Kovalyov defeats Kasimdzhanov

Canadian GM Anton Kovalyov won his first round match at the World Cup in Baku, defeating former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov in a blitz playoff.

After seven straight draws, several of which had Kasimdzhanov nearly winning, Kovalyov won the only decicive game of the match in the second of the 5 + 3 blitz playoff games to take the match 4.5-3.5.

2015 Canadian Champion Tomas Krnan (121st seed) lost his first round match to 8th seed, Chinese GM Ding Liren (2782): 0.5 - 1.5.

Photo shows Anton in short post-match interview with commentaor GM Emil Sutovsky, who asked him what his expectations were for the match. Anton's answer: "I booked my flight [home] for tomorrow".

In round 2 (Sept 14-15, 2015) Anton plays S.Mareco (#99) who upset Ni Hua (#30): 1.5 - 0.5. The winner of that match plays the winner of the match between Fabiano Caruana (#3) and Rauf Mamedov (#67). 

Games start at 6am EST, and can be followed live from the event website:

http://www.bakuworldcup2015.com/content/5

World Cup Format: 

Two game knock-out matches (TC: 40/90 + G/30 + 30s from move 1), followed (if necessary) by a day of rapid tiebreaks. 

Tiebreak TC gets shorter with each inconclusive pair of games: starting with G/25 + 10s, then 10 + 10, 5 + 3, finally and ending with a single armageddon game where White has five minutes to four but must win.