 "Javokhir Sindarov has beaten Wei Yi to become the youngest ever FIDE World Cup winner. X/FIDE")
19-year-old Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan is now the youngest chess World Cup winner as he defeated China’s Wei Yi in the second tie-breaker game of the final on Wednesday to win the title.
Both the players had settled for draws in the two classical matches which pushed the final into the 15’+10” rapid tie-breaks. The Uzbek Grandmaster was in a comfortable position in the first game of the tie-breakers but missed a one-move chance to win with White which helped Yi eke out a draw.
However, in the second match, Sindarov kept his calm and as Yi buckled under time pressure, the Uzbek seized advantage. Yi was in a decent position but slipped behind under the pressure of the clock and resigned after 60 moves.
Sindarov is the youngest World Cup winner
Sindarov came into the tournament as the 16th seed and was not expected to clinch the title. However, as the top seeds kept falling, the chances of Uzbek youngster, who had become a Grandmaster at 12, kept rising as he dished out strong performances under pressure.
Sindarov will be taking home the trophy and the prize of $120,000. Yi who finished as the runner-up will win $85,000. Both the finalists also made their way into next year’s Candidates, whose winner will earn the right to challenge D Gukesh for his world championship.
Russia’s Andrey Esipenko was the third player from the World Cup to grab a ticket to the Candidates after his win over Nodirbek Yakubboev in both the classical games of the match for taking the third-place in the World Cup.
206 players had participated in this FIDE World Cup with a record 24 from India. However, the Indian challenge could not last long with Arjun Erigaisi’s quarter-final finish being the best of the lot.