Malakhov And Karjakin In Semis

The second games of the quarter-finals were all drawn, so Vladimir Malakhov and Sergey Karjakin (pictured) are safely through to the 2009 World Cup semi-finals at the expense of Peter Svidler and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov respectively.

Svidler tried hard to complicate matters against Malakhov with the black pieces, but Malakhov kept everything under control to earn the draw he needed.

Mamedyarov had better chances with the white pieces against Karjakin, but he failed to make the most of his opportunities and exits the competition without ever playing any tie-break games!

The other games were very quick draws, with the players all clearly preferring to take their chances in the tie-break games.  The winner of Boris Gelfand v Dmitry Jakovenko will face Karjakin in the semis, while Malakhov waits patiently for the victor in the Gashimov v Ponomariov match.