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 2.2
Report by Mig
Greengard – Pictures by Frits Agterdenbos
Parity is the watch-word in Khanty-Mansyisk. Over half of the matches are going
to rapid tiebreaks tomorrow and it's only the second round. Top-seed Ivanchuk
is out, although it's hard to call his loss to Cheparinov an upset. The young
Bulgarian is clearly on the march up the rating list. There were an impressive
number of must-win wins – five – including a pair with black by
Teimour Radjabov and Mikhail Gurevich. Replay a selection
of games.

Ivanchuk seems a bit distracted before his elimination by Cheparinov.
Ivanchuk's longevity, honesty, eccentricity, and, above all, his sporadically
brilliant chess have brought him a fair legion of fans around the world. His
recent surge back up the rating list had many of these supporters criticizing
the FIDE criteria for its invitations to the San Luis world championship. Now
that he's been eliminated in Siberia they'll be even hotter when they find out
the FIDE rules
for the 2007 world championship cycle use the exact same rating lists
(July 2004 and January 2005 averaged) to choose the rating seeds for next year's
candidate matches.
In case you don't have the degree in particle physics required to follow all
these rules, this is the way things are currently laid out. There will be 16
players in the candidates matches. 10 come from this tournament, which is why
the final 16 will continue to play every day so they can determine places 1-16
and not just the winner. Those ten join with five rating seeds and 2004 FIDE
champ Kasimdzhanov.
The rating seeds are, since they are using the same lists (?!), the same players
invited to San Luis by rating, which is why they didn't bother to come to the
World Cup. (The top four San Luis finishers (Topalov, Svidler, Anand, Morozevich)
are into the final tournament directly.) Kasparov, Kramnik, Leko, Adams, and
Polgar are the five who go into the 2006 candidates matches by rating. Kasparov
has retired and Kramnik appears to want nothing to do with FIDE championship
events. So we would go to the next two players, first Shirov and then Bacrot,
whose rating on those old lists is exactly 0.5 points higher than Ivanchuk's!
Perhaps Ivanchuk's leap up the list this year will help him in 2009? Meanwhile,
back to 2005...

Wang Yue is in tiebreaks, Xu Jun is through, and Zhang Zhong is out.
The highest-rated player in tiebreaks is Boris Gelfand, who couldn't break
through the resistance of Argentina's Ruben Felgaer. Teimur Radjabov played
a delicate endgame to win with black and tie up his match with Kazhgaleyev.
Paragua decided he'd rather play rapid chess against Dreev and played a short
draw. Kamsky and Bocharov's route to the tiebreaks was far more adventurous.
Kamsky was worse, then a little better, then totally lost, and then found a
miracle draw. Elsewhere on the American front, Lautier got the short draw he
wanted to eliminate Ivanov and Shulman surprised by overwhelming Khalifman to
level the score. Harikrishna leveled the score against Vescovi with a devastating
attack.

We peek over Pentala Harikrishna of India's shoulder at Brazil's Giovanni
Vescovi.
There were a few knock-out blows landed today. Bareev eliminated Naiditsch
when the young German blundered in a drawn rook endgame. The fast time control
used in this event tends to turn the endgame into a rook and pawn craps game
even for Grandmasters. Another victim was Hungary's Cao Sang, who had two moves
to draw an endgame of rook and pawn versus rook, but he chose wrong and had
to resign seven moves later.
Bareev,E
(2675) - Naiditsch,A (2641)
This looks like a routine draw because White can't create his own passer.
f3-g4 can actually lose, in fact. But Black snatches defeat by pushing
his d-pawn. 52.f3 put him into zugzwang and it was over.
50...d4+?? [50...Ke6= 51.Kd4 (51.Kf4 Kd6 52.g4 hxg4 53.Kxg4 d4)
51...Kd6 52.f3 Ke6 53.g4?? (53.Ke3 Ke5) 53...g5!-+ 54.gxh5 gxh4] 51.Kd3
Kd5 52.f3 Ke5
[A tiny hope was offered with both sides queening. 52...Kc5 53.g4 Kd5
54.gxh5 gxh5 55.f4 Kc5 56.f5 Kd5 57.f6 Ke6 58.Kxd4 Kxf6 59.Kd5 Kf5 (59...Ke7
60.Kc6 Ke6 61.Kb7 Kd6 62.Kxa7 Kc7 63.a5) 60.Kc6 Kg4 61.Kb7 Kxh4 62.Kxa7
Kg4 63.a5 h4 64.axb6 h3 65.b7 h2 66.b8Q h1Q Fritz is happy to point out
that this is mate in 34 for White, but it would take a little work for
a human.] 53.Kc4 1-0
|
Harikrishna,P
(2673) - Vescovi,G (2646)
India's #2 wiped out Brazil's #1 with a sharp sacrificial finish.
27.Bxh6! Qf8 [27...gxh6 28.Re8+! Qxe8 29.Nxf6+ Kf8 30.Nxe8] 28.Qg3
Bxb2 29.Bxg7 Bxg7 30.f6 Nd5 31.f7+ 1-0 [31...Qxf7 (31...Kh8 32.Qd3)
32.Nh6+]
|
Results
|
|
White |
Result |
Black |
Total |
1 |
Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) |
1/2 |
Cheparinov, Ivan (BUL) |
0.5-1.5 |
2 |
Bacrot, Etienne (FRA) |
1/2 |
Kempinski, Robert (POL) |
1.5-0.5 |
3 |
Aronian, Levon (ARM) |
1-0 |
Sadvakasov, Darmen (KAZ) |
2-0 |
4 |
Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) |
1-0 |
Istratescu, Andrei (ROM) |
2-0 |
5 |
Gelfand, Boris (ISR) |
1/2 |
Felgaer, Ruben (ARG) |
1-1 |
6 |
Shirov, Alexei (ESP) |
1-0 |
Kotronias, Vasilios (GRE) |
2-0 |
7 |
Lane, Gary (AUS) |
1/2 |
Jobava, Baadur (GEO) |
0.5-1.5 |
8 |
Radjabov, Teimur (AZE) |
1-0 |
Kazhgaleyev, Murtas (KAZ) |
1-1 |
9 |
Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR) |
1/2 |
Motylev, Alexander (RUS) |
1-1 |
10 |
Tiviakov, Sergei (NED) |
1/2 |
Korneev, Oleg (RUS) |
1-1 |
11 |
Sokolov, Ivan (NED) |
1-0 |
Zhang, Zhong (CHN) |
2-0 |
12 |
Dreev, Alexey (RUS) |
1/2 |
Paragua, Mark (PHI) |
1-1 |
13 |
Kamsky, Gata (USA) |
1/2 |
Bocharov, Dmitry (RUS) |
1-1 |
14 |
Bologan, Viorel (MDA) |
0-1 |
Efimenko, Zahar (UKR) |
0-2 |
15 |
Lautier, Joel (FRA) |
1/2 |
Ivanov, Alexander (USA) |
1.5-0.5 |
16 |
Bruzon, Lazaro (CUB) |
1/2 |
Onischuk, Alexander (USA) |
1-1 |
17 |
Bareev, Evgeny (RUS) |
1/2 |
Naiditsch, Arkadij (GER) |
1.5-0.5 |
18 |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (AZE) |
1/2 |
Najer, Evgeniy (RUS) |
1-1 |
19 |
Vallejo Pons, Francisco (ESP) |
1-0 |
Leitao, Rafael (BRA) |
1.5-0.5 |
20 |
Smirin, Ilia (ISR) |
1/2 |
Wang, Yue (CHN) |
1-1 |
21 |
Harikrishna, Pentala (IND) |
1-0 |
Vescovi, Giovanni (BRA) |
1-1 |
22 |
Malakhov, Vladimir (RUS) |
1-0 |
Nikolic, Predrag (BIH) |
2-0 |
23 |
Sakaev, Konstantin (RUS) |
1/2 |
Erenburg, Sergey (ISR) |
1-1 |
24 |
Cao, Sang (HUN) |
0-1 |
Xu, Jun (CHN) |
0.5-1.5 |
25 |
Moiseenko, Alexander (UKR) |
1/2 |
Van Wely, Loek (NED) |
1-1 |
26 |
Sasikiran, Krishnan (IND) |
0-1 |
Rublevsky, Sergei (RUS) |
1-1 |
27 |
Eljanov, Pavel (UKR) |
0-1 |
Gurevich, Mikhail (TUR) |
1-1 |
28 |
Ganguly, Surya Sekar (IND) |
1/2 |
Pantsulaia, Levan (GEO) |
1-1 |
29 |
Shulman, Yuri (USA) |
1-0 |
Khalifman, Alexander (RUS) |
1-1 |
30 |
Balogh, Csaba (HUN) |
0-1 |
Areshchenko, Alexander (UKR) |
0.5-1.5 |
31 |
Timofeev, Artyom (RUS) |
1/2 |
Sutovsky, Emil (ISR) |
1-1 |
32 |
Carlsen, Magnus (NOR) |
1/2 |
Ammonatov, Farrukh (TJK) |
1.5-0.5 |
Photos by Frits Agterdenbos

This one is going to tiebreaks.

Shirov is through, as is Bacrot, who is looking like a young Oliver Platt
these days.

Grischuk had no trouble taking out Romania's Istratescu.

Lautier won't be leading the ACP anymore but is doing fine as a chessplayer
so far.
Israel's Erenburg is in tiebreaks against Sakaev.

You might not know Levon Aronian yet, but he made short work of Sadvakasov.
Links
Schedule |
26 november |
Opening Ceremony |
|
19:00 |
26 november |
Players' Meeting |
|
21:00 |
27 november |
Round 1 |
Game 1 |
15:00 |
28 november |
Round 1 |
Game 2 |
15:00 |
29 november |
Tie-breaks |
|
15:00 |
30 november |
Round 2 |
Game 1 |
15:00 |
1 december |
Round 2 |
Game 2 |
15:00 |
2 december |
Tie-breaks |
|
15:00 |
3 december |
Round 3 |
Game 1 |
15:00 |
4 december |
Round 3 |
Game 2 |
15:00 |
5 december |
Tie-breaks |
|
15:00 |
6 december |
Round 4 |
Game 1 |
15:00 |
7 december |
Round 4 |
Game 2 |
15:00 |
8 december |
Tie-breaks |
|
15:00 |
9 december |
Round 5 |
Game 1 |
15:00 |
10 december |
Round 5 |
Game 2 |
15:00 |
11 december |
Tie-breaks |
|
15:00 |
12 december |
Round 6 |
Game 1 |
15:00 |
13 december |
Round 6 |
Game 2 |
15:00 |
14 december |
Tie-breaks |
|
15:00 |
15 december |
Round 7 |
Game 1 |
15:00 |
16 december |
Round 7 |
Game 2 |
15:00 |
17 december |
Tie-breaks |
|
15:00 |
17 december |
Closing Ceremony |
|
20:00 |
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.