Polgar Eliminates #1 Seed At World Cup
Judit Polgar showed that she is still a force to be reckoned with by eliminating top seed Sergey Karjakin in the third round of the 2011 World Cup.
The best female player in the world beat Karjakin with white in their first game, and held for a draw in the second with no problems.
Vassily Ivanchuk looked to be in trouble after losing his first game to Emil Sutovsky, but he recovered to win a wild second game to even the score and force tie-breaks tomorrow.
In the match between Alexander Grischuk and Alexander Morozevich, Grischuk won the first game with white and then there was a bizarre turn of events when Morozevich offered a draw with white after just 12 moves, ensuring his own elimination. Is Morozevich crazy, or is there some other explanation?
Gata Kamsky looked to be headed to the fourth round when he took the lead against Ian Nepomniachtchi, but the Russian hit back in the second game to level the scores and take it to tie-breaks.
World Cup #1 seed Sergey Karjakin was eliminated by Judit Polgar
Vassily Ivanchuk took advantage of an over-ambitious Sutovsky in game 2 to even the scores
Kamsky counters Nepomniachtchi's stare with his baseball cap
The battle of the Sashas, Grischuk (left) and Morozevich ended in farce
Etienne Bacrot (pictured) was eliminated by Teimour Radjabov
The standings in round three are below. Level matches go to rapid tie-breaks tomorrow.
| Name | G1 | G2 | R1 | R2 | r3 | r4 | B1 | B2 | SD | Tot |
| Round 3 Match 01 | ||||||||||
| Polgar, Judit (HUN) | 1 | ½ | 1½ | |||||||
| Karjakin, Sergey (RUS) | 0 | ½ | ½ | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 02 | ||||||||||
| Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Sutovsky, Emil (ISR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 03 | ||||||||||
| Zherebukh, Yaroslav (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (AZE) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 04 | ||||||||||
| Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Efimenko, Zahar (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 05 | ||||||||||
| Tomashevsky, Evgeny (RUS) | ½ | 0 | ½ | |||||||
| Gashimov, Vugar (AZE) | ½ | 1 | 1½ | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 06 | ||||||||||
| Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) | 1 | ½ | 1½ | |||||||
| Morozevich, Alexander (RUS) | 0 | ½ | ½ | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 07 | ||||||||||
| Bacrot, Etienne (FRA) | ½ | 0 | ½ | |||||||
| Radjabov, Teimour (AZE) | ½ | 1 | 1½ | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 08 | ||||||||||
| Kamsky, Gata (USA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| Nepomniachtchi, Ian (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 09 | ||||||||||
| Caruana, Fabiano (ITA) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Svidler, Peter (RUS) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 10 | ||||||||||
| Jakovenko, Dmitry (RUS) | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Jobava, Baadur (GEO) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 11 | ||||||||||
| Potkin, Vladimir (RUS) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Vitiugov, Nikita (RUS) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 12 | ||||||||||
| Parligras, Mircea-Emilian (ROU) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Nielsen, Peter Heine (DEN) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 13 | ||||||||||
| Le, Quang Liem (VIE) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Bruzon Batista, Lazaro (CUB) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 14 | ||||||||||
| Navara, David (CZE) | ½ | ½ | 1 |
|||||||
| Moiseenko, Alexander (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 15 | ||||||||||
| Gupta, Abhijeet (IND) | ½ | 0 | ½ | |||||||
| Bu, Xiangzhi (CHN) | ½ | 1 | 1½ | |||||||
| Round 3 Match 16 | ||||||||||
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier (CUB) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| Lysyj, Igor (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The winner, runner-up and third placed player in the World Cup will qualify for the Candidates tournament to determine a challenger for the winner of the Anand v Gelfand world championship match next year.
Each round starts at 15:00 local time (09:00 UTC). The schedule:
| Round | Regular games | Tiebreaks | Players |
| 1 | 28–29 Aug | 30-Aug | 128 |
| 2 | 31 Aug–1 Sept | 02-Sep | 64 |
| 3 | 3–4 Sept | 05-Sep | 32 |
| 4 | 6-7 Sept | 08-Sep | 16 |
| Q-Final | 9–10 Sept | 11-Sep | 8 |
| Semi-Final | 12–13 Sept | 14-Sep | 4 |
| Final | 16–19 Sept | 20-Sep | 2 |
The time control for the regular games is 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment from the start.
Rapid games are at 25 minutes plus 10 second increment, and if scores are still level then 10 minutes plus 10 second increment, 5 minutes plus 3 second increment, and finally sudden-death 5 min v 4 min with a 3 second increment after move 60.
The official website with live coverage and commentary in Russian and English is here.
Pictures from the official website.
