World Cup Q-Final Line-up Complete
The tie-breaks in round four of the 2011 World Cup were completed today, leaving just eight players remaining out of the 128 that started just eleven days ago.
Vassily Ivanchuk had the easiest passage through the tie-breaks, winning both rapid games to end the challenge of Bu Xiangzhi.
Alexander Grischuk also booked his place in the quarter-finals, beating Vladimir Potkin in their second rapid game, and Vugar Gashimov needed four rapid games to finally overcame the resistance of Peter Heine Nielsen.
The last two matches both went down the blitz games, with Ruslan Ponomariov edging out Lazaro Bruzon, and Judit Polgar winning a real nail-biter versus Leinier Dominguez. A bad day for Cuba!
Polgar's success means that she will be unable to take her place in the Kings versus Queens tournament starting tomorrow in St.Louis. She will be replaced by Martha Fierro of Ecuador (Elo 2378).
The hectic schedule of the World Cup seems to be taking its toll on the players, with tiredness becoming a real factor. It's not pretty, but it's exciting!
The final scores in round four:
| Name | G1 | G2 | R1 | R2 | r3 | r4 | B1 | B2 | SD | Tot |
| Round 4 Match 01 | ||||||||||
| Polgar, Judit (HUN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 4.5 | |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier (CUB) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 3.5 | |
| Round 4 Match 02 | ||||||||||
| Bu, Xiangzhi (CHN) | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| Round 4 Match 03 | ||||||||||
| Zherebukh, Yaroslav (UKR) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Navara, David (CZE) | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Round 4 Match 04 | ||||||||||
| Bruzon Batista, Lazaro (CUB) | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 3.5 | |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4.5 | |
| Round 4 Match 05 | ||||||||||
| Gashimov, Vugar (AZE) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| Nielsen, Peter Heine (DEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Round 4 Match 06 | ||||||||||
| Potkin, Vladimir (RUS) | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1.5 | |||||
| Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 2.5 | |||||
| Round 4 Match 07 | ||||||||||
| Radjabov, Teimour (AZE) | 1 | ½ | 1.5 | |||||||
| Jakovenko, Dmitry (RUS) | 0 | ½ | 0.5 | |||||||
| Round 4 Match 08 | ||||||||||
| Svidler, Peter (RUS) | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Kamsky, Gata (USA) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Vassily Ivanchuk beat Bu Xiangzhi to reach the quarter-finals
Alexander Grischuk also advanced to the quarter-finals
Vugar Gashimov had a tough fight with Peter Heine Nielsen
Ruslan Ponomariov had to go to blitz games to defeat Lazaro Bruzon
The claws of the tigress! St. Louis' loss is the World Cup's gain
The quarter-final draw looks like this (seedings in brackets):
| Judit Polgar (33) | v | Peter Svidler (9) |
| Ruslan Ponomariov (4) | v | Vugar Gashimov (5) |
| Vassily Ivanchuk (2) | v | Teimour Radjabov (7) |
| David Navara (14) | v | Alexander Grischuk (6) |
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.
Photos from the official website.
