FIDE WCC R6-5: Kasimdzhanov KO's Topalov in rapids

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Results of Semifinals

Final six-game match Adams - Kasimdzhanov begins Tuesday, July 6

The surprise is complete. First Rustam Kasimdzhanov held Veselin Topalov to four straight draws in their semifinal match. Then he outplayed the Bulgarian and eliminated him by winning both rapid tiebreak games. We have become used to the Uzbekistani's unflappable play. Despite being much worse in several games along the way in Tripoli he refuses to blunder and has lost only one game of 22 played, to Grischuk in the quarterfinals.

Kasimdzhanov didn't give Topalov much of a chance in the rapid games today. With black in game one he defanged Topalov's gambit in the Queen's Indian to reach rough equality. When Topalov kept pressing at the cost of his a-pawn, Kasimdzhanov grabbed the pawn and skillfully reorganized his pieces, not giving White any chance to generate an attack. Soon it was Topalov's king in danger and after piece exchanges the passed black a-pawn was a quick winner.

That was Topalov's first loss in Tripoli, but it wasn't to be his last. Needing a win at all costs with black in the second game Topalov gave it everything he could to sharpen the game, which started as a solid 3.b3 Sicilian. Kasimdzhanov didn't mind and went directly at Black's defenseless king. After all, white is white.

Kasimdzhanov-Topalov after 20...f5. In a wild exchange of blows White ripped things open with 21.Bxf5! Nf4!? (21...Rxf5 22.hxg6) 22.Rg3 (22.Qxf4? Rxf5 23.Qe3 Qc6) 22...Rxf5 23.hxg6 h5 24.Qxf5.

Kasimdzhanov prosecuted the attack mercilessly, never falling for any tricks and simplifying down to a position with three extra pawns. Topalov threw the kitchen sink, sacrificing the exchange, but it was already over. White kept control and the game ended with Black facing mate.

Kasimdzhanov, the 26th ranked player in the event, has now eliminated three of the top four seeds in Tripoli! If he can get the last of the four, Mickey Adams, he will become by far the least likely FIDE world champion ever (and the most difficult to pronounce). Adams will present Kasimdzhanov the same problem he presented Radjabov in the semifinals, a cool and calm foe who provides precious few opportunities for an opportunistic opponent.

Adams is also deadly in fast games, although he has yet to need to prove it in Tripoli. We know this from watching his performance here at Playchess.com! Adams is currently the number one blitz player on the server, with an astronomical rating of 3008. Meanwhile Kasimdzhanov is also a Playchess.com regular and is ranked #24 on the same list. Maybe his mouse needs greasing because he hasn't had any trouble in the rapid games so far in Libya.

Is England ready for its first claimant to the chess throne since Staunton? Would Adams be able to avenge his countryman Nigel Short's 1993 loss to Garry Kasparov? Is Uzbekistan ready for people to find out there is a country called Uzbekistan?

(It's north of Afghanistan, slightly larger than California, landlocked, population of 26.4 million, currency: the Uzbekistani sum, capital: Tashkent, radio stations: 27, internet country code: .uz. And we are embarrassed to note that "Uzbekistani" is correct for nationality and "Uzbek" is best used only for the ethnicity. We'll all have to learn this stuff if Kasimdzhanov wins, so start studying up now just in case!)

• Replay and download all the semifinal games
• View all round five games online and download PGN
• View all round four games online and download PGN
• All the games from round three in PGN
• All the games from the first two rounds in zipped PGN

Previous reports

• BBC report: Gaddafi's strategic chess move
• FIDE report on round 3-1 with pictures and videos
• Interview with Zhang Zhong
• ChessBase pre-match report
• ChessBase round one game on report
• ChessBase round one report
• ChessBase round two game one report
• ChessBase round two report
• ChessBase round three game one report
• ChessBase round three game two report
• ChessBase round four game one report
• ChessBase round four game two report
• ChessBase round five game one report
• ChessBase round five game two report
• ChessBase round six game one report
• ChessBase round six game two report
• ChessBase round six game three report
• ChessBase round six game four report
• GM impressions by Sergei Tiviakov
• Postcards from Tripoli by Paul Hoffman
• Odds: Who will be the next FIDE world champion?
• Revised odds for FIDE championship
• Odds after round three

General information

The FIDE site, which is being hosted by Libya Telecom And Technology, contains the schedule, list of players, results tree, games, reports, pictures and videos. The start page is http://wcc2004.fide.com and http://wcclibya2004.com.

Live coverage

The live game transmission from Tripoli, apparently of all games, requires you to have Java Virtual Machine installed on your PC. This program is distributed free of charge by Sun Microsystems (and is useful for many other applications). Visit the Java check page to see if you have everything required for the live coverage and install Java if you don't. To follow the games click on "Live coverage" in the link list above. There is a "View" button behind each pairing of players. Many of the key games will also be covered and discussed on the Playchess.com server.

Schedule

Note that local time in Tripoli is the same as in Central Europe. The start of the games is generally at 14:30h, which is GMT + 2 and translates to 13:30 London, 8:30 a.m. New York, 16:30 Moscow, 18:00 New Delhi, 20:30 Hong Kong, 21:30 Tokyo, 22:30 Melbourne, and 03:00 a.m. (on the next day) in the French Polynesia-Marquesas Islands of Taiohae.