.5
GM Karthik Venkataraman - GM Gregory Kaidanov (USA): 0.5-0.5
WGM Nandhidhaa P V - WIM Tianqi Yan (CHN): 0.5-0.5
WGM Yaniela Forgas Moreno (CUB) - WGM Mary Ann Gomes: 0-1
IM Marina Brunello (ITA) - WGM Priyanka Nutakki: 0.5-0.5
IM Divya Deshmukh - WIM Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa (MAS): 1-0
Round 2 fast track
GM Eric Hansen (CAN), GM Christopher Yoo (USA) and IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL) did not show up after registering. As a result, their respective opponents - Sri Lanka no.1 IM L M S T De Silva (SRI), Renjie Huang (CHN) and Egypt no.2 woman, WGM Khaled Mona advanced to the Round 2.
A total of 76 games were played in the Open and 38 in Women in Round 1.1
