FIDE World Cup Round 1.3 - Tiebreaks

The FIDE World Chess Cup is being stage from November 26th to December 18th, 2005, in Khanty-Mansyisk, Russia. This the 128-player event replaces what was known as the "FIDE Knockout World Championship" and serves as a qualifier for the Candidates stage of the world championship. The prize fund is US $1.5 million, with President Ilyumzhinov providing $300,000 for organisational costs.

FIDE WORLD CUP, 2005 ROUND 1 – TIEBREAKS

Report by Mig Greengard – Pictures by Frits Agterdenbos

It was a rest day for those who won through in the regulation games, but 50 players had to face tiebreak matches. The first two tiebreak games are 25'+10". Then two five minute blitz games. If the score is still tied there is a sudden death game with six minutes for white, five minutes for black, and black has draw odds. Three first round matches went to sudden death and the player with black in that final game went through in every case. (Shulman, Erenburg, and Nikolic)

The beautiful playing hall before the start of the first tiebreak round.

For the most part the top seeds did as well in tiebreaks as in the regular games. It was a bad day for the veterans; Vaganian, Beliavsky, and Azmaiparashvili all got the boot. In the teen beat department, Sergey Karjakin was eliminated by Csaba Balogh and Magnus Carlsen knocked out Azmai. The 15-year-old Norwegian champion will face Tajik surprise Ammonatov in the second round.

Azmai's "I can grow facial hair and you can't" gambit fell short.

The frantic scramble to prepare for the next opponent is underway, but you might be surprised to know that for most players it started a while ago. As soon as FIDE releases the pairing chart the players begin preparation for not only their first round opponents, but the two potential second rounders and perhaps even the potential four beyond that. This isn't as crazy, or cocky, as it sounds considering that before a round robin a player would prepare for more players than that.

Balogh was not impressed by the holder of the "youngest GM ever" title.

The full results are below along with the pairings for the second round. The field is so strong that there is already a shortage of clear favorites. There are quite a few heavyweight battles, in fact, such as Ponomariov-Motylev and Bareev versus Dortmund winner Naiditsch. The mighty Russian contingent has been cut down to 12 players from 23. Six out of ten Ukrainians survived, three of the nine Chinese, and four of eight Americans. (Check out this interview with Gata Kamsky on the official site.) Israel went 4/5 while India and the Netherlands both had a perfect 3/3. Latin America has four hopes with Bruzon, Felgaer, Vescovi, and Leitao. The chess-mad Philippines has all its high hopes in young Mark Paragua.

The American dream. Nakamura and Kamsky analyze.

The rapid and blitz games were predictably nervous affairs. Inarkiev missed a simple winning check against Khalifman in the first game and then went on to lose the second and the match. A few other quick hits. You can download all the games so far in zipped PGN.

Sutovsky,Emil (2654) - Hamdouchi,Hichem (2574) r1.3 Black fell into mate here but could have saved the draw by running his king to the corner. 41..Re1?? [41...Kc8 42.c6 Kb8 43.c7+ Kb7 44.Rg8 Rc1 45.Rb8+ Ka6 46.Rh8 Kb6=] 42.c6 Re8 43.Ra7 1-0 It's mate in two.

Smirin,Ilia (2673) - Arencibia,Walter (2510) r1.4 Black was already in deep trouble when he walked into a pin with 44..Qc2? and had to resign after 45.Rxd6+! The knight is now pinned.

Round 2 pairings

Photos by Frits Agterdenbos

Best dressed: Gata Kamsky meets the press with press officer Berik Balgabaev.

This one went all the way to sudden death. Experience triumphed over youth.

Team China post-mortems. Xie Jun and Xu Jun at the board.

Kuderinov getting another lesson from Shirov and his second Rytchagov. Young
Argentine Gastón Needleman soaks it all in.

 
There were two Egyptians and one woman at the start. Now there are none.
Ali Frhat of Egypt and women's world champ Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria.

 
America's Kudrin fell in tiebreaks while India's Sasikiran didn't need them to advance.

 
Iran's Ghaem Maghami was ko'ed by Evgeniy Najer of Russia.

  
Georgia's Jobava took out veteran Beliavsky in tiebreaks. On the right, local
hero Aleksandr Sibriaev was content with his play despite his loss to Ivanchuk.

Results

• Download all games as a zipped PGN file (through r1.3)
• Official web site (English version)
• All ChessBase reports so far

About the photographer

Frits Agterdenbos, 45, lives in Heemstede, not far from Amsterdam, and was one of the leading chess photographers in the eighties. From 1979–1991 his pictures appeared in several magazins, including New in Chess, Schakend Nederland, Inside Chess, BCM, Chess, Europe Echecs and Schach. In 1984 his Dutch book “64 Schaakportretten” (in English “64 Chess Portraits”) was published. In 1991 he “retired” as a chess photographer to finish his studies and in 1997 he received a diploma as an insurance mathematician (actuary). Since 1998 he has been a self-employed, working under the company name “Acturix”, which is his actuarial consultancy firm.

Now Frits is back as a chess photographer! In January 2005 he picked up his old passion, and publications show he still knows how to handle his camera. He combines his insurance job and chess photography with being a husband and a father of the beautiful Elena (three years old). You will find his photos on Chessbase.com, Schaakbond.nl, Schaaklog.nl and Schakers.info, and many more websites and magazines. You can contact him under f.agterdenbos (at) acturix.com.