8/6/2023 – Magnus Carlsen, Leinier Dominguez and Parham Maghsoodloo were the three 2700+ players who kicked off with a win in round 3 of the FIDE World Cup. Meanwhile, Daniele Vocaturo and Ivan Schitco upset higher-rated opponents, and Peter Svidler obtained a good-looking, 27-move win over Jorden van Foreest. Among the women, there were no big upsets, as the Muzychuk sisters had a good day — Mariya won and Anna escaped with a draw. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
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Upsets by Schitco and Vocaturo
Round 3 in the open section of the World Cup kicked off with 10 (out of 32) decisive games. Most of them were achieved either by the higher-rated contender or in matches facing two players with roughly the same level rating-wise.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
Out of the very top seeds, only Magnus Carlsen (1st seed) and Leinier Dominguez (11th seed) grabbed wins on Saturday. These were the non-shocking (rating-wise) decisive results from the day:
Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2835) beat Aryan Tari (Norway, 2641)
Vincent Keymer (Germany, 2690) beat Amin Tabatabaei (Iran, 2689)
Rasmus Svane (Germany, 2625) beat Tin Jingyao (Singapore, 2573)
Peter Svidler (FIDE, 2688) beat Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands, 2693)
Saleh Salem (UAE, 2661) beat Bardiya Daneshvar (Iran, 2577)
Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran, 2719) beat Alexander Donchenko (Germany, 2668)
Praggnanandhaa (India, 2690) beat David Navara (Czechia, 2689)
Magnus Carlsen is on 3 out of 3 in Baku | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
Meanwhile, the players who got to upset higher-rated opponents were Daniele Vocaturo (Italy, 2609) and Ivan Schitco (Moldova, 2507). Vocaturo got the better of Daniil Dubov, who could not prove that his rook sacrifice gave him enough compensation in a double-edged position.
29.Nc5, leaving the rook on b1 en prise, is correct according to the engines — in fact, the only good move in the position. However, after 29...Qxb1+ 30.Kg2 Qd1 31.Nb7+ Ke7, Dubov failed to find the correct continuation.
Here 31.Qc5+ was the best way to continue harassing the king, intending to go 31...Ke8 32.Nd6+, which prevents Black from ever untangling to make the most of his material advantage. Instead, 31.Qxc7+ was seen in the game, and after 31...Qd7, Black managed to escape the checks and eventually find himself a rook up in an endgame with queens still on the board. Dubov resigned on move 45.
The top boards of the open section | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Schitco, on his part, swindled his way into a win from an equal (or losing) rook endgame against a top-notch grandmaster for a second time in the tournament.
Although Black’s king is active and White needs to be careful, the protected passer on the queenside is definitely the most important asset in the position for either side. The direct 52.a7 won here for Radoslaw Wojtaszek, while his 52.Kd5 prompted a 0.00 evaluation.
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
This was not the end of the story, though, as Wojtaszek faltered again later on and lost the game. Similarly, Schitco had defeated 2711-rated Sam Shankland with black at the start of round 2 after the latter played a one-move blunder in an equal endgame. Fortune has surely smiled on the Moldovan representative!
Ivan Schitco | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
Svidler beats Van Foreest’s Najdorf in 27 moves
Peter Svidler, the winner of the 2011 World Cup and the finalist of the 2015 World Cup, grabbed a good-looking win over Jorden van Foreest with the white pieces.
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
At 47, Svidler later confessed that he prefers not to prepare too much before facing young opponents, since it is almost impossible to predict what they will play. The strategy worked wonders against an over-optimistic Van Foreest on Saturday, as shown by IM Robert Ris in his video below.
The women’s section saw 7 (out of 16) games ending decisively, with no big upsets on the third round’s first day of play. Among the winners were second seed Aleksandra Goryachkina and eighth seed Mariya Muzychuk. Also noteworthy is the fact that 17-year-old Eline Roebers from the Netherlands has so far won all five of her games in Baku. Yesterday, she got the better of Klaudia Kulon.
The full list of decisive results:
Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2511) beat Vaishali Rameshbabu (India, 2431)
On this DVD, well-known Indian WGM Tania Sachdev shows you how to evaluate certain positions and then find the right concepts and plans on the basis of her own games.
Alexandra Kosteniuk is facing Teodora Injac in round 3 | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
In an all-Ukrainian battle, Anna Muzychuk, Mariya’s sister, escaped with a draw from a losing rook endgame against Anna Ushenina.
White here wins with 52.Rh5, while the direct 52.h7, played by Ushenina, spoils the advantage (the opposite of what happened to Wojtaszek in the game shown above). After 52...Rb1+, there is no way for White to escape perpetual check without losing her rook on h2. Draw.
If both Muzychuk sisters advance to round 4, they will be paired against each other. In that case, we might see — hopefully not — a pair of quick draws in their classical encounters.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
London System PowerBase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
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The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
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