Odessa ACP World Rapid: Gelfand and Svidler in the final

The 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup is organised by the PIVDENNY Bank and the Association of Chess Professionals in Odessa, Ukraine. This knockout tournament is taking place 22nd-24th May 2009 in the Odessa National Academy of Law. The prize fund is US $57,000. 16 grandmasters are participating: 13 players who performed best in the ACP Tour 2007/2008 + three wild cards given by the organizers.

Second day report

The second stage of the ACP World Rapid saw Peter Svidler knocking out fellow-Russian Alexander Grischuk with a win and a draw. Israeli GM Boris Gelfand went all the way against Dmitry Jakovenko, defeating the Russian GM in the final Armageddon game.

1st round	2nd round	Semi-finals	Final	Winner
A. Grischuk
2.0-0.0	A. Grischuk
P. Eljanov
	1.5-0.5	A. Grischuk
A. Moiseenko
1.5-0.5	A. Moiseenko
E. Bacrot
		0.5-1.5	P. Svidler
S. Movsesian
1.5-0.5	S. Movsesian
P. Tregubov
	1.5-2.5	P. Svidler
A. Karpov
1.5-2.5	P. Svidler
P. Svidler

M. Gurevich
0.5-1.5	D. Jakovenko
D. Jakovenko
	3.0-2.0	D. Jakovenko
Y. Drozdovskij
1.0-3.0	A. Naiditsch
A. Naiditsch
		2.0-3.0	B. Gelfand
E. Najer
0.5-1.5	B. Gelfand
B. Gelfand
	2.0-0.0	B. Gelfand
V. Gashimov
1.5-0.5	V. Gashimov
Z. Efimenko

Picture Gallery

By Boris Bukhman

The entrance to the theatre venue

The trophy for the winner of the 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup

The second day of play, with the participants and arbiters on the stage, a big flat
panel for the spectators and video cameras to capture the live action

Watchful eye: Arbiter Sergey Golubev

Boris Gelfand vs V. Gashimov, with the Israeli GM looking pensively into the crowd

Dmitry Jakovenko lost to Boris Gelfand in the semi-finals

Twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov with tournament director WGM Masha Klimova

The begin of a critical match: Peter Svidler vs Alexander Grischuk

Knocked out in the semi-finals: Alexander Grischuk

Commenting for the audience: the legendary Viktor Korchnoi

In the final on Sunday: Israeli GM Boris Gelfand

His opponent, St. Petersburg GM Peter Svidler

Press chief GM Michael Golubev who provided the pictures by Boris Bukhman

Group picture of the sponsors of the 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup

Links

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 the PGN games.