In round two of the 2017 World Cup, two more big names went down to defeat: former World Champion Viswanathan Anand (the #10 seed) and the most recent World Champion challenger, Sergei Karjakin (who was seeded #12 here). Things are getting real!
Anand was completely outplayed by Canadian grandmaster Anton Kovalyov, who won the first game and was much better in the second game before agreeing to a draw. Karjakin’s defeat came against his Russian countryman Daniil Dubov. Interestingly, Dubov was profiled this spring in an article in Sovetskii Sport (a Russian sports magazine, analogous to Sports Illustrated) as one of “the four most brilliant members of the new wave [of Russian chess players] who are breathing down the neck of Karjakin.” I guess that article was prophetic!
Gee, wouldn’t it be great to live in a country where the biggest sports magazine features articles not only about the top chess players, but even the second tier? In other words, where chess is treated as a real sport like tennis or soccer?
By the way, the other three in the “new wave” were Vladimir Fedoseev, Vladislav Artemiev, and Grigorii Oparin. Both Fedoseev and Artemiev are playing in the World Cup; Oparin (the youngest of the four at age 19) did not qualify. Fedoseev has also made it to the third round with a victory today. Artemiev is tied at 1-1 with Teimour Radjabov. If he can pull off the upset, we will have a match between Dubov and Artemiev to see who will carry on the banner of the Russian “new wave.”
I read an interview of Dubov online where he chuckled about the Sovietskii Sport article, because Fedoseev was described as “a young Mike Tyson,” Artemiev was described as “The Most Imaginative,” and Oparin was described as “The Most Mysterious.” But the author couldn’t think of any over-the-top adjectives to describe Dubov, so he just called him “A Guy from Vykhino.” Vykhino isn’t even a place: it’s a subway stop in Moscow. This would maybe be like describing someone as “the dude from Greenwich Village.”
Nevertheless, the article did contain some interesting comments about Dubov’s style, from super-commentator Sergei Shipov: “Daniil is a chess player with a solid positional style, which is hard to break down. When he was very young, he reminded me of a young Tigran Petrosian. Quite the opposite of Fedoseev, he has a very acute sense of danger. As a result of the work he has done, Daniil has become a more universal player. He is on the right path, and it seems to me that he can become a grandmaster at a very serious level. Weaknesses: Not always sure of himself, not aggressive enough.”
Shipov said one other interesting thing about all four of them: “At their age it’s necessary to reach the 700 club (*) [thanks to Todd Bryant for suggesting this wonderful translation] and get invited to super-tournaments. … In order to grow, you have to play at the highest level. Unfortunately it is hard for our guys to get into super-tournaments — they just don’t get invited. If some chess player appeared somewhere in Austria or Switzerland at the same level, they would be invited with pleasure. But our young players don’t get invited. Only Karjakin, Kramnik, and Nepomniachtchi get invitations.”
It was fascinating to read this. Here I had always thought that Russia is the best country to grow up in if you want to be a chess player. But maybe not! The center of gravity is shifting, following the money to Europe and to America. It’s strange to think of Dubov, Fedoseev, Artemiev and Oparin being “handicapped” by their nationality, but maybe so! This tournament might be their opportunity to join the “700 club” and start getting invited to the top-level tournaments.
But there’s a long way to go! We’re still not done with round two yet. Only ten of the 32 matches in round two were decided today (the other winners were Carlsen, Kramnik, Vachier-Lagrave, Vidit, Rodshtein, Vallejo Pons, and our American hero, Alex Lenderman). The other 22 matches go to playoffs tomorrow.
(*) 700 club: players rated 2700 or higher.
