A total of 126 participants turned up on November 23 for the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, located about 1400 miles (2250 km) east of Moscow. The competition is taking place from November 24 to December 18. The winner of the World Cup receives the right to challenge the former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov in a match.
The tension went up in the second game of the second knockout stage that was held today, November 28th, 2007, in Khanty Mansiysk. Some players had to good-bye the event, some still hope, and some are already thinking about their next opponent. Out of the 32 matches, 12 are still undecided, so we can look forward to tomorrow's battle of 24 gladiators. Among them are great favourites as Ivanchuk and Carlsen. Ponomariov, as usual, equalised the match in the second game, and he now has his usual tie-break chance. Radjabov was not that lucky, as he also lost his second game to Macieja.
Thus far in the first two rounds only one player has won all his game: Peter Svidler. Ten other players have conceded a single draw on their way to round three.
| 1 |
Svidler,P |
2732 |
4.0/4 |
| 2 |
Almasi,Z |
2691 |
3.5/4 |
| 3 |
Macieja,B |
2606 |
3.5/4 |
| 4 |
Aronian,L |
2741 |
3.5/4 |
| 5 |
Fressinet,L |
2654 |
3.5/4 |
| 6 |
Mamedyarov,S |
2752 |
3.5/4 |
| 7 |
Shirov,A |
2739 |
3.5/4 |
| 8 |
Jakovenko,D |
2710 |
3.5/4 |
| 9 |
Karjakin,Sergey |
2694 |
3.5/4 |
| 10 |
Dominguez Perez,L |
2683 |
3.5/4 |
| 11 |
Bareev,E |
2653 |
3.5/4 |
|
|
| World Chess Cup Round 2 – 27th-29th November 2007 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2787 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Galkin, Alexander | RUS | 2608 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 2 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2752 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Kozul, Zdenko | CRO | 2609 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 3 | Macieja, Bartlomiej | POL | 2606 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 |
| Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2742 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.0 | |
| 4 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2741 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Gustafsson, Jan | GER | 2606 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 5 | Shulman, Yuri | USA | 2616 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2739 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 6 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2732 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 |
| Pavasovic, Dusko | SLO | 2597 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.0 | |
| 7 | Gurevich, Mikhail | TUR | 2627 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Adams, Michael | ENG | 2729 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 8 | Alekseev, Evgeny | RUS | 2716 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Sakaev, Konstantin | RUS | 2634 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 9 | Najer, Evgeniy | RUS | 2635 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2715 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 10 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2714 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2639 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 11 | Avrukh, Boris | ISR | 2641 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2714 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 12 | Akopian, Vladimir | ARM | 2713 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan | IRI | 2591 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 13 | Belov, Vladimir | RUS | 2587 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2710 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 14 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2705 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Wang, Hao | CHN | 2643 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 15 | Tiviakov, Sergei | NED | 2643 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Wang, Yue | CHN | 2703 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 16 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2695 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Roiz, Michael | ISR | 2644 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 17 | Zhang, Pengxiang | CHN | 2644 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2694 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 18 | Bu, Xiangzhi | CHN | 2692 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Motylev, Alexander | RUS | 2645 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 19 | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | RUS | 2646 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Hossain Enamul | BAN | 2514 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 20 | Almasi, Zoltan | HUN | 2691 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 |
| Socko, Bartosz | POL | 2646 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.0 | |
| 21 | Volkov, Sergey | RUS | 2648 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Malakhov, Vladimir | RUS | 2690 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 22 | Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2690 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Georgiev, Kiril | BUL | 2649 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 23 | Baramidze, David | GER | 2569 | ½ | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Dominguez Perez, Lenier | CUB | 2683 | ½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 24 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2679 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Bareev, Evgeny | RUS | 2653 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 25 | Fressinet, Laurent | FRA | 2654 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Nevednichy, Vladislav | ROU | 2531 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 26 | Volokitin, Andrei | UKR | 2678 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Zhou, Jianchao | CHN | 2566 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 27 | Navara, David | CZE | 2656 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Rublevsky, Sergei | RUS | 2676 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 28 | Onischuk, Alexander | USA | 2674 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 |
| Nikolic, Predrag | BIH | 2657 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | |
| 29 | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 2660 | 0 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
| Inarkiev, Ernesto | RUS | 2674 | 1 | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.5 | |
| 30 | Zvjaginsev, Vadim | RUS | 2674 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Sasikiran, Krishnan | IND | 2661 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 31 | Tkachiev, Vladislav | FRA | 2661 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | 2670 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
| 32 | Zhao, Jun | CHN | 2552 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 |
| Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2668 | ½ | ½ | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | |
(1) Adams,Michael (2729) - Gurevich,Mikhail (2627) [C07]
FIDE World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk (2.2), 28.11.2007 [Efstratios Grivas]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Bc4 Qd8. 6...Qd6 is more common, but Mikhail Gurevich likes to explore rare lines. 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Nb3 a6
9...b5?! This early expansion cannot be good as it weaknesses Black's queenside. Modest but sensible seems to be 9...Bd6 10.Rd1 Nge7 11.Nbxd4 Nxd4 12.Rxd4!+/= (12.Nxd4 Qc7 13.Bg5 Acs,P-Tolnai,T/Budapest 1996.) 10.Bd3 Nf6 11.Rd1 Be7 12.Nbxd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Qc7 14.c3 Bc5?! Black was not keen on 14...0-0 15.a4! b4 16.cxb4 Bxb4 17.Bg5+/- but probably he could not afford anything different. Moving the same piece twice before you complete your development is not advisable. 15.Bg5! Now 15.a4?! is not working: 15...Bxd4 16.cxd4 bxa4 17.Rxa4 Bb7. 15...Bb7?! Maybe Black had to try 15...Bxd4 16.cxd4 Nd5 (16...Bb7 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Be4 Rc8 19.Bxb7 Qxb7 20.d5+/-) 17.Rac1 Qd6 18.Bh4! 0-0 19.Bg3+/- and hope. 16.Bxf6 gxf6
17.Be4! Exchanging Black's most dangerous piece is a welcome strategy. In the same time white's rook route to the kingside (Rd3-g3/h3) is prepared. 17...Bxe4. If Black tries to castle queenside with 17...0-0-0 then 18.b4 Bd6 (18...Bxd4 19.cxd4 Kb8 20.a4) 19.a4! will ruin his defence. 18.Qxe4 0-0 19.Qh4! Rfd8. Black is forced to give-up his valuable f-pawn: 19...f5 20.Qg5+ Kh8 21.Qf6+ Kg8 22.Rd3 f4 23.Rh3+-; 19...Be7 20.Rd3 f5 21.Qh6 Bd6 22.Rh3+- .] 20.Qxf6?! [More precise was 20.Rd3! Rd5 21.Rh3 h5 22.Qxf6+-. 20...Bf8 21.Rd3 Bg7 22.Qg5. 22.Rg3? Qxg3 23.Qxd8+ Rxd8 24.hxg3 Bxd4 25.cxd4 Rxd4= was too naive for a player of Adams calibre. 22...Qe5 23.Qg4 Rd6 24.Rg3 Rc8 25.Qh4 Kh8. Although Black faces too many problems (pawn down, weak king) he should put-up a more stubborn defence with 25...Rd7!? 26.a3 Kh8+/-. 26.Qe7! White's queen penetration will prove decisive. 26...Qc5. I think that Black's last chance was 26...Qd5 27.Qxf7 Bxd4 28.cxd4 Qxd4 29.h3 Qxb2 30.Re1+/-. 27.Re1. Also good is 27.Rd3 Bxd4 28.cxd4 Qc1+ 29.Rd1 Qc7 30.Qf6+ Kg8 31.Qg5+ Kh8 32.Rd3+/-.
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