It's all down to Russia versus Ukraine in the World Cup semi-finals as Alexander Grischuk and Vassily Ivanchuk joined their respective compatriots Peter Svidler and Ruslan Ponomariov in the last four.
David Navara blundered away his first tie-break game with the white pieces, and Alexander Grischuk just survived the next game to win their match 2½-1½.
In the other tie-break Vassily Ivanchuk pulled off an unlikely draw in a K+R v K+B ending in his black game with Teimour Radjabov, and then won with white to reach the semis.
The completed semi-final scores:
| Name |
G1 |
G2 |
R1 |
R2 |
r3 |
r4 |
B1 |
B2 |
SD |
Tot |
| Round 5 Match 01 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Svidler, Peter (RUS) |
½ |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.5 |
| Polgar, Judit (HUN) |
½ |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.5 |
| Round 5 Match 02 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
2.5 |
| Radjabov, Teimour (AZE) |
0 |
1 |
½ |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5 |
| Round 5 Match 03 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
|
|
|
|
|
2.5 |
| Navara, David (CZE) |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5 |
| Round 5 Match 04 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR) |
½ |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.5 |
| Gashimov, Vugar (AZE) |
½ |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.5 |
Alexander Grischuk (left) took advantage of a slip from David Navara
Still smiling: Navara won a lot of friends at the World Cup
Ivanchuk (right) won a thrilling match with Radjabov
So the semi-final line-up is:
| Peter Svidler (RUS) |
v |
Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) |
| Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) |
v |
Alexander Grischuk (RUS) |
By a remarkable coincidence, if you replace Grischuk with Anand, this is exactly the semi-final line-up for the 2002 FIDE World Chess Championships. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!
Back then, Ivanchuk beat Anand and Ponomariov beat Svidler to create an all-Ukrainian final, which the 18-year old Ponomariov won 4½-2½. The stakes are not quite so high this time, but apart from the prestige and prize money at stake, only the top three players will qualify for the next Candidates Tournament. Who will be the unlucky 4th man?
The semi-finals start on Monday at 15:00 local time (09:00 UTC). The time control for the regular games is 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment from the start. The second regular time-control games will be on Tuesday. If tie-breaks are needed they will be on Wednesday at a rate of 25 minutes plus 10 second increment, and if scores are still level then 10 minutes plus 10 second increment, 5 minutes plus 3 second increment, and finally sudden-death 5 min v 4 min with a 3 second increment after move 60.
The official website with live coverage and commentary in Russian and English is here.
Photos from the official website.