World Cup Round Three Completed
After three completed rounds at the 2011 World Cup the 128 starters have been necessarily whittled down to just 16 players, and the action is set to become even more intense.
The third round tie-breaks were mostly finished in just 2 rapid games, but one match went all the way to a sudden-death decider.
Vassily Ivanchuk won both his rapid games against Emil Sutovsky to secure his fourth round berth. The same manner of victory was achieved by Gata Kamsky, Peter Svidler and Peter Heine Nielsen. Svidler's victory was at the expense of 19 year-old Fabiano Caruana.
However, the #3 seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was eliminated after losing his first rapid game and failing to recover in the second. A brilliant victory for 18 year-old Yaroslav Zherebukh of Ukraine!
Ruslan Ponomariov and Vladimir Potkin are through to the next round, but Le Quang Liem was beaten by Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba.
Another Cuban, Leinier Dominguez, also booked his place in the next round, but only by winning the final sudden-death game!
However, the story of the third round was David Navara's delayed victory over Alexander Moiseenko. In the last regular game of their match yesterday Navara offered a draw in a winning position, apparently to display good sportsmanship due to an earlier incident in the game.
David Navara eventually won his match with Alexander Moiseenko - a day late
The Russian commentator Sergey Shipov explained (translation from WhyChess):
I talked to Moiseenko after his game against Navara – they DREW! What happened was as follows: in the first time trouble Navara accidentally touched one of his pieces and if he moved it he’d lose a piece. Moiseenko pardoned him that touch in a short dialogue. It seems a sense of guilt weighed on David and then, having achieved a won position, he considered it wasn’t possible for him to win and offered a draw.
This incident has been spun by FIDE as a case of great sportsmanship by both players, but it is clear from Navara's quoted words that he only "clipped" his King accidentally, which does not count for the touch-move rule (which must be a deliberate touch).
Navara (quoted by FIDE): "On the 35th move I accidentally touched both pieces – the king and the bishop. I wanted to move my bishop on d6, but clipped the king also, however, Moiseenko insists that I have first touched the king, but I am not sure about that. Any move with the king would lead to the loss of the piece, however, Moiseenko did not insist that I make my move namely with it. I did not want to be referred as to the unethical chess player who managed to win in an unfair way,that is why at the end, having achieved the winning position, I offered a draw".
From the official rules of chess:
4.2 Provided that he first expresses his intention (for example by saying "j’adoube" or "I adjust"), the player having the move may adjust one or more pieces on their squares.
4.3 Except as provided in Article 4.2, if the player having the move deliberately touches on the chessboard:
a. one or more of his own pieces, he must move the first piece touched which can be moved.
So it would seem to be more accurate to say that Navara had done nothing wrong and should have taken the victory that he had rightly earned. Fortunately Navara's timid nature didn't cost him his place in the next round.
Ivanchuk beat Sutovsky 2-0 in the tie-breaks
Svidler (right) knocked out Caruana 2-0 in the tie-break
18 year-old Yaroslav Zherebukh knocked out the #3 seed
The full tie-break match results:
| Name | G1 | G2 | R1 | R2 | r3 | r4 | B1 | B2 | SD | Tot |
| Round 3 Match 02 | ||||||||||
| Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| Sutovsky, Emil (ISR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 03 | ||||||||||
| Zherebukh, Yaroslav (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2.5 | |||||
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (AZE) | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1.5 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 04 | ||||||||||
| Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2.5 | |||||
| Efimenko, Zahar (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1.5 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 08 | ||||||||||
| Kamsky, Gata (USA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| Nepomniachtchi, Ian (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 09 | ||||||||||
| Caruana, Fabiano (ITA) | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Svidler, Peter (RUS) | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 11 | ||||||||||
| Potkin, Vladimir (RUS) | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2.5 | |||||
| Vitiugov, Nikita (RUS) | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1.5 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 12 | ||||||||||
| Parligras, Mircea-Emilian (ROU) | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Nielsen, Peter Heine (DEN) | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 13 | ||||||||||
| Le, Quang Liem (VIE) | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1.5 | |||||
| Bruzon Batista, Lazaro (CUB) | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2.5 | |||||
| Round 3 Match 14 | ||||||||||
| Navara, David (CZE) | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| Moiseenko, Alexander (UKR) | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Round 3 Match 16 | ||||||||||
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier (CUB) | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5 |
| Lysyj, Igor (RUS) | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 4 |
So the final 16 draw looks like this:
| Judit Polgar (33) | v | Leinier Perez Dominguez (16) |
| Gata Kamsky (8) | v | Peter Svidler (9) |
| Ruslan Ponomariov (4) | v | Lazaro Bruzon (52) |
| Vugar Gashimov (5) | v | Peter Heine Nielsen (44) |
| Vassily Ivanchuk (2) | v | Bu Xiangzhi (50) |
| Teimour Radjabov (7) | v | Dmitry Jakovenko (10) |
| Yaroslav Zherebukh (94) | v | David Navara (14) |
| Alexander Grischuk (6) | v | Vladimir Potkin (43) |
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.
