Favourites Tumble In World Cup

Submitted by SonofPearl on Wed, 11/25/2009 at 12:45pm.

Four of the top rated players at the 2009 Chess World Cup faced grave danger after losing the first game of their second round matches yesterday, and only Peter Svidler managed to survive - for now.

Svidler won with White against Tomi Nyback to force a playoff tomorrow, but Alexander Morozevich, Teimour Radjabov (pictured) and Vassily Ivanchuk were all unceremoniously dumped out of the competition by lower rated opposition.

FIDE's 128-player KO competitions may not allow the cream to rise to the top, but they certainly provide upsets and excitement for chess fans. Whoever wins the World Cup will, of course, be a great chess player; but they will also need some good fortune along the way.

None of this is meant to take anything away from Viktor Laznicka, Konstantin Sakaev and Wesley So. Hearty congratulations to them on achieving their great upsets!

The full match scores for round 2 to date are shown below. Exactly half of the matches were tied after the 2 regular time-control games and will therefore play-off tomorrow to decide the results.

If you would like to look ahead, to predict who will meet who in future rounds, the best brackets can be found at Wikipedia, here.

1	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	1.5-0.5	Amonatov, Farrukh	TJK
2	Zhou, Jianchao	CHN	0.5-1.5	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE
3	Svidler, Peter	RUS	1.0-1.0	Nyback, Tomi	FIN
4	Laznicka, Viktor	CZE	2.0-0.0	Morozevich, Alexander	RUS
5	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	0.5-1.5	Sakaev, Konstantin	RUS
6	So, Wesley	PHI	1.5-0.5	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR
7	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	1.0-1.0	Akobian, Varuzhan	USA
8	Tkachiev, Vladislav	FRA	0.5-1.5	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS
9	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2.0-0.0	Sandipan, Chanda	IND
10	Savchenko, Boris	RUS	0.0-2.0	Wang, Yue	CHN
11	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	1.0-1.0	Inarkiev, Ernesto	RUS
12	Timofeev, Artyom	RUS	1.0-1.0	Karjakin, Sergey	UKR
13	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2.0-0.0	Milov, Vadim	SUI
14	Fedorchuk, Sergey A.	UKR	1.0-1.0	Shirov, Alexei	ESP
15	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	CUB	1.0-1.0	Caruana, Fabiano	ITA
16	Bartel, Mateusz	POL	0.5-1.5	Yu, Yangyi	CHN
17	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	1.0-1.0	Meier, Georg	GER
18	Fressinet, Laurent	FRA	1.0-1.0	Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS
19	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	RUS	1.0-1.0	Khalifman, Alexander	RUS
20	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	IND	0.0-2.0	Wang, Hao	CHN
21	Navara, David	CZE	1.0-1.0	Shabalov, Alexander	USA
22	Smirin, Ilia	ISR	1.0-1.0	Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS
23	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2.0-0.0	Sasikiran, Krishnan	IND
24	Areshchenko, Alexander	UKR	1.0-1.0	Rublevsky, Sergei	RUS
25	Jobava, Baadur	GEO	1.5-0.5	Iturrizaga, Eduardo	VEN
26	Najer, Evgeniy	RUS	0.5-1.5	Motylev, Alexander	RUS
27	Kamsky, Gata	USA	1.5-0.5	Zhou, Weiqi	CHN
28	Milos, Gilberto	BRA	1.0-1.0	Vitiugov, Nikita	RUS
29	Bologan, Viktor	MDA	1.0-1.0	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL
30	Onischuk, Alexander	USA	0.5-1.5	Naiditsch, Arkadij	GER
31	Pelletier, Yannick	SUI	1.0-1.0	Li, Chao b	CHN
32	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	ROU	1.0-1.0	Polgar, Judit	HUN

» more Chess event coverage

| 4649 reads | 28 comments |

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Comments:

by toping64 - 2 years ago
manila Philippines

Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 1

i think So is the next Fisher, Filipino are great in strategies...good luck wesley!

by madpawn - 2 years ago
London England

Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 1039

We can't, so we support you who can Wesley! Good luck.

by PhilipN - 2 years ago
Oregon United States

Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 1104

The official site has an interview with Ivanchuk in the wake of his loss to So, in which he appears to announce his retirement from chess: http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/interv_10.htm

But can he really stay away? Perhaps the ChessBase page said it best: "Ivanchuk threatens to quit professional chess"

by jopisces - 2 years ago
manila city Philippines

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 9

congrats wesley... you really is one of the greatest player in chess at age 16... praying for your championship... i know you can make it...

by yullian - 2 years ago
Singapore & Pontianak Indonesia

Member Since: Aug 2009
Member Points: 131

indeed the round 3 pairing is up now. svidler , shirov still there. ponomariov, navara survived american attack (navara felt third rapid game due to opening trick). see commentary here http://red-white-chess.blogspot.com/2009/11/world-cup-2009-round-3-pairing-comments.html

by Duncan_1867 - 2 years ago
Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 3449

Well played Wesley ! You've got my support !!!

by WILDOLIVE_OM - 2 years ago
sapang maisac,mexico,pampanga Philippines

Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 105

Durugin mo ang susunod na kalaban, SO!!! CONGRAT'S.

by somersby143 - 2 years ago
SJDM city, Bulacan Philippines

Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 9

Nice games from Viktor Laznicka, Konstantin Sakaev and Wesley So!

Good luck Wesley for the next round!

by SonofPearl - 2 years ago
Wales

Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 11925

I hope everyone is following their favourites by visiting the official site. I would love to cover more games, but there simply isn't enough space, or enough time!

by Oyong - 2 years ago
Padang Indonesia

Member Since: Oct 2009
Member Points: 64

interesting seven moves of White queenside Rook in V. Laznicka - A. Morozevich.

by koge - 2 years ago
Laguna Philippines

Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 16

Yes the FILIPINO can! We believe in you Wesley! Kamsky would be next to go.

by jumawanelbertm - 2 years ago
Dipolog City Philippines

Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 74

nice game wesley...gud luck

by rodolfojrmesolania - 2 years ago
makati Philippines

Member Since: Aug 2009
Member Points: 6

i know wesley can beat magnus if they play we are proud of you wesley

by marr_quez - 2 years ago
Sta. Maria, Bulacan Philippines

Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 5

So, who's next?

by mark_sotto - 2 years ago
pampanga Philippines

Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 1235

Wesley So!!!

by Fuads - 2 years ago
Baku Azerbaijan

Member Since: Oct 2009
Member Points: 28

Teimour Radjabov's lost is not upseting us.Because we have also Vugar Gashimov and Shehriyar Mamedjarov who won their second matches and passed to third round.Good luck to them!

by MessireCyr - 2 years ago
Grenoble France

Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 29

No one talks about it but Bacrot won his match against Sasikiran 2:0 ... He's gonna play Wang Yue tomorrow who also won his last match 2:0 --> it's gonna be an interesting match ! Go France !