Chess World Cup 2019

FIDE Chess World Cup 2019

2019 FIDE World Cup winner Teimour Radjabov.
Tournament information
Sport	Chess
Location	Khanty-Mansiysk
Dates	9 September 2019–4 October 2019
Administrator(s)	FIDE
Tournament format(s)	Single elimination tournament
Host(s)	Chess Federation of Russia
Final positions
Champion	Teimour Radjabov
Runner-up	Ding Liren
← Chess World Cup 2017 Chess World Cup 2021 →

The Chess World Cup 2019 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 9 September to 4 October 2019.^[1] It was won by Azerbaijani grandmaster Teimour Radjabov. He and the runner-up, Ding Liren, both qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2020. It was the 8th edition of the Chess World Cup.

Levon Aronian, the winner of the Chess World Cup 2017, advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on tiebreaks. Vachier-Lagrave was eliminated by Radjabov in the semi-finals, but defeated Yu Yangyi to claim 3rd place.

Bidding process[]

There was only one bid received for the combined FIDE World Cup and Olympiad events, which was done by the Yugra Chess Federation.^[2]

Format[]

The tournament was a 7-round knockout event. The matches from round 1 to round 6 consisted of two classical games with a time control of 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. The finals and the match for the third place consisted of four classical games.^[3]

If the score is tied after the classical games, rapid and, if necessary, blitz tiebreaks are played the next day. Two games are played with a time control of 25 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment. In the case of a tie, they are followed by two games with a time control of 10 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment. If the score is still tied, two blitz games follow (5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment). If the score is tied 4–4 after all these games, a single "Armageddon" game is played: the player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the colour; White has 5 minutes per game and Black has 4 minutes, with an increment of 2 seconds per move starting from move 61, and White needs a win to advance to the next round; Black advances if they win or the game is drawn.^[3]

The two top finishers qualified for the 2020 Candidates Tournament.^[4] The rules in fact specified that it would be the top two finishers other than Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, because Carlsen as World Champion does not play in the Candidates, and Caruana had already qualified for the Candidates. The rule was introduced because the World Champion and the previous challenger unexpectedly signed up for the previous edition Chess World Cup 2017. This time, though, Carlsen and Caruana both declined their invitations to the World Cup, so the qualifiers are simply the two finalists.

Schedule[]

Each of the first six rounds took three days: one day each for the two regular time limit games and then a third day for tiebreaks, if required. The final round has four days of regular time limit games and then a fifth day for tiebreaks, if required.^[3]

• Round 1: 10 September – 12 September
• Round 2: 13 September – 15 September
• Round 3: 16 September – 18 September
• Rest day: 19 September
• Round 4: 20 September – 22 September
• Round 5: 23 September – 25 September
• Round 6: 26 September – 28 September
• Rest day: 29 September
• Final and play-off for third place: 30 September – 4 October

Prize money[]

The total prize fund was US$1,600,000, with the first prize of US$110,000.^[3]

Round	(US$) Prize received	(US$)Total
Round 1	64 × 6,000	384,000
Round 2	32 × 10,000	320,000
Round 3	16 × 16,000	256,000
Round 4	8 × 25,000	200,000
Round 5	4 × 35,000	140,000
4-th place	50,000	50,000
3-rd place	60,000	60,000
Runner-up	80,000	80,000
Winner	110,000	110,000
Total (US$)		1,600,000

Participants[]

The participants^[5] were seeded by their FIDE rating of August 2019. All players are grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.

Number	Name	Country	Rating	Qualification path
1	Ding Liren	China	2805	WC
2	Anish Giri	Netherlands	2779	R
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	France	2778	WC
4	Wesley So	United States	2776	WC
5	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Russia	2774	R
6	Levon Aronian	Armenia	2765	WC
7	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Azerbaijan	2764	R
8	Leinier Domínguez	United States	2763	Z2.1
9	Alexander Grischuk	Russia	2759	R
10	Teimour Radjabov	Azerbaijan	2758	R
11	Vladislav Artemiev	Russia	2757	E19
12	Yu Yangyi	China	2752	R
13	Sergey Karjakin	Russia	2750	R
14	Hikaru Nakamura	United States	2743	Z2.1
15	Dmitry Andreikin	Russia	2743	R
16	Radosław Wojtaszek	Poland	2739	E18
17	Pentala Harikrishna	India	2738	R
18	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	Poland	2730	R
19	Peter Svidler	Russia	2729	R
20	Nikita Vitiugov	Russia	2728	R
21	Wei Yi	China	2727	AS18
22	Le Quang Liem	Vietnam	2726	AS18
23	David Navara	Czech Republic	2724	E18
24	Bu Xiangzhi	China	2721	R
25	Wang Hao	China	2720	R
26	Sam Shankland	United States	2713	AM18
27	Maxim Matlakov	Russia	2710	E18
28	Evgeny Tomashevsky	Russia	2706	R
29	Vidit Gujrathi	India	2705	R
30	Dmitry Jakovenko	Russia	2704	R
31	Jeffery Xiong	United States	2703	Z2.1
32	Alireza Firouzja	Iran	2702	AS19
33	Daniil Dubov	Russia	2699	E19
34	Bassem Amin	Egypt	2692	AF
35	Gawain Jones	England	2692	E18
36	Nils Grandelius	Sweden	2691	E18
37	Michael Adams	England	2690	R
38	Boris Gelfand	Israel	2686	E19
39	Jorge Cori	Peru	2686	AM18
40	Maxim Rodshtein	Israel	2684	E19
41	Ernesto Inarkiev	Russia	2682	E18
42	Luke McShane	England	2682	E18
43	Anton Korobov	Ukraine	2679	E18
44	David Antón Guijarro	Spain	2678	E18
45	Arkadij Naiditsch	Azerbaijan	2675	R
46	Ruslan Ponomariov	Ukraine	2675	E19
47	Tamir Nabaty	Israel	2673	E18
48	Vladimir Fedoseev	Russia	2671	R
49	Kirill Alekseenko	Russia	2668	ON
50	Ferenc Berkes	Hungary	2666	E19
51	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	Germany	2666	E19
52	Samuel Sevian	United States	2665	Z2.1
53	Baskaran Adhiban	India	2665	ACP
54	Ivan Cheparinov	Georgia	2663	E18
55	Sanan Sjugirov	Russia	2662	E18
56	Ivan Šarić	Croatia	2660	E18
57	Kacper Piorun	Poland	2660	E19
58	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	Uzbekistan	2657	Z3.4
59	Parham Maghsoodloo	Iran	2656	J18
60	Alexey Sarana	Russia	2655	E18
61	Anton Demchenko	Russia	2655	E18
62	Igor Kovalenko	Latvia	2654	PN
63	Benjamin Gledura	Hungary	2654	E19
64	Sergei Movsesian	Armenia	2654	E19
65	Grigoriy Oparin	Russia	2654	E19
66	Evgeniy Najer	Russia	2653	E18
67	Constantin Lupulescu	Romania	2652	E19
68	Robert Hovhannisyan	Armenia	2650	E18
69	Alexandr Predke	Russia	2650	E19
70	Maksim Chigaev	Russia	2643	ON
71	Evgeny Bareev	Canada	2643	Z2.2
72	Nijat Abasov	Azerbaijan	2640	E18
73	Benjamin Bok	Netherlands	2640	E18
74	Sandro Mareco	Argentina	2640	Z2.5
75	Ahmed Adly	Egypt	2636	Z4.2
76	Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli	Venezuela	2635	AM19
77	Aryan Tari	Norway	2634	J17
78	Mircea Parligras	Romania	2633	E18
79	Rinat Jumabayev	Kazakhstan	2633	Z3.4
80	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	Vietnam	2631	AS18
81	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	India	2630	AS18
82	S.P. Sethuraman	India	2630	AS19
83	Andrey Esipenko	Russia	2625	E19
84	Niclas Huschenbeth	Germany	2620	E19
85	S.L. Narayanan	India	2618	AS19
86	Abhijeet Gupta	India	2616	AS19
87	Neuris Delgado Ramirez	Paraguay	2612	AM19
88	Karthikeyan Murali	India	2612	AS19
89	Mateusz Bartel	Poland	2612	E19
90	Nihal Sarin	India	2610	PN
91	Lu Shanglei	China	2610	Z3.5
92	Aravindh Chithambaram	India	2607	Z3.7
93	Aleksandr Rakhmanov	Russia	2606	E19
94	Diego Flores	Argentina	2604	AM18
95	Amin Tabatabaei	Iran	2601	AS18
96	Emilio Cordova	Peru	2599	AM18
97	Arman Pashikian	Armenia	2599	E18
98	Igor Lysyj	Russia	2596	E19
99	Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara	Peru	2596	Z2.4
100	Alan Pichot	Argentina	2596	AM19
101	Nikita Petrov	Russia	2595	E19
102	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	Uzbekistan	2594	PN
103	Eltaj Safarli	Azerbaijan	2593	E18
104	Aleksei Pridorozhni	Russia	2591	ON
105	Xu Xiangyu	China	2584	Z3.5
106	Daniil Yuffa	Russia	2571	E18
107	Aleksej Aleksandrov	Belarus	2571	E19
108	Miguel Santos Ruiz	Spain	2567	E18
109	Frode Urkedal	Norway	2566	PN
110	Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera	Cuba	2566	Z2.3
111	Cristobal Henriquez Villagra	Chile	2562	Z2.5
112	Yuri Gonzalez Vidal	Cuba	2554	AM19
113	Johan-Sebastian Christiansen	Norway	2554	E19
114	Krikor Mekhitarian	Brazil	2554	Z2.4
115	Bilel Bellahcene	Algeria	2550	Z4.1
116	Susanto Megaranto	Indonesia	2545	Z3.3
117	Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami	Iran	2539	Z3.1
118	Ilia Iljiushenok	Russia	2533	ON
119	Helgi Dam Ziska	Faroe Islands	2533	PN
120	Paulius Pultinevičius, IM	Lithuania	2485	E19
121	Alder Escobar Forero	Colombia	2477	Z2.3
122	Fy Antenaina Rakotomaharo, IM	Madagascar	2438	Z4.3
123	Essam El Gindy	Egypt	2423	AF
124	Sugar Gan-Erdene, no title	Mongolia	2408	Z3.3
125	Sergio Duran Vega, IM	Costa Rica	2395	AM19
126	Daniel Anwuli, IM	Nigeria	2284	Z4.4
127	Mohammad Fahad Rahman, FM	Bangladesh	2250	Z3.2
128	Shaun Press, FM	Papua New Guinea	1954	Z3.6

Qualification paths[]

Replacements[]

• Players from the list of qualifiers^[6] who declined to play:
  •  Magnus Carlsen (NOR) (World champion)
  •  Ju Wenjun (CHN) (WWC) (decided to instead participate in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2019–20)
  •  Viswanathan Anand (IND) (who decided to instead focus on qualifying for the Candidates via the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019^[7])
  •  Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) (retired from top level chess in January 2019)
  •  Richárd Rapport (HUN)
  •  Veselin Topalov (BUL) (R)
• Their replacements, all from the ratings list, were:
  •  Dmitry Andreikin (RUS)
  •  Arkadij Naiditsch (AZE)
  •  Vidit Gujrathi (IND)
  •  Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS)
  •  Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS)
  •  Michael Adams (ENG) (R)
• Other replacements:
  •  Fabiano Caruana (USA) (Z2.1) → replaced by  Alan Pichot (ARG) (AM19) (the next player in Z2.1 did not attain the required score of 50%, so the position passed on to the AM19)
  •  Max Illingworth (AUS) (Z3.6) (retired) → replaced by  Shaun Press (PNG) (Z3.6). This made Press the lowest rated player to play in a Chess World Cup.^[8]
  •  Salem A. R. Saleh (UAE) (PN) → replaced by  Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) (PN)

Results, rounds 1–4[]

Section 1[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Fourth round
	1	Ding Liren	2
	128	Shaun Press	0
						1	Ding Liren	2½
						64	Sergei Movsesian	1½
	65	Grigoriy Oparin	½
	64	Sergei Movsesian	1½
											1	Ding Liren	3
											32	Alireza Firouzja	1
	33	Daniil Dubov	1½
	96	Emilio Cordova	½
						33	Daniil Dubov	½
						32	Alireza Firouzja	1½
	97	Arman Pashikian	½
	32	Alireza Firouzja	1½
																1	Ding Liren	3
																49	Kirill Alekseenko	1
	17	Pentala Harikrishna	2
	112	Yuri Gonzalez Vidal	0
						17	Pentala Harikrishna	1½
						48	Vladimir Fedoseev	½
	81	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2
	48	Vladimir Fedoseev	4
											17	Pentala Harikrishna	0
											49	Kirill Alekseenko	2
	49	Kirill Alekseenko	1½
	80	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	½
						49	Kirill Alekseenko	2½
						113	Johan-Sebastian Christiansen	1½
	113	Johan-Sebastian Christiansen	2
	16	Radosław Wojtaszek	0

Section 2[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Fourth round
	9	Alexander Grischuk	2
	120	Paulius Pultinevičius	0
						9	Alexander Grischuk	2½
						73	Benjamin Bok	1½
	73	Benjamin Bok	2½
	56	Ivan Šarić	1½
											9	Alexander Grischuk	2
											105	Xu Xiangyu	0
	41	Ernesto Inarkiev	1½
	88	Karthikeyan Murali	½
						41	Ernesto Inarkiev	½
						105	Xu Xiangyu	1½
	105	Xu Xiangyu	3½
	24	Bu Xiangzhi	2½
																9	Alexander Grischuk	2½
																8	Leinier Domínguez	1½
	25	Wang Hao	3½
	104	Aleksei Pridorozhni	2½
						25	Wang Hao	1½
						40	Maxim Rodshtein	½
	89	Mateusz Bartel	½
	40	Maxim Rodshtein	1½
											25	Wang Hao	3½
											8	Leinier Domínguez	4½
	57	Kacper Piorun	3½
	72	Nijat Abasov	4½
						72	Nijat Abasov	1
						8	Leinier Domínguez	3
	121	Alder Escobar Forero	0
	8	Leinier Domínguez	2

Section 3[]

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

5

Ian Nepomniachtchi

2

124

Sugar Gan-Erdene

0

5

Ian Nepomniachtchi

1½

69

Alexandr Predke

½

69

Alexandr Predke

2½

60

Alexey Sarana

1½

5

Ian Nepomniachtchi

5

28

Evgeny Tomashevsky

3

37

Michael Adams

3½

92

Aravindh Chithambaram

4½

92

Aravindh Chithambaram

½

28

Evgeny Tomashevsky

1½

101

Nikita Petrov

1½

28

Evgeny Tomashevsky

2½

5

Ian Nepomniachtchi

½

12

Yu Yangyi

1½

21

Wei Yi

1½

108

Miguel Santos Ruiz

½

21

Wei Yi

2½

44

David Antón Guijarro

1½

85

S.L. Narayanan

1½

44

David Antón Guijarro

2½

21

Wei Yi

1½

12

Yu Yangyi

2½

53

Baskaran Adhiban

1½

76

Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli

½

53

Baskaran Adhiban

1½

12

Yu Yangyi

2½

117

Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami

2½

12

Yu Yangyi

3½

Section 4[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Fourth round
	13	Sergey Karjakin	1½
	116	Susanto Megaranto	½
						13	Sergey Karjakin	2
						52	Samuel Sevian	0
	77	Aryan Tari	½
	52	Samuel Sevian	1½
											13	Sergey Karjakin	½
											20	Nikita Vitiugov	1½
	45	Arkadij Naiditsch	0
	84	Niclas Huschenbeth	2
						84	Niclas Huschenbeth	1
						20	Nikita Vitiugov	3
	109	Frode Urkedal	½
	20	Nikita Vitiugov	1½
																20	Nikita Vitiugov	1½
																4	Wesley So	½
	29	Vidit Gujrathi	1½
	100	Alan Pichot	½
						29	Vidit Gujrathi	1½
						93	Aleksandr Rakhmanov	½
	93	Aleksandr Rakhmanov	1½
	36	Nils Grandelius	½
											29	Vidit Gujrathi	½
											4	Wesley So	1½
	61	Anton Demchenko	1½
	68	Robert Hovhannisyan	½
						61	Anton Demchenko	½
						4	Wesley So	1½
	125	Sergio Duran Vega	0
	4	Wesley So	2

Section 5[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Fourth round
	3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2
	126	Daniel Anwuli	0
						3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2
						62	Igor Kovalenko	0
	67	Constantin Lupulescu	1½
	62	Igor Kovalenko	2½
											3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	4½
											30	Dmitry Jakovenko	3½
	35	Gawain Jones	1½
	94	Diego Flores	½
						35	Gawain Jones	1
						30	Dmitry Jakovenko	3
	99	Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara	0
	30	Dmitry Jakovenko	2
																3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	1½
																19	Peter Svidler	½
	19	Peter Svidler	1½
	110	Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera	½
						19	Peter Svidler	3
						83	Andrey Esipenko	1
	83	Andrey Esipenko	1½
	46	Ruslan Ponomariov	½
											19	Peter Svidler	2½
											51	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	1½
	51	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	2½
	78	Mircea Parligras	1½
						51	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	1½
						14	Hikaru Nakamura	½
	115	Bilel Bellahcene	1
	14	Hikaru Nakamura	3

Section 6[]

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

11

Vladislav Artemiev

1½

118

Ilia Iljiushenok

½

11

Vladislav Artemiev

1½

54

Ivan Cheparinov

½

75

Ahmed Adly

½

54

Ivan Cheparinov

1½

11

Vladislav Artemiev

2½

22

Le Quang Liem

3½

43

Anton Korobov

4

86

Abhijeet Gupta

2

43

Anton Korobov

½

22

Le Quang Liem

1½

107

Aleksej Aleksandrov

1½

22

Le Quang Liem

2½

22

Le Quang Liem

2½

6

Levon Aronian

3½

27

Maxim Matlakov

2½

102

Nodirbek Abdusattorov

1½

27

Maxim Matlakov

2½

38

Boris Gelfand

1½

91

Lu Shanglei

2

38

Boris Gelfand

4

27

Maxim Matlakov

½

6

Levon Aronian

1½

59

Parham Maghsoodloo

2

70

Maksim Chigaev

0

59

Parham Maghsoodloo

½

6

Levon Aronian

1½

123

Essam El Gindy

½

6

Levon Aronian

1½

Section 7[]

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

7

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

2

122

Fy Antenaina Rakotomaharo

0

7

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

1½

58

Rustam Kasimdzhanov

½

71

Evgeny Bareev

½

58

Rustam Kasimdzhanov

1½

7

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

1½

103

Eltaj Safarli

½

39

Jorge Cori

0

90

Nihal Sarin

2

90

Nihal Sarin

1½

103

Eltaj Safarli

2½

103

Eltaj Safarli

3½

26

Sam Shankland

2½

7

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

2½

10

Teimour Radjabov

3½

23

David Navara

½

106

Daniil Yuffa

1½

106

Daniil Yuffa

5

42

Luke McShane

3

87

Neuris Delgado Ramirez

1½

42

Luke McShane

2½

106

Daniil Yuffa

½

10

Teimour Radjabov

1½

55

Sanan Sjugirov

2½

74

Sandro Mareco

1½

55

Sanan Sjugirov

1½

10

Teimour Radjabov

2½

119

Helgi Dam Ziska

½

10

Teimour Radjabov

1½

Section 8[]

	First round					Second round					Third round					Fourth round
	15	Dmitry Andreikin	2½
	114	Krikor Mekhitarian	1½
						15	Dmitry Andreikin	1½
						79	Rinat Jumabayev	½
	79	Rinat Jumabayev	1½
	50	Ferenc Berkes	½
											15	Dmitry Andreikin	½
											18	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	1½
	47	Tamir Nabaty	3
	82	S.P. Sethuraman	1
						47	Tamir Nabaty	0
						18	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	2
	111	Cristobal Henriquez Villagra	½
	18	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	1½
																18	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	3½
																31	Jeffery Xiong	4½
	31	Jeffery Xiong	2
	98	Igor Lysyj	0
						31	Jeffery Xiong	3
						95	Amin Tabatabaei	1
	95	Amin Tabatabaei	2½
	34	Bassem Amin	1½
											31	Jeffery Xiong	3½
											2	Anish Giri	2½
	63	Benjamin Gledura	½
	66	Evgeniy Najer	1½
						66	Evgeniy Najer	4
						2	Anish Giri	5
	127	Mohammad Fahad Rahman	0
	2	Anish Giri	2

Results, rounds 5–7[]

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final (best of 4)
	1	Ding Liren	1½
	9	Alexander Grischuk	½
						1	Ding Liren	2½
						12	Yu Yangyi	1½
	12	Yu Yangyi	5
	20	Nikita Vitiugov	4
											1	Ding Liren	4
											10	Teimour Radjabov	6
	3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2½
	6	Levon Aronian	1½
						3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	½		Third place
						10	Teimour Radjabov	1½
	10	Teimour Radjabov	1½								12	Yu Yangyi	2
	31	Jeffery Xiong	½								3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	4

Third place[]

Seed	Name	Aug 2019 rating	1	2	3	4	R1	R2	Total
12	Yu Yangyi	2752	½	½	½	½	0	0	2
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2778	½	½	½	½	1	1	4

Finals[]

Seed	Name	Aug 2019 rating	1	2	3	4	R1	R2	R3	R4	B1	B2	Total
1	Ding Liren	2805	½	1	0	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	4
10	Teimour Radjabov	2758	½	0	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	6

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Pairings tree (PDF). FIDE. 10 August 2019.
• FIDE World Cup 2019 (Games and Results) at The Week in Chess