The tenth edition of the much-anticipated FIDE World Cup kicked off on Sunday in Baku. The 50 top seeds in the open and the 25 top seeds in the women’s section received byes and will join the fray on Wednesday. The remaining 234 contenders (156 in the open and 78 in the women’s) played their first classical encounters, though. There was no lack of surprises on the first day of action, with 14-year-old Ediz Gurel from Turkey (the youngest participant in the open) stunning Velimir Ivic in brilliant style. | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
Fourteen-year-old Gurel wins first game of FIDE World Cup insidethegames.biz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from insidethegames.biz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
With 78 grandmasters, the Sharjah Masters kicked off on Wednesday. Most favourites scored victories, but there were a few upsets: seventh seed Ray Robson was defeated by Denis Kadric, while women’s world champion Ju Wenju got the better of Murali Karthikeyan. Ju’s win was not without ups and downs, as she first got a clear advantage, then found herself up against the ropes, and finally managed to make the most of a miscalculation by her opponent. | Photos: Official website
Three players are sharing the lead at the European Championship in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia. Eltaj Safarli from Azerbaijan is joined by the Ukrainian duo of Anton Korobov and Ruslan Ponomariov (pictured) as the three participants who have scored four victories in as many games. A total of 23 players stand a half point back Gabriel Sargissian, Boris Gelfand and Alexey Sarana are the highest-rated players in the chasing pack. | Photos: European Chess Union
The Fall Chess Classic is taking place at the Saint Louis Chess Club on November 2-10. Two 10-player round-robin tournaments, group A and group B, are being played concurrently. In the main group, second seed Yu Yangyi from China is in the sole lead with a 5/7 points. Yu scored consecutive wins in the last three rounds. Meanwhile, Aleksandr Lenderman has all but secured victory in group B. | Photo: Austin Fuller