
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 world champion Veselin Topalov in a match.
Round two Tiebreaks (Thursday, November 29)

Through to round three: top seed Vassily Ivanchuk
Vassily Ivanchuk played a fine first round rapid chess game, winning in style
(and then drawing the second) to knock Alexander Galkin out and proceed to round
three of the FIDE World Cup.

Magnus Carlsen won both his tiebreak games in impressive style against German
GM Arkadij Naiditsch.

Playing a very dangerous game: Ruslan Ponomariov

Chinese GM Wang Hao, knocked out by Ponomariov
The first game between Ruslan Ponomariov and Wang Hao was a wild Slav in which
Ponomariov got a rook, bishop and two pawns for his queen. The former FIDE world
champions walked a very narrow path between victory and disaster, but managed
to secure the first option with some fine endgame blockading. The second game
was a draw and Ponomariov was in round three, where he should really experiment
with not losing the first game for a change.

Former Chinese boy prodigy Bu Xiangzhi (above) knocked out Alexander Motlyev
in the blitz games.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov went out against Kiril Georgiev in the final Armageddon
round, after all other round two games were drawn.

Our photographer Sergei Tiviakov dropped a piece against Wang Yue and will
be leaving Khanty tomorrow – so unfortunately no more pictures from him
after that.

Top Romanian GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu won the first tiebreak game to knock
out Chinese GM Zhao Jun.

India's Krishnan Sasikiran took out Russia's Vadim Zvjaginsev.
Round two Tiebreaks
World Chess Cup Round 2 –
27th-29th November 2007 |
1 |
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
UKR |
2787 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
2.5 |
Galkin, Alexander |
RUS |
2608 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
1.5 |
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 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
3.0 |
Naiditsch, Arkadij |
GER |
2639 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
- |
- |
- |
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 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
2.5 |
Wang, Hao |
CHN |
2643 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
1.5 |
15 |
Tiviakov, Sergei |
NED |
2643 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
- |
- |
- |
1.5 |
Wang, Yue |
CHN |
2703 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
2.5 |
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 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
- |
3.5 |
Motylev, Alexander |
RUS |
2645 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
- |
2.5 |
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 |
0 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
1.5 |
Malakhov, Vladimir |
RUS |
2690 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
2.5 |
22 |
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam |
UZB |
2690 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
3.0 |
Georgiev, Kiril |
BUL |
2649 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
4.0 |
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 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3.0 |
Zhou, Jianchao |
CHN |
2566 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4.0 |
27 |
Navara, David |
CZE |
2656 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
1 |
½ |
0 |
- |
2.5 |
Rublevsky, Sergei |
RUS |
2676 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
- |
3.5 |
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 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
- |
2.0 |
Sasikiran, Krishnan |
IND |
2661 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
- |
4.0 |
31 |
Tkachiev, Vladislav |
FRA |
2661 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
- |
2.5 |
Cheparinov, Ivan |
BUL |
2670 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
- |
3.5 |
32 |
Zhao, Jun |
CHN |
2552 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
1.5 |
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter |
ROU |
2668 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
- |
- |
- |
2.5 |