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World Rapid Team 2024 R1-4: Rapport stuns Magnus in 23 moves, helps Chessy crush WR Chess

by Shahid Ahmed - 03/08/2024

The Artist, Richard Rapport scored a sensational win over Magnus Carlsen to ensure his team Chessy's crushing victory over WR Chess. The Hungary no.1 who is known to play creative and exciting chess, surprised the World no.1 in the opening. Delaying the castle and keeping his king stranded at the center of the board allowed Rapport to score a win. The defending champion WR Chess succumbed to Chessy 1-5 after barely managing to win their previous two rounds. Meanwhile, the sole leader Chessy is looking very strong and balanced as they won all four matches to emerge sole leader 8/8. Vidit is the only player of Chessy who lost both games. Decade China Team and Al-Ain ACMG UAE are trailing by a point at 7/8 each. Round 5 starts today at 2:30 p.m. local time, 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Chessy makes a perfect start

Chessy has gained an early sole lead 8/8. They have been very dominant as they scored a minimum four game points in their victories. The All-Indian MGD1 is at 6/8.

Richard Rapport (Chessy) scored a fantastic win over Magus Carlsen (WR Chess) | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The inaugural edition of FIDE World Rapid Team Championship will take place from 26th to 28th August 2023

Round 1: A relatively smooth start for the top seeds

GM Boris Grachev (GMs Kazakhstan, 2591) defeated former World Rapid champion, GM Daniil Dubov (Al-Ai ACMG UAE, 2716). All top seed teams scored convincing wins in the first round as expected.

Kyrgyz Chess Academy - WR Chess Team: 0-6 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Decade China Team - Astana 2: 5.5-0.5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Helicopter - Chessy: 1-5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Team MGD1 - Chess Ratel: 4.55-1.5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Round 1 in progress | Photo: FIDE/Ruslan Mazunin

Round 2: WR Chess barely manages to win against Royal Chess

WR Chess defeated Royal Chess by a minimum margin 3.5-2.5. Astana-1 got whitewashed by Decade China Team 0-6. Chessy thrashed FIDE Management Board 4.5-1.5. World Champions Higher School got humbled by Team MGD1 1-5.

Yakubboev - Abdusattorov

Position after 53.f3

The above pawn endgame should end up in a draw with correct play. However, Abdusattorov decided to test his opponent 53...g4 54.Kd3 gxf3 55.Ke3?? Kg4 -+ and Black won the game in the next few moves. 55.h3 is what White needed to play to prevent the king invasion before going Ke3 to draw the game.

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (WR Chess) - GM Javokhir Sindarov (Royal Chess): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

WR Chess - Royal Chess: 3.5-2.5

Replay WR Chess - Royal Chess games

Astana 1 - Decade China Team: 0-6 | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Why were Richard Rapport and Nigel Short smiling before the game? | Video: ChessBase India

Chessy - FIDE Management Board: 4.5-1.5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

World Champions Higher School - MGD1: 1-5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Round 3: MGD1 gives a scare to WR Chess

The World no.4 Arjun Erigaisi (MGD1, 2671) arrived slightly late for his game against the World no.1, Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2827). He could not land any offense, lost a pawn and the game. S L Narayanan (MGD1, 2595) was almost on the verge of ending his tough form. He had a great opportunity to beat (WR Chess, 2753). GM Harika Dronavalli (MGD1, 2415) won a rollercoaster game against the World no.1 woman, GM Yifan Hou (WR Chess, 2550). Mihir Shah (MGD1, 1954) made a massive turnaround to win a losing game against Wadim Rosenstein (WR Chess, 1887).

Arjun Erigaisi vs Magnus Carlsen - Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Nepomniachtchi - S L Narayanan

Position after 24.Rdd1??

24.Rc4 would have defended the c3-pawn and kept the game going. 24.Rdd1?? created an opportunity for Black bxc3+ 25.Kc1 Rab8 26.Re3 and now Bxc2 would have ended things in the next few moves. It was not easy to spot, especially Black is not in form. 26...Rb2 27.Rxc3 Rfb8 28.Qe3 Bg6 29.h4 Rb1+ 30.Kd2 Rxd1+ 31.Kxd1 Re8 Black's attack dissipated and White eventually went on to win the game.

S L Narayanan's win would have helped him his team MGD1 beat WR Chess | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Raunak Sadhwani - Jan-Krzysztof Duda: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Harika Dronavalli won a thriller against Yifan Hou | Photo: Niklesh Jain

MGD1 almost managed to upset WR Chess | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Wadim Rosenstein vs Mihir Shah, Round 3 | Video: ChessBase India

MGD1 - WR Chess: 2.5-3.5

Replay MGD1 - WR Chess games

Ding Liren vs Hans Niemann - Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Decade China Team - GMHans.com: 4-2 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Round 4: Rapport crushes Carlsen in 23 moves, Chessy squashes WR Chess; MGD1 bounces back

Richard Rapport (Chessy, 2702) surprised Magnus Carlsen (WR Chess, 2827) in the opening with 6...e5.

Carlsen - Rapport

Position after 6...e5

7.dxe5 Nxe5 8.Qe2 Ne4 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.Nf3 Ng6 11.Be3 Bd6 12.Nbd2 0-0 13.Bxd7 Qxd7 14.Rd1 instead 14.0-0-0 would have been the correct choice. 14...Rfe8 now White cannot do 15.0-0 as it runs into Nf4. So 15.Nxe4 Rxe4 now White needed to castle 16.0-0. Delaying it again was not a good idea 16.Ng5 inviting trouble Nf4 17.Qf3 Qb5 18.g3 f6 19.gxf4 fxg5 20.fxg5 Rf8 things started to fall apart for White 21.Qg2 Rfe8 22.Qf1 Qxb2 23.Rd2 and White resigned as checkmate is inevitable.

Richard Rapport comes late and destroys Magnus Carlsen - Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

GM Koneru Humpy (Chessy) handed GM Yifan Hou (WR Chess) her second consecutive loss of the day | Photo: Niklesh Jain

WR Chess - Chessy: 1-5

Replay WR Chess - Chessy games

Al-Ain ACMG UAE - Decade China: 3-3 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Mamedyarov - Arjun

Position after 19.Bxb4??

19.Bxb4?? was an unnecessary sacrifice by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Kazchess, 2687). 19.Ng3 Rxc5 20.Qa4 would have been fine for White. Arjun Erigaisi (MGD1, 2671) seized his opportunity 19...dxe4 and Black went on to win the game comfortably.

Arjun Erigaisi - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Arjun Erigaisi spearheaded MGD1 to an emphatic victory over Kazchess | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Kazchess - MGD1: 1.5-4.5

Replay Kazchess - Team MGD1 games

Daniil Dubov - Ding Liren, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India
Nihal Sarin - Nigel Short, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Ashdod Chess Club - FIDE Management Board: 5-1 | Photo: Niklesh Jain
He is retired from chess, but checkmated Vidit with a queen sacrifice - Mohd. Al Mudahka | Video: ChessBase India
This 36-year-old billionaire is making Kazakhstan a chess superpower - Timur Turlov | Video: ChessBase India

Replay live commentary

Replay Live Commentary of Round 1-4 by GMs Peter Leko (HUN), Evgenij Miroshnichenko (UKR) and Irina Krush (USA) | Video: FIDE

Team composition

Each team will consist of at least six and maximum nine players. Apart from having to include at least one female player, just like last year, teams will have to include a recreational player, who has never achieved a Standard, Rapid or Blitz FIDE rating of 2000 or more. It is not mandatory for the teams to have board order as per rating. For more details, please check the tournament regulations, link provided at the end of the article.

Format

The 12-round Swiss League team event has a time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment from move no.1. There is no default time. No penalty shall be imposed on a player if he/she is late for any of his/her games. Scoring is usual for a team event. Match points: Win = 2, Draw = 1 and Loss = 0.

Replay Round 1-4 games

Round 4 results

No.SNoTeamMPRes.:Res.MPTeamSNo
11WR Chess Team *)61:56Chessy3
24Al-Ain ACMG UAE63:36Decade China Team2
35Kazchess6:4Team MGD16
47Ashdod Chess Club45:14FIDE Management Board12
58GMHans.com44:24Theme International Trading14
615World Champions Higher School4:4Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow9
716Rookies43:34Royal Chess10
811Astana-14:4Hunnu Air17
913Teniz Kazakhstan3:4Greco18
1026Noval Group Kyrgystan3:4Egypt19

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.SNoTeamGames  +   =   -  TB1  TB2  TB3 
13Chessy440087218,5
22Decade China Team431078118,5
34Al-Ain ACMG UAE431077117
46Team MGD1430166216,5
59Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow430165616,5
67Ashdod Chess Club430165517
75Kazchess430165316,5
81WR Chess Team4301646,514
98GMHans.com430164413,5
1011Astana-1430162811,5

Details

Round 5 pairings

No.SNoTeamMPRes.:Res.MPTeamSNo
11WR Chess Team *)6:7Al-Ain ACMG UAE4
23Chessy8:7Decade China Team2
38GMHans.com6:6Kazchess5
46Team MGD16:6Q4Rail Kingsofchess Krakow9
511Astana-16:6Ashdod Chess Club7
610Royal Chess5:5Noval Group Kyrgystan26
716Rookies5:5Teniz Kazakhstan13
812FIDE Management Board4:4Astana-221
914Theme International Trading4:4GMs Kazahhstan23
1024Storm of Dragons4:4World Champions Higher School15

Details

Schedule

Venue

The venue for the event will be Congress Center in Astana, Kazakhstan

Prize

The total prize fund is €250000 in Rapid and €100000 in Blitz. There are six prizes in Rapid - top five and one rating category. The top three prizes are: €100000, 60000 and 40000 each respectively. Best U2400 will earn €12500. For Blitz, there are four prizes with a total of €100000. They are - €40000, €25000, €17500 and €17500 each.

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

Blitz Pool Process Regulations



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