Potkin Crushes Shirov In World Cup
The first games of the second round matches took place today in the 2011 World Cup, and a few familiar names are in trouble.
Alexei Shirov was crushed by Vladimir Potkin in a one-sided encounter, and the Hungarian #1 Zoltan Almasi also lost to the Romanian GM Mircea Parligras.
Two more players losing to lower-rated opponents in tricky endings were Etienne Bacrot and Vallejo Pons. Vallejo Pons faces an even tougher task to recover tomorrow, because unlike the others mentioned he will have the black pieces.
Vassily Ivanchuk won a 97-move marathon against Evgeny Alekseev with the black pieces in the last game of the day to finish to put himself in a strong position to advance to round three.
Shirov lost badly against Potkin
The playing hall
The standings after Game 1 of Round 2 (the first named player was white)
| Name | G1 | G2 | R1 | R2 | r3 | r4 | B1 | B2 | SD | Tot |
| Round 2 Match 01 | ||||||||||
| Karjakin, Sergey (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| So, Wesley (PHI) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 02 | ||||||||||
| Alekseev, Evgeny (RUS) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 03 | ||||||||||
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (AZE) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Fridman, Daniel (GER) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 04 | ||||||||||
| Ni, Hua (CHN) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 05 | ||||||||||
| Gashimov, Vugar (AZE) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Azarov, Sergei (BLR) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 06 | ||||||||||
| Feller, Sebastien (FRA) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 07 | ||||||||||
| Radjabov, Teimour (AZE) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Negi, Parimarjan (IND) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 08 | ||||||||||
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam (UZB) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Kamsky, Gata (USA) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 09 | ||||||||||
| Svidler, Peter (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son (VIE) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 10 | ||||||||||
| Harikrishna, P. (IND) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Jakovenko, Dmitry (RUS) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 11 | ||||||||||
| Vitiugov, Nikita (RUS) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Korobov, Anton (UKR) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 12 | ||||||||||
| Parligras, Mircea-Emilian (ROU) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Almasi, Zoltan (HUN) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 13 | ||||||||||
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco (ESP) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Bruzon Batista, Lazaro (CUB) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 14 | ||||||||||
| Onischuk, Alexander (USA) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Navara, David (CZE) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 15 | ||||||||||
| Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (FRA) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Bu, Xiangzhi (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 16 | ||||||||||
| Bologan, Viktor (MDA) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier (CUB) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 17 | ||||||||||
| Ivanov, Alexander (USA) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Lysyj, Igor (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 18 | ||||||||||
| Gupta, Abhijeet (IND) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Shankland, Samuel L (USA) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 19 | ||||||||||
| Moiseenko, Alexander (UKR) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Inarkiev, Ernesto (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 20 | ||||||||||
| Grachev, Boris (RUS) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Le, Quang Liem (VIE) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 21 | ||||||||||
| Adams, Michael (ENG) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Nielsen, Peter Heine (DEN) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 22 | ||||||||||
| Potkin, Vladimir (RUS) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Shirov, Alexei (ESP) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 23 | ||||||||||
| Jobava, Baadur (GEO) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Wojtaszek, Radoslaw (POL) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 24 | ||||||||||
| Drozdovskij, Yuri (UKR) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Caruana, Fabiano (ITA) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 25 | ||||||||||
| Nepomniachtchi, Ian (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Riazantsev, Alexander (RUS) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 26 | ||||||||||
| Filippov, Anton (UZB) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Bacrot, Etienne (FRA) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 27 | ||||||||||
| Fier, Alexandr (BRA) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Morozevich, Alexander (RUS) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 28 | ||||||||||
| Andreikin, Dmitry (RUS) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Tomashevsky, Evgeny (RUS) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 29 | ||||||||||
| Efimenko, Zahar (UKR) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Berkes, Ferenc (HUN) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 30 | ||||||||||
| Zherebukh, Yaroslav (UKR) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Felgaer, Ruben (ARG) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 31 | ||||||||||
| Sutovsky, Emil (ISR) | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Fressinet, Laurent (FRA) | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Round 2 Match 32 | ||||||||||
| Polgar, Judit (HUN) | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Movsesian, Sergei (ARM) | ½ | 0.5 |
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 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.
