Fiery Firouzja clinches FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021, Qualifies to the Candidates with Caruana

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/11/2021

Alireza Firouzja drew his final round game against Grigoriy Oparin to win FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021. He has qualified to the FIDE Candidates 2022 along with Fabiano Caruana who also drew his game and finished second. The third to eighth place finishers secured their place in the FIDE Grand Prix. They are - Oparin, Yangyi, Keymer, Vachier-Lagrave, Predke and Shirov. GM Tingjie Lei was already the winner of the first Women's Grand Swiss. Elisabeth Paehtz secured second position, by winning her last round game, she became a Grandmaster, more than a decade after securing her first GM-norm. WGM Jiner Zhu was placed third. Harika and Nihal are the highest placed finishers among Indians. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Harika and Nihal are the top Indian finishers, Vantika scores her maiden IM-norm

Harika and Nihal are the highest placed finishers among Indian players. Both of them remained unbeaten throughout the event. A win in the last round would have given Sasikiran a spot in the next FIDE Grand Prix. He gave his all, it was not enough for him. WGM Vantika Agrawal secured her maiden IM-norm. Indian youngsters Raunak Sadhwani, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa gained Elo rating points.

Top three finishers of Open and Women's Grand Swiss 2021 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021 winner - GM Alireza Firouzja (FRA) | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Interview with Alireza Firouzja, the winner of Grand Swiss 2021 | Video: FIDE

FIDE chess.com Women's Grand Swiss 2021 winner - GM Tingjie Lei (CHN) | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 official logo | Photo: FIDE

Harika scored an unbeaten 7.0/11, gained 6.1 Elo rating points, secured fifth place and won US$10000. She is the highest placed finishers among Indians and now world no.11 among women.

Top Indian performer: 5th in Women's Grand Swiss - GM Harika Dronavalli | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Nihal Sarin remained unbeaten throughout the event. He scored 6.5/11, performed at 2729, gained 11.9 Elo rating points and secured 18th place. He earned US$ 5000 prize. His current live rating is 2661.9 and also world no.81 now.

Top Indian performer - 18th in FIDE Grand Swiss - GM Nihal Sarin | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Nihal's performance has been consistent throughout the event

WGM Vantika Agrawal scored her maiden IM-norm with a phenomenal performance. She scored 6.5/11, performed at 2496, suffering only loss against the former women's world champion and the current Women's World Cup winner, Alexandra Kosteniuk. Vantika also gained 52 Elo rating points, taking her live rating to 2374 becoming India no.6 among women.

Vantika scores her maiden IM-norm, takes her rating to 2374 and becomes India no.6 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Vantika had a phenomenal tournament

A win in the last round would have ensured a spot in the FIDE Grand Prix but it was not meant to be for Sasikiran, as he lost to Anton Korobov (UKR). He secured 31st position and got US$ 2000. He had a fantastic tournament, gained 10 Elo rating points, taking his live rating to 2650 and re-entered World top 100.

Sasikiran scored wins over Fedoseev, Predke and Eljanov, drew with Maghsoodloo, Artemiev and Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Sasikiran is back in World top 100 again

30th - Pentala Harikrishna 6.5/11 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Highlights

A couple of interesting finishes from Round 11

Nils Grandelius (SWE) defeated Matthias Bluebaum (GER)

Mikhail Antipov (RUS) drew with Evgeniy Najer (RUS)

Nihal Sarin and Harika are the top finishing Indians at the Grand Swiss 2021 | Final Recap | Video: ChessBase India

Photo Gallery

Runner-up - Fabiano Caruana (USA) 7.5/11 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Second Runner-up - Grigoriy Oparin (RUS) 7.5/11 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Runner-up GM Elisabeth Paehtz (GER) 7.5/11 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Elisabeth Paehtz scored her final GM-norm, five years after scoring her second GM-norm and more than a decade after she scored her first GM-norm. She has been the top German player among women for the better part of her career and had the GM-strength for a very long time. Her final round win over IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) completed the formality.

Second Runner-up WGM Jiner Zhu (CHN) 7.5/11 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Schedule

Everyday game starts at 2 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST) between 27th October and 7th November 2021. Rest day is on Tuesday 2nd November 2021.

Time Control

The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

Qualification

The top two players in the open event will qualify for the FIDE Candidates 2022. The next six players will earn their spots in the FIDE Grand Prix. The Women's Grand Swiss winner will qualify to the Women's Candidates. The following four best players will qualify for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix.

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 425,000 with the first prize being $70,000. For Women's the total prize fund is $125,000, first prize $20,000. Total numbers of prizes are 60, Open - 40 and Women - 20.

Replay Round 11 Open games

Replay Round 11 Women games

Replay the live stream

FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss Round 11 | Live commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Award Ceremony | Video: FIDE

Round 11 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
11	10	7	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	IND	2719	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	UKR	2624	72
11	11	41	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2652	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Dubov Daniil	RUS	2714	8
11	15	54	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2640	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Korobov Anton	UKR	2690	20
11	25	19	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	POL	2691	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2634	60
11	33	84	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2609	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2638	58
11	36	79	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2620	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Rakhmanov Aleksandr	RUS	2657	36
11	37	53	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2640	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2618	81
11	38	82	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2617	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Chigaev Maksim	RUS	2639	55
11	48	25	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2672	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Miezis Normunds	LAT	2467	108
11	2	1	GM	Muzychuk Mariya	UKR	2536	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2511	4
11	7	46	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2322	6	½ - ½	6	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	RUS	2467	13
11	12	8	IM	Kashlinskaya Alina	RUS	2493	5	1 - 0	5½	WGM	Vaishali R	IND	2419	25
11	19	16	GM	Danielian Elina	ARM	2450	4	1 - 0	4	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2305	47
11	20	40	IM	Padmini Rout	IND	2380	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Arabidze Meri	GEO	2441	19

Details

Final Standings in Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	3	GM	Firouzja Alireza	FRA	2770	8,0	68,0	72,0	50,25	0,0
2	1	GM	Caruana Fabiano	USA	2800	7,5	67,0	72,5	49,75	0,0
3	39	GM	Oparin Grigoriy	RUS	2654	7,5	63,5	68,5	45,75	0,0
4	11	GM	Yu Yangyi	CHN	2704	7,0	66,5	72,0	44,50	0,0
5	65	GM	Keymer Vincent	GER	2630	7,0	65,5	70,0	43,25	0,0
6	4	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	FRA	2763	7,0	65,0	70,0	43,50	0,0
7	26	GM	Predke Alexandr	RUS	2666	7,0	64,5	70,0	42,25	0,0
8	32	GM	Shirov Alexei	ESP	2659	7,0	64,5	68,5	41,50	0,0
9	34	GM	Howell David W L	ENG	2658	7,0	62,5	66,5	40,25	0,0
10	27	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	ARM	2664	7,0	61,5	65,5	40,50	0,0
11	33	GM	Anton Guijarro David	ESP	2658	7,0	61,0	65,0	39,25	0,0
12	20	GM	Korobov Anton	UKR	2690	7,0	60,5	66,0	41,50	0,0
13	40	GM	Sevian Samuel	USA	2654	7,0	60,5	64,5	39,75	0,0
14	6	GM	Esipenko Andrey	RUS	2720	7,0	60,0	64,5	40,00	0,0
15	50	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2643	7,0	60,0	63,0	39,25	0,0
16	14	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	RUS	2699	7,0	56,5	61,5	39,00	0,0
17	89	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	ARM	2605	6,5	66,5	70,5	40,75	0,0
18	41	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2652	6,5	64,0	68,0	38,75	0,0
19	8	GM	Dubov Daniil	RUS	2714	6,5	61,5	66,0	37,50	0,0
20	72	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	UKR	2624	6,5	61,5	65,0	36,50	0,0

Details

Final Standings in Women

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	7	GM	Lei Tingjie	CHN	2505	9,0	64,5	70,0	56,00	0,0
2	12	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	GER	2475	7,5	69,5	74,5	49,50	0,0
3	15	WGM	Zhu Jiner	CHN	2455	7,5	67,5	71,5	46,75	0,0
4	1	GM	Muzychuk Mariya	UKR	2536	7,0	69,0	74,0	46,50	0,0
5	4	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2511	7,0	64,5	68,5	42,25	0,0
6	18	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	GEO	2446	7,0	64,5	68,5	41,00	0,0
7	20	IM	Badelka Olga	RUS	2438	7,0	61,0	63,0	37,25	0,0
8	3	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	RUS	2518	6,5	68,5	72,5	41,00	0,0
9	13	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	RUS	2467	6,5	66,0	70,5	39,50	0,0
10	34	IM	Assaubayeva Bibisara	KAZ	2400	6,5	62,5	68,0	39,00	0,0
11	22	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	POL	2428	6,5	61,0	65,0	35,25	0,0
12	37	WGM	Cori T. Deysi	PER	2382	6,5	58,0	58,5	30,50	0,0
13	21	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	MGL	2433	6,5	57,0	61,0	33,75	0,0
14	46	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2322	6,5	56,5	60,5	33,25	0,0
15	27	GM	Girya Olga	RUS	2410	6,5	55,5	60,0	34,50	0,0
16	17	GM	Cramling Pia	SWE	2447	6,5	53,0	55,5	32,25	0,0
17	10	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	GEO	2484	6,0	68,5	74,0	37,75	0,0
18	2	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	GEO	2524	6,0	68,5	73,5	38,75	0,0
19	8	IM	Kashlinskaya Alina	RUS	2493	6,0	62,5	66,5	31,50	0,0
20	5	IM	Shuvalova Polina	RUS	2509	6,0	58,5	63,0	30,25	0,0

Details

Links

Official site

Chess-results: Open and Women

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women

Related news:

	Grand Swiss R10: Firouzja is back at the top and World no.4 once again @ 07/11/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R9: Caruana ends Firouzja's unbeaten run, Howell joins the three-way lead @ 06/11/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R8: Firouzja beats Sasikiran, extends his sole lead and now World no.4 @ 05/11/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R7: Sasikiran draws with World no.10 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave @ 04/11/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R6: Sasikiran joins the five-way lead @ 02/11/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R5: Sasikiran beats Fedoseev @ 01/11/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R4: Harikrishna and Vaishali score a win @ 31/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R3: Harika squeezes water from stone @ 30/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R2: Tenacious Nihal survives the Caruana challenge @ 29/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss R1: Arjun Erigaisi splits the point with Andrey Esipenko @ 28/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021 starts today @ 27/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss tournaments to be held in Riga @ 11/08/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)