Gelfand Wins World Cup

After a rather lifeless four regular time-control games in the 2009 World Cup final between Boris Gelfand and Ruslan Ponomariov, the rapid tie-breaks were as exciting as one would expect.

It certainly wasn't easy for Gelfand, who was initially denied victory during the four-game rapid match when Ponomariov won in the last game to level the scores.

Ponomariov's back was against the wall again after he lost in the first blitz game, but he showed remarkable resilience to level the scores yet again.  Finally, when Gelfand took the lead for a third time there was no coming back for Ponomariov.

So the top seeded Israeli takes the title, qualifies for the candidates tournament for the next WCC cycle, and pockets a cool $96,000.  Congratulations to Boris Gelfand!

It comes down to rapids and blitz...Gelfand and Ponomariov go to the wire (pic from the official site)