The World Cup in India this November is one of the most important chess tournaments of the year. That’s because the top three finishers qualify for three of the eight spots in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which determines the challenger to the reigning world champion.
The two Americans who have already qualified — Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana — are not competing in the World Cup.
The tournament started with 206 players and is now down to the final eight. The only American remaining among them is Sam Shankland, who defeated Russia’s Daniil Dubov in the previous round to advance.
This week’s position is from one of their match games. Shankland is white; Dubov, black. Here Shankland lured Dubov’s king away from its pawns so one of Shankland’s pawns could promote to a queen. With this hint in mind, please try to find white’s winning plan.
Black has twice as many pawns. Even so, white is materially even because of a rook-over-knight advantage. But that advantage and black’s numerical superiority are trumped by white’s passed pawn on h6 after Shankland uncorked a one-two punch.
First, white’s rook takes black’s knight. The black king must retake the rook. Now comes the knockout blow with pawn to f6 (see next diagram).
If black does not take white’s f6 pawn, white captures the g7 pawn and promotes next move. Alternatively, accepting the f6 pawn sacrifice clears the path for white’s h6 pawn. Or, if black plays pawn to g6, white’s h6 advances past the exchange and promotes. White’s pawn promotes, then cleans up and wins. Dubov resigned after pawn to f6.
This week’s lesson: The cup is always half-full.
Reach Eric Morrow at ericmorrowlaw@gmail.com or (505) 327-7121.
