“I was in total fear,” admits Karthik Venkataraman about an hour after he survived a gruelling third round battle against Bogdan-Daniel Deac to become the fifth Indian in the FIDE World Cup’s fourth round at Goa.
After the two classical games between Karthik and Deac did not provide a decisive winner, they had to settle their duel in the tiebreaks in rapid encounters. Karthik was plucky enough to prevail in just two rapid games. For French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the path to the fourth round was a lot more laborious: he fought Vladislav Artemiev in 11 games over three days—two classical, four rapid, four blitz and then finally an Armageddon contest—to secure a spot in the fourth round.
As compared to other chess events, the World Cup sees players play each other in two one-on-one classical games, with the winner entering the next round. But if the two games do not provide a winner, the players return for another day to fight in two rapid games. These two-game battles continue until someone wins, with the time on the clock reducing after each two-game mini-match. Eventually, after 10 games are played over five different time controls, there is the Armageddon game, where the player with white has to win, while the player with black just needs a draw to progress.
Had the 11th seeded Vachier-Lagrave lost, he would have joined many top names in the event to have already been sent packing before the tournament even enters the second half. In fact, out of the top 10 seeds at the event, six—including world champion D Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hans Niemann—have already been eliminated. Also back home are stars like two-time world championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and Nihal Sarin.
Praggnanandhaa, who reached the final at the last World Cup, was a couple of moves away from being eliminated in the tiebreak in the second round by the unfancied Temur Kuybokarov.
“I got lucky against him. In the World Cup you have to try to take more risks. But everyone here is very strong. Sometimes you push too much, and it backfires,” Pragg had told FIDE recently.
The unpredictable nature of the World Cup is why Karthik talks about being in “total fear”. He says he’s been in the state since the event started because the volatile nature of the knockout format of the FIDE World Cup means that one mistake could mean the end of your tournament.
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“If this was tennis, it would be normal for every single player. But for chess players this happens once every two years. In this event there is always nerves (even for the top players) because this format is not usual for chess players. Chess tournaments are usually played in Swiss formats or round robins (where you keep playing on until the end of the event). So people are kind of more relaxed when they play. Of course there are other kinds of pressures in those events. But this is a different format and that is why I think many of the top players have been knocked out. Everyday there is this fear. You may get eliminated today and you have to leave this place which you don’t really want to. That is why a lot of players are not playing at their best as well, thinking about the format and also the consequences of losing,” Karthik told Indian media after securing a spot in the fourth round.
Karthik is not the only one talking about the nerves that players have battled at the event.
“I felt nervous in many matches here. I want to be calm. But it’s not so easy,” said China’s top grandmaster Wei Yi.
The FIDE World Cup’s brutal format meant that a man of Magnus Carlsen’s calibre only won the event in 2023 despite having multiple attempts at winning it. Even in the final last edition, he had to wrestle Praggnanandhaa in the tiebreaks in the final.
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“This is the most interesting tournament to watch and to play as well,” said Alexey Sarana after surviving a nerve-wracking tie-break drama in the third round.
The other side of the spectrum is that at the World Cup you get players like Peter Leko making a mark. An inactive player who now focuses on commentary and coaching players like Vincent Keymer, Leko is playing in his first individual event in six years. But Leko has snuck through to the fourth round, because he’s largely played like a man with nothing to lose.
“I thought I would be helping Vincent Keymer from home (as his coach). Almost by accident I ended up playing here,” Leko told Lichess in an interview.
Another nuance of the World Cup which makes it treacherous is that there are only two assured rest days for players who make it all the way to the final. Other rest days have to be earned: if players need more than the two dedicated rest days, they need to win the two-game round in the two classical contests, which allows them a break on tiebreak days.
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As Germany’s Alexander Donchenko summed up: “It’s only been two weeks in this tournament. But it feels like we have been playing forever.”
