Gelfand wins FIDE World Cup 2009

Boris Gelfand won the FIDE World Cup. He defeated Ruslan Ponomariov today in the tiebreak of the final, needing four rapid games and four blitz games to decide matters. The Israeli Grandmaster cashed US$ 120,000 (net 96,000) while Ponomariov takes home US$ 80,000 (net 64,000).

The FIDE World Chess Cup takes place November 20th-December 15th inn Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It's a seven-round knockout with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round. The final seventh round consists of four games and will be played December 10th-14th. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (11:00 CET).

Results of the final

Tiebreak

After four rather uninteresting classical games, we had a nail-biting tiebreak today that decided the winner of the World Cup. In the first rapid game Ponomariov got a tiny plus in an endgame with bishop versus knight, but Gelfand held it. Then Gelfand won a nice second game, after which a shaky 3rd one ended in a draw. Ponomariov had to win game 4, and he did, with the black pieces!

In the first blitz games Gelfand immediately took the lead with a crushing victory that only lasted 21 moves when Black's queen was trapped. Ponomariov then struck back with a very nice attacking game that involved an exchange sacrifice, but then spoilt the 3rd game with some unforced errors. Again he had to win to stay in the match, and this time he had White, but this time he didn't succeed. A crucial moment was move 23, where Ponomariov miscalculated. Gelfand got an advantage and never let go.



Boris Gelfand was the top seed, and the deserved winner. He played the most convincing chess in Khanty-Mansiysk, showing excellent preparation and making almost no mistakes in the whole event. He's won a nice sum of money, a spot in the Candidates and as we learnt today he'll now probably be invited to Linares as well.

You can replay IM Merijn van Delft's annotations from the live page below in the game viewer. We're covering the World Cup and the London Chess Classic for free; starting from 2010 our live commentary will be subscription-based. You'll find more info here.

Tiebreak games

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
Shabalov (2606)
	Navara (2707)
Navara (2707)
		Karjakin (2723)
Karjakin (2723)
	Karjakin (2723)
Timofeev (2651)
			Karjakin (2723)
Sakaev (2626)
	Sakaev (2626)
Radjabov (2748)
		Vitiugov (2694)
Vitiugov (2694)
	Vitiugov (2694)
Milos (2603)
				Karjakin (2723)
Cheparinov (2671)
	Bologan (2692)
Bologan (2692)
		Laznicka (2637)
Morozevich (2750)
	Laznicka (2637)
Laznicka (2637)
			Mamedyarov (2719)
Milov (2652)
	Mamedyarov (2719)
Mamedyarov (2719)
		Mamedyarov (2719)
Wang Hao (2708)
	Wang Hao (2708)
Ganguly (2654)
					Gelfand (2758)
Meier (2653)
	Vachier-Lagrave (2718)
Vachier-Lagrave (2718)
		Vachier-Lagrave (2718)
Yu Yangyi (2527)
	Yu Yangyi (2527)
Bartel (2618)
			Gelfand (2758)
Amonatov (2631)
	Gelfand (2758)
Gelfand (2758)
		Gelfand (2758)
Polgar (2680)
	Polgar (2680)
Nisipeanu (2677)
				Gelfand (2758)
Iturrizaga (2605)
	Jobava (2696)
Jobava (2696)
		Grischuk (2736)
Grischuk (2736)
	Grischuk (2736)
Tkachiev (2642)
			Jakovenko (2736)
Sandipan (2623)
	Jakovenko (2736)
Jakovenko (2736)
		Jakovenko (2736)
Rublevsky (2697)
	Areshchenko (2664)
Areshchenko (2664)
Sasikiran (2664)
	Bacrot (2700)
Bacrot (2700)
		Bacrot (2700)
Wang Yue (2734)
	Wang Yue (2734)
Savchenko (2644)
			Ponomariov (2739)
Akobian (2624)
	Ponomariov (2739)
Ponomariov (2739)
		Ponomariov (2739)
Motylev (2695)
	Motylev (2695)
Najer (2695
				Ponomariov (2739)
Li Chao (2596)
	Li Chao (2596)
Pelletier (2589)
		Gashimov (2758)
Gashimov (2758)
	Gashimov (2758)
Zhou Jianchao (2629
			Gashimov (2758)
Caruana (2652)
	Caruana (2652)
Dominguez (2719)
		Caruana (2652)
Alekseev (2715)
	Alekseev (2715)
Fressinet (2653)
					Ponomariov (2739)
Khalifman (2612)
	Tomashevsky (2708)
Tomashevsky (2708)
		Shirov (2719)
Shirov (2719)
	Shirov (2719)
Fedorchuk (2619)
			Svidler (2754)
Nyback (2628)
	Svidler (2754)
Svidler (2754)
		Svidler (2754)
Naiditsch (2689)
	Naiditsch (2689)
Onischuk (2672)
				Malakhov (2706)
Zhou Weiqi (2603)
	Kamsky (2695)
Kamsky (2695)
		So (2640)
Ivanchuk (2739)
	So (2640)
So (2640)
			Malakhov (2706)
Inarkiev (2645)
	Eljanov (2729)
Eljanov (2729)
		Malakhov (2706)
Malakhov (2706)
	Malakhov (2706)
Smirin (2662)

Links

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