China Increases Lead At FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup
China increased its lead at the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup to two match points on the second day of play. The USA and Europe are tied for second place, followed by Russia, Rest of the World, and India.
All games will be played on the Chess.com live server and can be followed on our events page and in our Android and iOS apps under "Watch." Commentary by GM Robert Hess, IM Daniel Rensch, and special guests can be enjoyed at Chess.com/TV where the games will be discussed and explained.
The Chess.com Day 2 Live Broadcast for replay.
Round 3
| Bo. | Fed | China | Rtg | 2 : 2 | Fed | Russia | Rtg |
| 1.1 | Ding Liren | 2836 | 1 - 0 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2778 | ||
| 1.2 | Wei Yi | 2752 | 0 - 1 | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2769 | ||
| 1.3 | Yu Yangyi | 2738 | ½ - ½ | Karjakin, Sergey | 2709 | ||
| 1.4 | Ju Wenjun | 2610 | ½ - ½ | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2502 |
China-Russia was an interesting matchup in many respects. There was GM Sergey Karjakin playing his first official game since the World Blitz Championship in December, and the pairing of the two participants of the last women's world championship. Those two boards ended in draws.
GM Vladislav Artemiev scored a convincing win against GM Wei Yi on board two, but China tied the match as GM Ding Liren defeated a still struggling GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. The latter almost came back to full equality after being put under pressure in the opening in what looked like deep prep from the Chinese player—the kind of material that could have been seen at the Candidates.
| Bo. | Fed | India | Rtg | 1½:2½ | Fed | Europe | Rtg |
| 2.1 | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 | ½ - ½ | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2860 | ||
| 2.2 | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 | 0 - 1 | Aronian, Levon | 2778 | ||
| 2.3 | Harikrishna, Pentala | 2690 | ½ - ½ | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2774 | ||
| 2.4 | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 | ½ - ½ | Muzychuk, Anna | 2533 |
Coming from a loss and a draw on day one, GM Levon Aronian did much better on the second day of play as he won both of his games. Even so, he wasn't too happy about his play and compared it to the unruly state of commentator GM Robert Hess's hair in what was a fun moment in the post-round interview:
.@LevAronian to commentator @GM_Hess:
— Chess.com (@chesscom) May 6, 2020
"My play was not impressive throughout the day. And so is your hair!" 😂😂#NationsCuphttps://t.co/sK5GtxMnW7 pic.twitter.com/cW6vTXFaTo
One moment in Aronian's game with GM Vidit Gujrathi was special: the way he created a passer with 47.b4!! while also shutting off his opponent's bishop was brilliant.
As Hess pointed out, the motif was identical to a game played in the 2018 PRO Chess League finals:
| Bo. | Fed | USA | Rtg | 2½:1½ | Fed | Rest of the World | Rtg |
| 3.1 | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2829 | ½ - ½ | Radjabov, Teimour | 2758 | ||
| 3.2 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2786 | ½ - ½ | Firouzja, Alireza | 2703 | ||
| 3.3 | So, Wesley | 2741 | ½ - ½ | Amin, Bassem | 2608 | ||
| 3.4 | Krush, Irina | 2392 | 1 - 0 | Saduakassova, Dinara | 2412 |
It's high time to give the ladies some love, and there's no better opportunity than the USA vs Rest of the World match where GM Irina Krush secured the two match points by beating IM Dinara Saduakasova with the black pieces. Krush demonstrated nicely why her opponent's pawn sacrifice didn't work:
Round 4
| Bo. | Fed | Russia | Rtg | 3 : 1 | Fed | Rest of the World | Rtg |
| 1.1 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2778 | 1 - 0 | Radjabov, Teimour | 2758 | ||
| 1.2 | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2769 | ½ - ½ | Firouzja, Alireza | 2703 | ||
| 1.3 | Karjakin, Sergey | 2709 | 1 - 0 | Cori, Jorge | 2599 | ||
| 1.4 | Girya, Olga | 2471 | ½ - ½ | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2506 |
Russia was too strong for the Rest of the World where Nepomniachtchi was back in shape and Karjakin won a somewhat topsy-turvy against GM Jorge Cori. It must have been rustiness combined with playing online, but a win is a win:
| Bo. | Fed | Europe | Rtg | 3 : 1 | Fed | USA | Rtg |
| 2.1 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2860 | ½ - ½ | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2829 | ||
| 2.2 | Aronian, Levon | 2778 | 1 - 0 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2786 | ||
| 2.3 | Giri, Anish | 2731 | ½ - ½ | So, Wesley | 2741 | ||
| 2.4 | Dzagnidze, Nana | 2447 | 1 - 0 | Zatonskih, Anna | 2327 |
In Europe's second win, Aronian scored his second win of the day. His game against GM Leinier Dominguez started as a Petroff, not an opening the Armenian grandmaster normally plays. The endgame was interesting; White was a full pawn up but his structure was horrible. Which side would you rather play?
B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L rooks win the day for @LevAronian who played outstanding chess today, winning two fine games for Team Europe in the #NationsCup. 💪
— Chess.com (@chesscom) May 6, 2020
Watch live at https://t.co/d7eYWvnVMF. pic.twitter.com/jCOBzgxOLi
| Bo. | Fed | China | Rtg | 2½:1½ | Fed | India | Rtg |
| 3.1 | Ding, Liren | 2836 | ½ - ½ | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 | ||
| 3.2 | Wang, Hao | 2750 | 1 - 0 | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 | ||
| 3.3 | Yu, Yangyi | 2738 | ½ - ½ | Harikrishna, Pentala | 2690 | ||
| 3.4 | Hou, Yifan | 2621 | ½ - ½ | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 |
In another hard-fought match, it was GM Wang Hao who got the victory for China against India thanks to a relatively easy win against Vidit. The Indian GM mixed something up in the opening and was soon looking at a hopeless position.
GM Viswanathan Anand held Ding to a draw from the black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined, with both sides getting an atrocious pawn structure on the kingside that gave our commentators inspiration for comparison with corona times...
Commentator @GM_Hess is amused by the terrible pawn structure in the game between Anand and Ding Liren, suggesting this is what the social distancing of pawns looks like!#NationsCuphttps://t.co/2psh9VgMkv pic.twitter.com/rq1FSP6o84
— ChesscomNews (@ChesscomNews) May 6, 2020
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup | Round 4 Standings
| # | Flag | Team | 1a | 1b | 2a | 2b | 3a | 3b | 4a | 4b | 5a | 5b | 6a | 6b | MP | BP | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 |
| 1 | China | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2½ | 7 | 10,5 | 0 | 75,8 | 25 | |||||||||
| 2 |  |
Europe | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2½ | 5 | 8,5 | 2 | 68,3 | 21,5 | ||||||||
| 3 | USA | 1 | 3 | 2½ | 2 | 5 | 8,5 | 0 | 60,5 | 23 | |||||||||
| 4 | Russia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 64,5 | 19,5 | |||||||||
| 5 | Rest of the World | 1 | 1½ | 1 | 2½ | 2 | 6 | 0 | 47,5 | 16 | |||||||||
| 6 | India | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 1 | 6,5 | 0 | 54,5 | 15 |
The FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup is a team competition held from May 5-10, 2020 on Chess.com featuring Russia, USA, Europe, China, India, plus a team representing the "Rest of the World." The total prize fund is $180,000, sponsored by Chess.com.
The first stage consists of a double round-robin, with each team playing each other twice. The top two teams after 10 rounds qualify for a "Superfinal" match.
All matches are played on four boards: three with male players and one with female players. The time control for all games is 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move one.
Games Day 2 for replay/download
Currently more than 30,000 users watching the #NationsCup just in our English, French, and German streams on @Twitch!
— Chess.com (@chesscom) May 6, 2020
Excited to see chess receiving more esports attention. 👀
Watch live in any of 12 languages at https://t.co/d7eYWvnVMF! pic.twitter.com/dklSwvVhKL
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