World Cities Team Championship
Results of the 1/8 final:
Baku – Paris 2½-1½
Athens – London 3-1
Chicago – Hogeveen 1-3
Astana – Tashkent 1½-2½
Saratov – Dhaka 3½-½
Lvov – Wu Xi 2-2
Lund – Riga 2-2
Ptuj – Novi Sad 2-2
You could feel the tension as the knockout phase started with the Round-of-16 in the World Cities Chess Team Championship in Al Ain, UAE. Athens, Tashkent, Saratov, Hoogeveen, Baku, Wu Xi, Lund and Novi Sad advance to the Quarterfinals.
The biggest upset was scored by Wu Xi as the Chinese team beat highly favored Lviv. Ji Dan sacrificed a Knight on the 27th move against Ukrainian GM Yuriy Kryuvoruchko to gain two passed pawns in the center. After Ji Dan exchanged Queens, he marched the protected pawns to inevitable promotion and force resignation on the 47th move.
As Li Wenliang and Fang Yuxiang bowed to their superior GM opponents, it was left up to Wang Yue on top board against GM Alexaner Moiseenko. With less than two minutes on the clock in a closed position, Wang Yue opened up the center and penetrated with his Queen and Rook to threaten mate on the 88th move. With the match at 2:2, the tie was broken by the Berlin system which gives more weight to points on the top boards.
First to finish was the match between Lund and Riga. Swede Hans Tikkanen beat Latvian Arturs Neiksans on board 2 but Ilmars Starostits evened the score by beating Axel Smith on 4th board. Draws between Evgeny Sveshnikov of Latvia and Pontus Carlsson of Sweden, and between Normunds Miezis and Nils Grandelius on top board sealed the win by the Berlin System for Lund.
Next to exit was Dhaka which faced the might Saratov team. The Russians scored quickly with wins by Evgeny Romanov and Igor Lysli over Bangladeshi Ahmed Minhazuddin and Ziaur Rahman, respectively. With an earlier draw on top board between Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky and Niaz Murshed, the victory was sealed leaving the last game to finish in the tournament which Evgeny Shaposnikov won against Debaraj Chaterjee.
A jubilant Novi Sad team won over Ptuj of Slovenia on board 1 victory by Serb Ivan Ivanisevic in 39 moves over Luka Lenic. Jure Skoberne countered by beating Dusan Popovic. Draws on middle boards between Serb Robert Markus and Alexander Beljavsky, and between Jure Borisek and Serb Milos Perunovic sealed the win by Berlin System for Novi Sad.
The Hoogeveen team showed Chicago the door as highest rated Anish Giri beat Varuzhan Akobian. Jan Smeets widened the margin by beating American Benjamin Finegold. Two draws between Dutch Ivan Sokolov and Jaan Ehlvest, and between American Robert Hungaski and Sergei Tiviakov gave the Dutch a 3:1 tally.
Tashkent was the next to qualify with a convincing 3:1 score over Astana which saw top board GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev electing not to play against their close neighbors. Saidali Iuldachev beat Kiril Kurderinov while Alexei Barsov beat Anuar Ismagambetov to put Tashkent in the lead. A draw on top board between Uzbek Marat Dzhumaev and Rinad Jumabayev sealed the win even as Pavel Kotsur countered for Astana by beating Andrey Kvon.
Athens surprised London as Greek Stelios Halkias beat Simon Williams. Two draws followed between Brit Zhou Yang Fan and Andreas Tzermiadianos and between David Howell and Greek Hristos Banikas. On top board with a Rook down against Queen, Nigel Short had no winning chances and gave up on the 92nd move.
Finally top seed Paris lost to Baku, Azerbaijan. Young Eltaj Safarli set the tone by holding Frenchman Maxime Vachier Lagrave to a draw by repetition. Rauf Mamedov beat Romain Edouard and Vasif Durarbayli followed suit against Hicham Hamdouchi to give the Azeris the victory even as Laurent Fressinet countered with a win over Gadir Guseinov.
http://worldcitieschess.com/world-cities-18-final/
Go USA!