Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Levon Aronian, Anton Shevchenko and Dmitrij Kollars have been the star performers within the ChessKid Cup Play-In and can now be part of Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov within the high division of the primary occasion that runs Could 22-26. The ChessKid Cup is the third match on the $2 million 2023 Champions Chess Tour.

Magnus Carlsen won’t be taking part in within the ChessKid Cup, which meant there have been 5 reasonably than 4 locations in Division I up for grabs throughout the gruelling Play-In on Could 1st.

As soon as once more there was a giant 9-round 10+2 Swiss, open to all grandmasters and different qualifiers, earlier than the highest finishers performed two-game matches to determine the spots in the primary occasion. Essentially the most bold aim was to complete within the high 10 and get the possibility to play for a spot in Division I.

The gamers who managed have been the next, with Alireza Firouzja, Jules Moussard, Aleksandr Shimanov and Jorden van Foreest scoring 7/9, whereas the remaining gamers scored 6.5/9. Georg Meier, Raunak Sadhwani, Pavel Eljanov and Tuan Minh Le additionally scored 6.5/9, however have been unfortunate to overlook out on tiebreaks.

The twist in these Play-Ins is that the highest 5 gamers get to decide on, so as, who they wish to play out of the gamers who completed sixth to tenth. That didn’t work out so properly, as three of the 5 gamers misplaced their matches.

Let’s check out how gamers certified for Division I of the ChessKid Cup, beginning with the established stars.

Alireza Firouzja 2:1 David Anton

Alireza Firouzja remains to be simply 19, however the world no. 4 has lengthy been established as one of many biggest pure abilities the sport has ever seen. He hasn’t, maybe surprisingly, been such a drive in on-line chess, however this time, from the second his first spherical opponent Rudik Makarian blundered with 33…Ng4?, he didn’t look again.

34.Rg8+! Kf6 35.Rxg4 was the form of tactic Alireza wasn’t going to overlook, and Black resigned reasonably taking part in on a chunk down after 35…fxg4 36.Kxe4.

Alireza went on to rack up a 5.5/6 rating earlier than easing off with three attracts and nonetheless taking first place.

The win over David Anton was a 24-move miniature which might be doubly vital. First, it got here in opposition to a 27-year-old Spaniard who had simply performed an outstanding sport of his personal.

18…Bxh3! was the beginning of a brutal assault that may culminate in checkmate, two rooks down, ten strikes later.

The second motive Firouzja’s win over Anton was necessary was that Alireza then selected for them to play once more within the match play. That might have backfired, as Anton had some stress within the first two video games, however then Alireza dominated the Armageddon. With three minutes much less on the clock and needing solely a draw with the black items, he went on to win simply. David Anton qualifies for Division II.

Anish Giri 2:0 Jorden van Foreest

Anish Giri made the notorious 14-move Berlin draw in opposition to Alireza Firouzja within the closing spherical of the Swiss, however it could be exhausting to carry that in opposition to him, because it was his solely draw all day!

Anish completed sixth, in order that it was his Dutch compatriot Jorden van Foreest who selected to play him in a match, whereas Dmitry Andreikin was the opposite possibility. Possibly Jorden recalled beating Anish in tiebreaks to win the 2021 Tata Metal Masters, or maybe it was simply trolling, however in any case, it didn’t work out properly.

Within the first sport Anish acquired to sacrifice a knight and two rooks in a crushing assault with the black items, whereas the second sport was over in simply 21 strikes.

Jorden has simply defended in opposition to Nxf6 and Qxh6, however solely to arrange one other win. 21.Nxf6+! and Jorden resigned reasonably than see 21…gxf6 22.Qe4+, forking the king and a8-rook, on the board. Anish had a convincing motive for why he’d certified for the occasion.

Levon Aronian 1.5:0.5 Dmitry Andreikin

Levon Aronian bounced again from being knocked out of the Chessable Masters by Magnus Carlsen to qualify once more. His Swiss efficiency was clean, till he misplaced to Aleksandr Shimanov, however he bounced straight again by beating certainly one of his nice rivals, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, within the very subsequent spherical.

Levon had additionally taken down Dmitry Andreikin, in order that he can’t have been too disenchanted when he was left taking part in the identical opponent once more (because the fifth-placed participant, Levon didn’t get a selection within the matter). The curiosity was that the sport within the Swiss and the primary sport of the match play adopted the identical theme — Dmitry misplaced a chunk after taking a poisoned pawn on e5.

That occurred on transfer 15 within the first sport, whereas he did the identical a transfer later within the match play, with 16…Bxe5?

This was a lot trickier, however after 17.Rfe1! f6?! 18.Rxe5! fxe5 19.Ng6 Rg8 20.Nxe5 Qd5 21.Nxc4 Levon had a very successful place.

Within the second sport, Levon comfortably achieved the draw he wanted to clinch the match.

The remaining two matches featured much less well-known gamers.

Kirill Shevchenko 2:1 Aleksandr Shimanov

20-year-old Ukrainian Grandmaster Kirill Shevchenko, who now represents Romania, started the Swiss with a loss to Peruvian IM Renato Terry, however a later run of 5 wins in a row noticed him squeeze into the Division I matches in tenth place.

His opponent, Aleksandr Shimanov, was a revelation within the Swiss, beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Anish Giri and Levon Aronian.

Within the first sport of the match he was a whisker away from one other large win. The place after 72.Nxd3 is successful for White…

…although it’s a kind of positions that with finest play can’t be gained within the 50 strikes you’ve gotten earlier than a draw is asserted. Excellent play is inconceivable in a fast sport, however in any case the sport was declared drawn on transfer 122, with the identical items on the board and a win nonetheless far within the distance.

The 2nd sport additionally featured a giant likelihood for Shimanov after an en-passant seize gone unsuitable, however which may not have mattered as Aleksandr once more had loads of successful probabilities within the Armageddon sport. Ultimately it got here right down to discovering a successful Qg8+ useful resource… which Kirill lastly noticed, on the third time of asking!

The least well-known participant to qualify for Division I is 23-year-old German Grandmaster Dmitrij Kollars.

Dmitrij Kollars 1.5:0.5 Jules Moussard

Dmitrij Kollars was certainly one of simply three gamers to finish the day unbeaten — the others have been Alireza Firouzja and Vladimir Fedoseev, although Vladimir solely certified for Division II. Dmitrij scored simply 4 wins within the Swiss, however certainly one of them was in opposition to Liem Le.

French GM Jules Moussard predictably did issues extra dramatically, as he scored six wins, and one loss, to take second place. Jules was then on the verge of beating Dmitrij of their first sport, earlier than lacking one element.

49.gxf4! wins an important pawn, for the reason that black rook can’t cease defending the bishop on c6, whereas after 49.Rxf6?! Kollars had the zwischenzug 49…fxg3+! earlier than capturing the rook. It nonetheless regarded as if White would possibly triumph, however Dmitrij was capable of maintain a study-like place by giving up his bishop for one of many white queenside pawns.

Then Dmitrij clinched the match with the white items in a pointy Sicilian battle that in the end led to checkmate.

So we now have the total line-up for Division I of the ChessKid Cup that runs Could 22-26 (the seedings are primarily based on the Swiss standings, aside from the highest three, who certified from the Chessable Masters).

As at all times in such occasions, there have been star names who missed out, together with the likes of Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer and Leinier Dominguez.

One notable storyline was that of Sam Sevian, who missed the primary three rounds earlier than powering to six/6 and a playoff for a spot in Division II. When he then made it a seventh win in a row by beating none apart from Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, he having a surprising day.

As you may see, nonetheless, Shakh hit again, first delivering a shock checkmate in what had appeared a technical endgame a pawn up, earlier than then successful on demand with the white items within the Armageddon.

The ChessKid Cup begins at 17:00 CEST on Could twenty second.

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