My Five Favorite Tactics from the World Cup
These were tricky!
The World Cup has quickly become one of my favorite tournaments of the year. I fondly remember waking up everyday at the crack of dawn in the summer of 2021 while living in Quito, Ecuador to watch my friend and coach Sam Shankland make a fantastic run in the tournament. I love the knockout format for chess tournaments and was very much looking forward to the World Cup again this summer.
This year’s 2023 World Cup saw GM Magnus Carlsen win the open tournament for the first time (finally!) as well as GM Aleksandra Goryachkina win the women’s event. Along the way we saw a few dark horses (did anyone know anything about GM Nijat Abasov or IM Nurgyul Salimova before the tournament?) and saw R Praggnanandhaa continue to rise to fame (winning matches against the 2nd and 3rd highest rated players in the world to get 2nd place!).
I had the pleasure of working along with Chessable to create a “Chess World Cup 2023” tactic course that showcased a variety of puzzles from each of the eight rounds in both the open and women sections. Many of the tactics were found and played in the games but sometimes I was able to show tactics that were missed in the games and were not played over the board. That Chessable course is free for PRO members if you want to check it out.
In this blog post I wanted to show my five favorite tactics from the 2023 World Cup. Four of these tactics were played in the games and one of these tactics was not found in the game. I hope you enjoy these beautiful tactics and if you want to take a try at solving them yourself then I invite you to do so! The answers are found at the bottom of the page.
#5 Fedoseev Figures it Out
This position is taken from the game Jergus Pechac vs Vladimir Fedoseev in the second round. Black is under some pressure but it looks like a knight fork is available on the f2-square. Can you calculate the full sequence with best play from White?
#4 Gledura Grabs His Chance
This position is taken from the game Benjamin Gledura vs Nodirbek Yakubboev in the second round. White was able to find a strong sequence in this Carlsbad formation pawn structure. What is the best way for White to play?
#3 Salimova’s Opportunity Slips By
This position is taken from the game Polina Shuvalova vs Nurgyul Salimova in the fifth round. Black missed a winning opportunity here and ended up losing the game later. What should Black play?
#2 Sarin Shines Through
This position was taken from the game Axel Bachmann vs Nihal Sarin in the second round. Black found a brilliant way to win the game quickly. How did Black K.O. his opponent here?
#1 Moussard Smashes His Opponent
This position was taken from the game Vasif Durarbayli vs Jules Moussard in the second round. Lots of great tactics in the second round! (I didn’t expect that 4/5 of my favorite tactics were from that round). Black found a fantastic way to win the game from here. What’s the best way for Black to play?
Don’t forget to check the answers below! I hope you enjoyed these tactics as much as I did. I’m very much looking forward to the next World Cup in 2025!!
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ANSWERS:
#5: 1...Nf2 (Forking the rooks looks obvious but White has a way to create some trouble.) 2. Rd7! (The most resilient move. White threatens Rxc7+ which can cause some trouble.) 2...bxc6! (Eliminating the c6-pawn is important. Now the rook on d7 is hanging as well.) 3. Rxc7+ Kd8 (We must stay in the center and avoid discovered checks from the bishop. Fortunately White cannot play Rd1+ safely.) 4. Rg1 (White cannot save the rook and defend against the fork on d3 at the same time. Rd1+ would have allowed ...Nxd1.) 4...Nd3+ (This is the key move to find. We were never going to be winning a rook or the exchange. The entire sequence of moves was in order for us to make this fork and win the bishop on f4.) 5. Kb1 Nxf4 (Fedoseev eventually went on to win the game with the extra piece.)
#4: 1. Bxg6! (The pawn looked like it was adequately defended but it ends up that the capture is possible with some good calculation.) 1...fxg6 (In the game 16...Ng7 was played and White eventually won. What happens if the bishop is captured though?) 2. Qxg6+ (Forking the king and knight on f6.) 2...Ng7 (This defense seems to keep everything defended since now the queen is opened up to defend the knight on f6.) 3. Nh5! (But this knight jump breaks black's defenses! It ends up that both of black's knights are pinned and Black cannot add a second defender to both of them at the same time. We threaten checkmate on g7 and Nxf6+ as well. Black is completely lost.)
#3: 1...a1=Q+! (The idea with this move is to force the trade of rooks by sacrificing the a-pawn.) 2. Rxa1 Rxa1 3. Kxa1 (Yes, we've traded the rooks but it still seems like our knight is in a bad spot on the g7-square. White does have good chances to draw if we don't find the correct idea here.) 3...hxg4 4. hxg4 Nh5!! (We can use the h5-square to attack the f4-pawn since capturing the knight would result in us getting a passed h-pawn that cannot be stopped.) 5. gxh5 gxh5 (White's king is too far away to stop our pawn from promoting.)
#2: 1...Ra1!! (Boom! Surprisingly, the point of this sacrifice is to open up the second rank for black's other rook! The immediate threat is to play ...Qf1+ if the rook on a1 isn't captured.) 2. Nxa1 Ra2! (White doesn't have a good way to defend the rook on g2. In the game a few extra checks were given in order to reach move 40 and get the bonus time. 2...Nf2+ 3. Kg1 Nh3+ 4. Kh1 Ra2!) 3. Rbg1 (Trying to desperately defend the rook but it doesn't work.) 3...Nf2# (A nice smothered mate to finish the game!)
#1: 1...Nxf4! (The pawn looked like it was defended enough times but the problem is that white's queen was stuck defending the h4-square as well!) 2. e6 (White tries to counterattack the rook on f7. Many moves are good here but only one move ends the game immediately.) 2...Nh5!! (A brilliant move! Black leaves the rook to be captured on f7 but blocks off white's queen from protecting the h4-square and opens up an attack on white's f2-rook. In the game White resigned here.) 3. exf7 Qh4+ 4. Kg1 Qh1#
