FIDE Chess World Cup Final 2019- Teimour Radjabov Wins

The tournament was a 7-round knock-out event. The matches from round 1 to round 6 consisted of two classical games with a time control of 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. The finals and the match for the third place consisted of four classical games. If the score is tied after the classical games, rapid and, if necessary, tie breaks are played the next day, which is what happened this final.

The final matches were played between Liren Ding of China and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan for 1st and 2nd position, and between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Yu Yangyi for 3rd position, won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by 4-2.  Both the matches were over in 2 hours of play. The matches looked risky and interesting at the same time.

In the match between Ding(White) and Radjabov(Black), white initially had the upper hand as Ding played a move that was never seen before. Ding went for a move and won a black Pawn but gave the Bishop pair early in the game. The points in the first match went like this:

Players  R1     R2 R3     R4

Ding:     1/2     1 0     1/2

Radjabov:     1/2 0 1       1/2

As this ended in a tie, next day i.e. October 4th, another final match was played where Azerbaijani Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov won by 6-4 from Liren Ding, thus qualifying for the Candidates tournament 2020.

Players R1   R2 R3   R4 1       2 3 4  B1    B2 Total

Ding:   1/2   1 0    1/2 1/2 1/2   1/2 1/2 0    0 4    

Radjabov: 1/2 0 1   1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2    1/2   1 1       6

Vishwanathan Anand, the Indian Grandmaster, didn't participate in this tournament as he decided to focus on qualifying for the Candidates tournament via FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019. He was replaced by Vidit Gujarathi. Apart from Gujarathi, 9 other Indian chess players participated in the tournament. Most of them could only reach till round 3 thus not qualifying for the Candidates tournament 2020.