Karjakin and Malakhov reach semi-finals

Updated: Aug 31, 2011, 2:50 AM | 0 | Chess Event Coverage

All four games ended in draws on the second day of round 5, and so Sergei Karjakin and Vladimir Malakhov are through to the semi-finals of the World Cup, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Peter Svidler are out. Gelfand, Jakovenko, Ponomariov and Gashimov will play tiebreaks tomorrow.

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.

Round 1 (November 21-23): 128 players	Round 5 (December 3-5): 8 players
Round 2 (November 24-26): 64 players	Round 6 (December 6-8): 4 players
Round 3 (November 27-29): 32 players	Round 7 (December 10-14): 2 players
Round 4 (November 30-December 2): 16 players

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 round 5

Round 5, day 2

About both Jakovenko-Gelfand and Gashimov-Ponomariov we can keep it short: to very short draws, and so apparently all four GMs had no intention to take any risk today. These four players will decide in tomorrow's final who will have to leave, and who will reach the semis.

A quick draw in Gashimov-Ponomariov (and in Jakovenko-Gelfand)

What's the best opening against 1.Nf3/1.d4 in a a must-win situation? It might well be the King's Indian, and that's what Svidler went for. To avoid the Exchange Variation he then chose the set-up with 6...Nbd7, which has the downside that it's more passive than the main lines.

Peter Svidler, still somewhat surprisingly eliminated in just two games...

Malakhov did trade pawns on e5 at an early stage, and with strong moves like 19.a4, 22.b3 and 27.Nxe5! he gave his opponent absolutely no chance to complicate matters. In fact, in the final position White is still better.

...by his very strong compatriot Vladimir Malakhov

Mamedyarov also had to win, but he was playing the white pieces. And indeed, the Azeri GM got his chances. Well, it might have been just one chance, but a golden one. In the following position it's quite strange that he didn't just take on d5 with the knight. What would he have missed?

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is out

Tomorrow's tiebreaks will give us the names of the other two semi-finalists and then on Sunday those semi-finals already start.

All photos by Galina Popova | courtesy of FIDE

Games round 5, day 2

Game viewer by ChessTempo

FIDE World Cup - Pairings & results rounds 2-7

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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