Alireza Firouzja said it was “good practice” for future events as he knocked Hikaru Nakamura out of the ChessKid Cup by winning their elimination battle 1.5:0.5. On the same day the player Hikaru had beaten in the Chessable Masters final, Fabiano Caruana, also lost, to 18-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who plays Jorden van Foreest in the Winners Final, while it’s now Caruana-Firouzja in a fight to stay in the tournament.

Day 2 of the ChessKid Cup began with the Losers bracket in Division I, but rather than the expected battle of the underdogs we got one of the most anticipated match-ups imaginable, Nakamura-Firouzja. Alireza commented:

The 19-year-old world no. 2 on the live rating list managed to wrap up victory in two games, noting afterwards that, for reasons he wasn’t sure about, it was his first online knockout victory in two years!

The match got off to a curious start, with Hikaru going for the rare 2.c4 against Firouzja’s French.

Firouzja also didn’t go for the most direct reply, playing 2…c5, and curious facial expressions were observed.

Alireza, who said he’d felt more nervous the day before against Dmitrij Kollars, commented, “I saw him in the camera and he was more nervous than me”, before adding:

The game developed into a tense strategic battle which felt it could go either way, until near the end Alireza let some chances slip.

The computer claims a big edge for Black after 34…Rb8! (and a smaller one after 34…Rd8), but 34…Rxa5?! saw the players liquidate into a quick draw by repetition.

That didn’t prove costly, as Alireza then won the middlegame battle in the second game with a well-timed central pawn break before Hikaru went astray in an extremely tricky position.

43…Qd5! was the only way to hold the balance, ready to meet 44.Qxf4 with 44…Bc6!, when White has to give back a piece to avoid disaster.

Instead Hikaru went for the immediate 43…Bc6?, but after 44.Bxf4! Qh1+ 45.Kg3 it turned out there was no way to trap the white king. The rest was easy for Alireza.

A tough couple of days for Hikaru Nakamura, who is traditionally second only to Magnus Carlsen in his tenacity in surviving (and winning) in this online knockout format.

In the other Losers match-up Jules Moussard knocked out Aleksandr Shimanov 2:0 in a match that turned completely on the first game. Shimanov had been winning, then things were equal, then he committed what was either a huge blunder, or a mouse-slip (if the queen comes to h6 Black is holding on), with 42…Qg6?

43.Bxf7+! Qxf7 44.Qg5+ won the d8-rook and the game, and Shimanov didn’t come close to bouncing back in the second game.

All eyes will again be on the Losers Bracket on Wednesday, since it doesn’t get easier for Alireza Firouzja, who will now play Fabiano Caruana. Fabiano was knocked down to that bracket by 18-year-old former World Rapid Champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Perhaps appropriately, given the tournament’s name, Nodirbek Abdusattorov has so far been the stand-out player in the ChessKid Cup. He breezed past Jules Moussard in the quarterfinals and noted that the openings had gone his way in all the games against Fabiano Caruana.

Abdusattorov held comfortably with Black in Game 1, and then got to grab a pawn and convert with remarkable ease in Game 2.

Then he was also on top with the black pieces in Game 3, when a win would have clinched the match. One moment, what he called a “completely unnecessary” exchange sacrifice, led to his downfall.

26…Rxf4?! gave away Black’s advantage, though it was still a playable move.

“I thought it’s an interesting sacrifice to create an imbalance in the position and that I was also getting some pawn break with e5, but I never had a chance,” said Nodirbek, who praised Fabiano’s play after that moment.

Nodirbek shrugged off that setback, however, to take complete control in Game 4 with 20.b4!

Nodirbek commented:

20…cxd4!? was a better try for Caruana, though it leaves White with a number of tempting options, while after his 20…cxb4? 21.Nc6! (21.Nxf7! may be even stronger) Black’s position was collapsing. Nodirbek used the opened c-file to put a rook on c8, and when the queen attempted to flee he hit it with 25.Bd6!, winning an exchange.

There was no stopping Nodirbek, as he wrapped up a victory that takes him into the Winners final and means he’s guaranteed a Division I spot for the next event on the $2 million Champions Chess Tour.

Nodirbek’s opponent there will be Jorden van Foreest, who took down Alireza Firouzja’s conqueror Dmitrij Kollars. At first it all went Dmitrij’s way, as Jorden made a bad strategic mistake in a game where he’d been better.

How does Jorden cope with such losses?

Jorden admitted he feared going 2:0 down in a hugely complicated second game, but again one blunder turned the tables. Jorden then took the lead with a relatively smooth 3rd game before what he described as an “absolutely crazy” final encounter.

Dmitrij was a move or two away from forcing Armageddon with a 9th decisive game in a row, but he didn’t quite make it.

68.Qc5! was still winning, giving White Qg5+ and Qxh5+ in some positions to stop the black h-pawn, but after 68.d7 h3! there was no longer a way to force a win.

That means Jorden van Foreest, who was not originally even supposed to play in Division I after losing to Anish Giri in the Play-In, is in the Winners final against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, Dmitrij Kollars and Jules Moussard can all still win the tournament, but they’ll have to do it the hard way via the Losers Bracket!

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