World Cup Knockout 2019

[John McKenna]

"The filibuster was finished only when Vardapetian saw the final player rushed to his board. With everybody present and correct, Vardapetian abruptly stopped waffling and began the round."

That seems entirely sensible!

Delaying tactics.

[Mick Norris]

Round 4 will be (I think, the official site isn't very clear)

Ding v Alekseenko
Grischuk v Dominguez

Vitiugov v So
Nepo v Yu Yangyi

Duda v Xiong
Shak v Radjabov

MVL v Svidler
Le v Aronian

[John McKenna]

The FIDE site confirms the above pairings in the given order - so winners of top two pairings will play in one semi-final and winners of bottom two pairings will play in the other semi-final.

[Paul Cooksey]

I was not familiar with Alekseenko; seems a bit odd describing a player who is approaching 2700 at 22 a late developer. But he has been making steady progress upwards in the last few years.

I've no basis for an opinion on Vardapetian. I assumed the fluorescent green shirts were intended to keep the arbiters humble. Perhaps Alex could introduce some sort of silly hat for the Olympiad if this is insufficient.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The FIDE site confirms the above pairings in the given order - so winners of top two pairings will play in one semi-final and winners of bottom two pairings will play in the other semi-final.

Do you mean quarter finals? It looks like the winners from round 4 advance to the quarter finals.

Is it still the case that both finalists qualify for the Candidates?

I missed that Le Quang Liem had knocked out Artemiev, that is a bit of an upset.

Of those who have reached the last 16, several of the top 16 seeds have fallen.

Giri (2) was knocked out by Xiong (31) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Andreikin (15) was knocked out by Duda (18) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Radjabov (10) and Mamedyarov (7) got through safely to the last 16.
Aronian (6) got through safely to the last 16.
Artemiev (11) was knocked out by Le Quang Liem (22) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Nakamura (14) was knocked out by Nisipeanu (51) who was knocked out by Svidler (19) who reached the last 16.
Vachier-Lagrave (3) got through safely to the last 16.
So (4) got through safely to the last 16.
Karjakin (13) got knocked out by Vitiugov (20) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Yu Yangyi (12) and Nepomniachtchi (5) got through safely to the last 16.
Domínguez (8) and Grischuk (9) got through safely to the last 16.
Wojtaszek (16) was knocked out by Christiansen (113) who was knocked out by Alekseenko (49) who reached the last 16.
Ding Liren (1) got through safely to the last 16.

So 10 of the top 16 seeds got through and 6 fell.

[Paul Cooksey]

Is it still the case that both finalists qualify for the Candidates?

Yes, although if Ding is one of them it means someone else will get the rating slot he is odds on for if he does not qualify in another way.

[NickFaulks]

Delaying tactics.

The same approach was used at Olympiads during the interregnum when Ignatius Leong had been removed from FIDE but the zero tolerance rules he so loved were still on the books.

[John McKenna]

The FIDE site confirms the above pairings in the given order - so winners of top two pairings will play in one semi-final and winners of bottom two pairings will play in the other semi-final.

Do you mean quarter finals? It looks like the winners from round 4 advance to the quarter finals.

SNIP

I always thought 2 players in the final, 4 in the semis and 8 in the quarters. Round 4 is the q-finals.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The FIDE site confirms the above pairings in the given order - so winners of top two pairings will play in one semi-final and winners of bottom two pairings will play in the other semi-final.

Do you mean quarter finals? It looks like the winners from round 4 advance to the quarter finals.

SNIP

I always thought 2 players in the final, 4 in the semis and 8 in the quarters. Round 4 is the q-finals.

Round 5 is the quarter finals.

[John McKenna]

Eight players reached round four of the FIDE World Cup after Wednesday's tiebreaks...

(Chessbase News)

[John McKenna]

OK, Chris, you are right about the round number being 5, I was misled.

[John McKenna]

The FIDE site confirms the above pairings in the given order - so winners of top two pairings will play in one semi-final and winners of bottom two pairings will play in the other semi-final.

Do you mean quarter finals? It looks like the winners from round 4 advance to the quarter finals.

Is it still the case that both finalists qualify for the Candidates?

I missed that Le Quang Liem had knocked out Artemiev, that is a bit of an upset.

Of those who have reached the last 16, several of the top 16 seeds have fallen.

Giri (2) was knocked out by Xiong (31) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Andreikin (15) was knocked out by Duda (18) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Radjabov (10) and Mamedyarov (7) got through safely to the last 16.
Aronian (6) got through safely to the last 16.
Artemiev (11) was knocked out by Le Quang Liem (22) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Nakamura (14) was knocked out by Nisipeanu (51) who was knocked out by Svidler (19) who reached the last 16.
Vachier-Lagrave (3) got through safely to the last 16.
So (4) got through safely to the last 16.
Karjakin (13) got knocked out by Vitiugov (20) who has reached the last 16 in his place.
Yu Yangyi (12) and Nepomniachtchi (5) got through safely to the last 16.
Domínguez (8) and Grischuk (9) got through safely to the last 16.
Wojtaszek (16) was knocked out by Christiansen (113) who was knocked out by Alekseenko (49) who reached the last 16.
Ding Liren (1) got through safely to the last 16.

So 10 of the top 16 seeds got through and 6 fell.

That's worth repeating.

Though I think Artemiev may have knocked himself out without Le needing to exert himself much.

Edit -

Is it still the case that both finalists qualify for the Candidates?

Yes, although if Ding is one of them it means someone else will get the rating slot he is odds on for if he does not qualify in another way.

That's worth repeating, too.

[Mick Norris]

Is it still the case that both finalists qualify for the Candidates?

Yes, although if Ding is one of them it means someone else will get the rating slot he is odds on for if he does not qualify in another way.

Yes, if I was Giri, I'd be offering my services as second to Ding to get him through to the final of the WC

Ding is roughly 25 rating points ahead with only 4 monthly rating lists still to count towards the average; Giri, MVL, Nepo and Shak are close together

[Mick Norris]

Eight players reached round four of the FIDE World Cup after Wednesday's tiebreaks...

(Chessbase News)

and 8 players went through without tiebreaks, making 16 in all

[John McKenna]

Thanks for that clarification, Mick.

Can't take anything at face-value in the news these days.