World Cup final: 3rd game drawn too

The third game of the World Cup final between Ruslan Ponomariov and Boris Gelfand also ended in a draw and so we're just one game away from a tiebreak. Ponomariov avoided the Petroff with 1.d4 and in a Slav that looked like a Slechter and soon like a Grünfeld, he won a pawn but then repeated moves in timetrouble.

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 and will be played December 10th-14th. 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).

Game 3

Although he didn't want to admit on Thursday that there's not much to do against the Petroff these days, Ponomariov avoided that opening anyway in his second White game. He tried the 4.Qc2 Slav, but also against this system Gelfand knew exactly what he was doing and he played the opening fast. It was Ponomariov who had a big think first, after the move 7...Be6, with which Gelfand deviated from one of his own games.

Everything was going fine for Black, until an inaccuracy on move 19 which suddenly allowed the white rook to the seventh. Not long after that Ponomariov won a pawn on the queenside, but by then he had gotten into timetrouble, and he decided to play it safe. Still it was quite a surprise to see White going for the draw with such a healthy extra pawn. Tomorrow Ponomariov has to show what he's worth with the black pieces one more time; another draw will force a tiebreak on Monday but any other result will bring a winner of this 2009 World Cup.

You can still replay GM Emanuel Berg's annotations on the live page. We're covering the World Cup and the London Chess Classic for free; starting from 2010 our live commentary will be subscription-based. You'll find more info here.

Games 1-3

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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)
					Gelfand (2758)
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)
				Gelfand (2758)
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
				Ponomariov (2739)
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)
					Ponomariov (2739)
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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