Donchenko, Shankland, Esipenko, Martínez in last 8 @ Goa
GM Alexander Donchenko (Germany) redeemed himself defeating GM Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) in round 5 tie-breaks at the $ 2 million FIDE World Cup Goa. Also making it to the last 8 winning their respective rapid & blitz tie-breaks were GMs Sam Shankland, Andrey Esipenko and José Martínez Alcántara. In terms of nationality we have 2 Uzbeks and 1 each from Germany, Mexico, India, China, Russia and USA still remaining in the field.
GM Alexander Donchenko’s 4.5-3.5 win against GM Le Quang Liem was more than just a result. The young German Grandmaster showed that he’d recovered well from missing a hands down win the day earlier against the Vietnamese GM. Misses such as the Donchenko one in the second classical game can linger and haunt one a lifetime. Putting that behind, Donchenko weaved a magical web in a pawn up bishop ending crossing the finish line after 88 hard fought moves. Immediately after the game, a thunderous applause awaited the German who gracefully took a bow and moved on. With his maiden progress to the quarter-finals of the FIDE World Cup the Donchenko would strongly be working to re-write some more pieces of chess history.
A single loss in the rapid set of tie-breaks to GM José Martínez Alcántara of Mexico eliminated GM Pentala Harikrishna. With the first two classical and two rapid games ending in draws, the player pushing harder for the elusive win paid the price. The quickplay Sicilian game rapidly moved into a double rook and pawn ending. GM Martínez upped the ante exerting pressure on the white king.The Indian had a difficult position on hand, one that lacked synergy and co-ordination. The black pawns on the queenside appeared running away with the game. Stemming the tide Harikrishna fell into a mating trap and resigned on the 59th turn.
A former US Champion, GM Sam Shankland has re-discovered himself in the Indian shores. Sam’s confident and brilliant play annihilating former world rapid champion rating favorite Daniil Dubov 2-0 in the tie-breaks, is an indication of better things to come. “I’m banishing some demons” said GM Shankaland in a post match interview referring to his quarter-final loss against GM Sergey Karjakin in the FIDE World Cup 2021. Following his winning the American Continental Chess Championship in Brazil earlier this year GM Shankland is looking fresh and his rejuvenated show in Goa speaks for itself.
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The first classical game of round six starts by Monday, 17th November at 4:30 AM ET / 10:30 AM CET / 3:00 PM IST.
Pairings (Round 6 Quarter-finals Game 1): Javokhir Sindarov vs José Martínez Alcántara, Wei Yi vs Erigaisi Arjun, Sam Shankland vs Andrey Esipenko, Nodirbek Yakubboev vs Alexander Donchenko.
Results (Round 5 Tie-breaks): Sam Shankland beat Daniil Dubov 3-1, Alexander Donchenko beat Le Quang Liem 4.5-3.5, Andrey Esipenko beat Aleksey Grebnev 2.5-2.5, José Martínez Alcántara beat Pentala Harikrishna 3.5-2.5
Sam Shankland (2649) – Daniil Dubov (2674) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Qc2 Ba6 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. h4 Bxf1 10. Kxf1 Nxf4 11. exf4 Nd7 12. Rd1 c6 13. f5 exf5 14. Qxf5 Nf6 15. Ne5 Rc8 16. h5 Bb4 17. Rh3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 h6 19. c4 Re8 20. g4 Rc7 21. Re3 Qc8 22. Qxc8 Rcxc8 23. a4 Red8 24. Ke2 Nd7 25. f4 Nf8 26. d5 cxd5 27. cxd5 Rc2+ 28. Kf3 Rd6 29. Rd4 Nh7 30. Nc4 Rd8 31. d6 Nf8 32. Re7 Ne6 33. Re4 a6 34. d7 Rc3+ 35. Ke2 Kf8 36. Re8+ Rxe8 37. dxe8=Q+ Kxe8 38. f5 b5 39. axb5 Rxc4 40. Rxc4 axb5 41. Rc8+ Nd8 42. Rc7 Kf8 43. g5 hxg5 44. Rc8 Ke7 45. Rxd8! Kxd8
46. f6!! 1-0 (Rapid game)
Alexander Donchenko (2641) – Le Quang Liem (2729) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 c5 9. Ne2 Qc7 10. Ba2 b6 11. O-O Ba6 12. Re1 Rd8 13. Ng3 Nc6 14. Rb1 Rac8 15. Rb2 Na5 16. e4 cxd4 17. cxd4 Bc4 18. Bg5 Bxa2 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Rxa2 Qc3 21. Rd2 Kh8 22. Rd3 Qc7 23. Qf3 Qe7 24. Nh5 Nc6 25. Red1 f5 26. exf5 e5 27. f6 Qf8 28. d5 Nd4 29. Qe4 Qd6 30. h3 Qxd5 31. Qg4 Rg8 32. Qg7+ Rxg7 33. fxg7+ Kg8 34. Nf6+ Kxg7 35. Nxd5 Rc5 36. Ne3 Ra5 37. Nc4 Rc5 38. Nxe5 Ne2+ 39. Kf1 Rxe5 40. Re1 Nf4 41. Rxe5 Nxd3 42. Re7 a6 43. Rb7 b5 44. Rb6 h6 45. Rxa6 b4 46. a4 b3 47. Rb6 b2
48. a5 1-0 (Blitz game)
Complete Results
Photos Courtesy: Michal Walusza / Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://worldcup2025.fide.com/
