World Cup Q-Finals Underway

At 29 years old and rated 2706 Elo (world rank #31) Vladimir Malakhov (pictured) is the nearest thing to an 'outsider' we have left in the 2009 World Cup. He belied that status in the first round of quarter-final games by surviving a Peter Svidler attack to emerge the winner with the Black pieces.

Sergey Karjakin ended Mamedyarov's unbeaten run in the tournament in a rook endgame to take the upper hand in their match. If Mamedyarov is to survive, he will need to win the second game to enter tie-breaks for his first time in the tournament!

Ponomariov and Gashimov was an exciting game which ended all-square. Gelfand was easily held to a quick draw by Dmitry Jakovenko. All games are below.