World Cup final: first game Ponomariov-Gelfand drawn

The FIDE World Chess Cup is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk from November 20th to December 15th 2009. It is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The final seventh round consists of four games. 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, which is GMT +5 hours = 11:00 a.m. European time = 5 a.m. New York. The World Chess Cup is an integral part of the World Championship Cycle 2009-2011.

Final, game one

Ponomariov,R (2739) - Gelfand,B (2758) [C42]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (7.1), 10.12.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.Be2 0-0 10.Nc3 Bf5 11.a3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Nc6 13.Re1 Re8 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Bf4 Rac8 16.h3 h6 17.Qc1 Bf6 18.Qb2 Na5 19.Be5 Bxe5 20.Nxe5 c5 21.Bf3 Qd6 22.Rad1 b6 23.Qa2 Be6 24.d5 Bxh3 25.Nxf7 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Kxf7 27.gxh3 Re8 28.Rxe8 Kxe8 29.Qe2+ Kd8 30.Qa6 Qg6+ 31.Bg2 Qb1+ 32.Kh2 Qf5 33.Qxa7 Qf4+ 34.Kg1 Qc1+ 35.Kh2 Qf4+ 36.Kg1 Qc1+ 37.Kh2 ½-½

Picture gallery

Boris Gelfand of Israel prepares for his first black-pieces game in the World Cup

The final Gelfand vs Ponomariov gets under way

Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine during the game

Boris Gelfand with a typical gesture

Art in Khanty-Mansiysk

An art exposition at the playing venue – we leave the following pictures uncaptioned

The lady we encountered in round five is still fascinated by the World Cup trophies

FIDE should really consider getting one of them for her

Results of the final

• Click to replay the final games

Schedule of the World Cup 2009

Links Official tournament site – All ChessBase reports All games in zipped PGN + games in PGN: Rnd 1 – Rnd 2 – Rnd 3 – Rnd 4 – Rnd 5 – Semifinal – Final The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!