The Week in Chess

China continued their domination of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup beating Europe 2.5-1.5 in a close match with three draws and a win for Yu Yangyi against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. In round 8 China beat Russia 2.5-1.5 with Hou Yifan's win against Aleksandra Goryachkina being decisive. These results confirm China's presence in the final on Sunday where they will meet either Europe or the USA (who they meet in the final match of this preliminary series in a match that could still be vital for the USA).

The USA caught Europe on 9 points after 7 rounds when they beat Russia 2.5-1.5 with Nakamura's grinding down of Ian Nepomniachtchi in a Rook and Pawn endgame being the only decisive game. The USA then beat the Rest of the World team 3-1 with wins for Fabiano Caruana in a spirited game against Amin Bassem and Wesley So against Jorge Cori (27.f3 seemed to be the start of Cori's troubles). Europe meanwhile just kept their chances alive when Jan-Krzysztof Duda managed to win against Pentala Harikrishna but only after time trouble intervened. This allowed Europe to draw the match 2-2 against India. Earlier Santosh Vidit, who has had a torrid time in this event, had beaten Levon Aronian to give the Indians the lead.

Tomorrow the USA meet Europe in Round 9. A win for the USA will put them in the final, a draw and things get more interesting, and a Europe win would put them in the box seat as they meet tai lenders The Rest of the World while the USA meet China.

Round 8 standings: China 15pts, USA 11pts, Europe 10pts, Russia 5pts, India 5pts, Rest of the World 2pts.

Round 9 pairings Saturday 9th May 2020 2pm: RoW-Russia, USA-Europe, India-China.

Round 10 pairings Saturday 9th May 2020 3:45pm: Russia-India, China-USA, Europe-RoW