Alexandra Kosteniuk, the winner of the Women's World Cup. Photo: Anastasiya Korolkova/FIDE.

FIDE World Cup R7.2: Kosteniuk Wins Women's Cup, Karjakin Reaches Final

PeterDoggers

Updated: Aug 3, 2021, 6:42 AM | 20 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the Women's FIDE World Cup final on Monday after drawing her second game vs. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. GM Sergey Karjakin defeated GM Vladimir Fedoseev to qualify for both the World Cup final and the 2022 FIDE Candidates Tournament.

There will be two tiebreak matches on Tuesday: GM Magnus Carlsen and Jan-Krzysztof Duda also drew their second game, as did GM Anna Muzychuk and GM Tan Zhongyi.

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The games of the FIDE World Cup can be found here: Open | Women. Chess.com provides daily commentary on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/chess with GM Hou Yifan, GM Ben Finegold, IM Danny Rensch, GM Robert Hess, GM Viswanathan Anand, and other guests.

With the 37-year-old Kosteniuk beating 22-year-old Goryachkina, experience prevailed over youth in the all-Russian Women's World Cup final. Kosteniuk played her first big knockout final in 2001 at the age of 17 and won one in 2008—both full-fledged women's world championships back then.

She is the first female player to clinch two of these grueling knockout events. The only other player who achieved this feat is GM Levon Aronian.

Although Kosteniuk has won so much already, she said this victory means a lot to her: "When you're young and you win, you don't really appreciate it that much. When you become older, at least in my case, every victory is like something unbelievable because you start to appreciate these victories much more."

Needing only a draw, Kosteniuk found herself in quite a tense second game but at the same time, she never lost control and was winning in the final position:

Kosteniuk-Goryachkina. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE.

The other game in the women's tournament was drawn as well. Muzychuk cannot complain as Tan had better chances. Just like in 2017, when Tan became world champion against Muzychuk in the knockout final in Tehran, the match will be decided in the playoff.

Tan Zhongyi missed a chance to grab third place right away. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE.

Finals | Results

Fed	Player	Rating		Fed	Player	Rating	G1	G2	TB
	GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2596	-		GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2472	0-1	½-½	.
	GM Muzychuk, Anna	2527	-		GM Tan, Zhongyi	2511	½-½	½-½	.

Also in the open section, experience prevailed as 31-year-old Karjakin won an excellent game against 26-year-old Fedoseev. The latter played a new addition to his repertoire, the Zaitsev, which he had played just once before in a classical game, but that was in this tournament against GM Velimir Ivic.

Karjakin said he had prepared a bit but focused even more on his sleep, getting 10 hours and feeling much fresher. This might have helped him to find the most accurate moves, keep the initiative, and win convincingly.

Karjakin beats Fedoseev with a firm hand. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE.

"It's just great. I'm very happy that I managed to get to the final," said Karjakin, who also secured himself a spot in the 2022 Candidates Tournament after missing out on the last edition. "Also, I am very happy that I don't have to play tiebreaks because I played them so much, and now I can rest."

Karjakin also noted that the match for third place is "pointless" according to him and he wasn't looking forward to playing that one. "I wanted to win this match much more than any other match!"

The Carlsen-Duda tiebreak is one to look forward to after the two players again delivered a wonderful fight. It was the 23-year-old Polish player who gave Carlsen a taste of his own medicine by avoiding a move repetition twice, pressing in a slightly better endgame, and forcing the world champion to find the most precise moves.

Carlsen was put to the test by Duda. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE.

Semifinals | Results

Fed	Player	Rtg		Fed	Player	Rtg	G1	G2	TB
	GM Carlsen, Magnus	2847	-		GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	2738	½-½	½-½	.
	GM Karjakin, Sergey	2757	-		GM Fedoseev, Vladimir	2696	½-½	1-0	.

The FIDE World Cup takes place in the Galaxy Leisure Complex in Sochi, Russia, until August 6, 2021. Each round consists of two classical games and, if necessary, a rapid/blitz tiebreak on the third day. The open section began round two with 128 players and the women's section, 64.

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Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

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FIDE World Cup R7.2: Kosteniuk Wins Women's Cup, Karjakin Reaches Final

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