Wei Yi of China ponders a move against Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan in their World Cup final on Monday.
Credit: FIDE
The pressure of contesting their first ever FIDE World Cup final was clearly telling on both -- the higher rated 26-year-old Wei Yi of China and 19-year Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan. The first game at the Resort Rio in Goa was a mixture of solid and aggressive play and probably a missed opportunity by Wei wielding Blacks, as the game petered into a draw on Monday.
On Tuesday Wei will play with White pieces and a victory by either would mean winning the World Cup. A draw would enforce the tie-break under faster time controls on Wednesday. The event which had started with 200 plus players spread over eight rounds has been a gruelling one, spread over four weeks with the last Classical game scheduled today.
In the play-offs for the third place which garners a Candidates spot, Alexey Esipenko moved closer with a fine victory over Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan. Esipenko has been very impressive but a trifle unlucky in this event, missing some great opportunities by a whisker, especially losing in the semifinals by a blunder on the last move against Wei. He held on to his game and nerves and a draw tomorrow will suffice for him to clinch the third spot.
The ceremonial first move of the first game of the finals was made by Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra, the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold.
Not surprisingly, Wei once again stuck to what rapidly looks like his favourite, the Petroff defence against the King Pawn Opening of Javokhir Sindarov. Yesterday he had smilingly quipped during the press conference that ‘All top Chines players play the Petroff. Sindarov rolled over his King-side pawns indicating his willingness for aggression but Wei defended well and managed to get a better position.
Results: 1st Game of Finals: Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) drew with Wei Yi (Chn) 0.5-0.5.
Play offs for third place: Andrey Esipenko (FIDE) bt Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb) 1-0.