ACP World Rapid Cup Underway
The Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) is organising the fourth World Rapid Cup in Odessa, Ukraine from 27-29 May.
The format is a 16-player KO, with paired opponents playing 2 rapid games (20 minutes per game plus 5 second increments). Ties are broken by a pair of blitz games (3 minutes per game plus 2 second increment) and if necessary an Armageddon game (white has 5 minutes, black 4 minutes and draw odds). The final will have four rapid games, with the winner getting USD14,000.
The results so far:
1st Round
| Grischuk, Alexander | 2.0-0.0 | Motylev, Alexander |
| Movsesian, Sergei | 1.5-0.5 | Naiditsch, Arkadij |
| Shirov, Alexei | 3.0-2.0 | Bacrot, Etienne |
| Karjakin, Sergey | 3.0-1.0 | Drozdovskij, Yuri |
| Eljanov, Pavel | 1.5-0.5 | Moiseenko, Alexander |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | 0.5-1.5 | Gurevich, Mikhail |
| Jakovenko, Dmitry | 2.0-0.0 | Inarkiev, Ernesto |
| Gashimov, Vugar | 3.0-2.0 | Tregubov, Pavel |
Quarter-Finals
| Grischuk, Alexander | 1.5-0.5 | Movsesian, Sergei |
| Shirov, Alexei | 2.0-3.0 | Karjakin, Sergey |
| Eljanov, Pavel | 0.5-1.5 | Jakovenko, Dmitry |
| Gurevich, Mikhail | 1.5-0.5 | Gashimov, Vugar |
In a rapid event one might expect more suprises, but the results have mostly gone according to rating so far, with the notable exception of 51-year old Mikhail Gurevich beating both Ivanchuk and Gashimov to reach the semi-finals!
The semi-finals are currently underway, with Grischuk playing Karjakin, and Jakovenko playing Gurevich. The official site with more details is here, with live coverage here.
