Giri, Eljanov, Karjakin, Wei Yi Also Reach World Cup Quarterfinals

Today four more players reached the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup: Anish Giri, Pavel Eljanov, Sergey Karjakin and Wei Yi. They eliminated Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Dmitry Jakovenko, Dmitry Andreikin and Ding Liren respectively.

All photos courtesy of FIDE.

Although the eight tables with boards and pieces were all still there, only four were in use today. Half of field for the quarterfinals was known after two classical games, and today the other half was added.

It was a remarkably short tiebreak day, with three of the four mini-matches being decided after the two rapid games. Only Ding Liren and Wei Yi (who else? ) played two more games (10+10), but then this one was decided as well.

The first player to qualify today was Anish Giri. In the first game he blew Radek Wojtaszek off the board with the white pieces, like the 13th world champion used to do on a good day.

The Dutchman used an idea from a friend (“The guy is gonna find many more ideas, so maybe better not to reveal him!” — Giri) which was 16.Nb5!?. At first sight it looks a bit strange, but in the game it worked out perfectly.

The knight is strong on d6, but also blocks the d-file so c3-c4 became strong. Even though his moves looked normal, the Polish GM was lost as early as move 23.

In the second game Wojtaszek definitely got some chances. Giri admitted he “missed some details” when going for 11...c5, and by move 18 White was a healthy pawn up. However, the choice to play for two rooks vs RBN didn't work out well for Wojtaszek.

During this game there was a remarkable incident: Wojtaszek was given two minutes extra on the clock by the arbiter, because Giri had repeatedly adjusted one of his pieces after he had made a move.

It's hard to believe that the arbiter would have acted if the Nakamura-Nepomniachtchi incident hadn't occurred, but who knows. “I thought I didn't have this habit anymore, but apparently it's still there,” Giri told Chess.com.

Here's an interview with the Dutchman:

In the quarterfinals Giri will face Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman decided that it was time to play his role in the nowadays popular game called “bend the chess rules.” 

For this quarterfinal, 9 draws, and I take black in the last game. Deal @anishgiri ?

— MVL (@Vachier_Lagrave) September 22, 2015

@Vachier_Lagrave @anishgiri the level of creativity...

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) September 22, 2015

@Vachier_Lagrave *, you know my weakness...

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) September 22, 2015

After Dmitry Andreikin took revenge for his lost final in 2013 against Vladimir Kramnik, it was Sergey Karjakin who took revenge for his lost 1/8 final in 2013 against...Andreikin!

This match saw a topsy-turvy first rapid game where first Andreikin got the upper hand with three pawns for a piece. Karjakin then missed a chance for a draw, then a chance for an advantage, and then Andreikin went wrong again. Two bad moves in a row it was over. A tough defeat!

In the second game he had to take risks, but at the end Andreikin was completely lost, and so he had no choice but to accept Sergey Karjakin's situational draw offer.

Pavel Eljanov is playing chess like in his best days. In September 2010 the Ukrainian GM was rated 2761 and briefly the number six player in the world — and whereas six of the eight top 10 players already left the World Cup, Eljanov is still in!

Today he defeated Dmitry Jakovenko, and quite convincingly. First he drew as Black in an ending where Jakovenko had a bishop and two pawns for a rook (and some more pawns for both). Then he didn't give the Russian a chance in the next:

As mentioned above, Ding Liren and Wei Yi started with two draws in the rapid games. The first 10+10 game was another draw, but this one saw one very interesting moment. 

It seemed that Ding was falling for an opening “trap” once played by IM Willy Hendriks, the author of Move First, Think Later. 12.Qg3 is of course a fantastic move to play, but it's not directly winning or anything.

The second game, the sixth between the two Chinese GMs in Baku, was a dramatic affair.

First, Ding missed a direct win on move 20 based on a pinned knight on f6, which went unnoticed. Then he got another chance to profit from the same pinned knight on move 33, but again he missed it.

The oldest of the two got the advantage anyway when Wei Yi started to get really low on time, but eventually Ding himself made the decisive mistake...

The pairings for the quarterfinals are Svidler vs Wei Yi, Vachier-Lagrave vs Giri (left half), Mamedyarov vs Karjakin and Eljanov vs Nakamura (right half).

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2015 World Cup | Round 4 Results