World Cup 2.3: Dubov, Hammer qualify in tiebreaks

The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players, with two games (90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest, with 30 seconds increment) between pairs of players. The tiebreaks consist of two rapid games (25 min + 10 sec), then two accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec), and finally an Armageddon. The winner and the runner-up of the World Cup 2013 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament of the next World Championship cycle. The venue is the city of Tromsø, which lies in the northern-most region of Norway, almost 400 km inside the Arctic Circle. You can find all details and links to many ChessBase articles on Tromsø here. The World Cup starts on Sunday, August 11th and lasts until September 3rd (tiebreaks, closing ceremony). Each round lasts three days, while the final will consist of four classical games. Thursday August 29 is a free day. A detailed schedule can be found here.

There were fifteen matches that went into the playoffs. Most were decided in the two 25-minute rapid games, with Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karjakin, Gata Kamsky and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov going through – and eliminating respectively Igor Lysyj, Mikhail Kobalia, Krishnan Sasikiran, Aleksandr Shimanov and Maxim Matlakov. Alexey Dreev knocked out the nominally stronger Wang Hao, while Peter Svidler eliminated Viktor Bologan.

The shock eliminations were Michael Adams, Etienne Bacrot, David Navara, Ruslan Ponomariov and, as mentioned, Wang Hao, who all fell to lower rated players: Adams to Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Bacrot to Alexander Moiseenko, Navara to local GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, and Ponomariov, as we shall see belo, to Daniil Dubov in the final Armageddon game. Teimour Radjabov eliminated Lazaro Bruzon in the accelerated 10m + 10s games.

Results of the second round tiebreak

• All results and standings on the official site

Levon Aronian did not have any problems with Igor Lysyj, simply outplaying the Russian GM

Just like Aronian Vladimir Kramnik won the second rapid game with white

Alexey Dreev is a fearsome rapid player, as Wang Hao found out in this tiebreak match

Michael Adams had clear chances against Yuriy Kryvoruchko in the first game, but drew
it and then got into trouble in the second. Kryvoruchko progressed to round three.

Teimour Radjabov did not have an easy time with Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon, missing a clear win in the first game and taking a quick draw in the second. Then in the two accelerated games he simply mowed down his opponent. Radjabov revealed in an interview with Susan Polgar and Lawrence Trent that he has a month-old daughter – we have to assume that becoming a father may have distracted his chess career in the past few months.

The final Armageddon game

1.b3??! came as a suprise to the spectators, but Ponomariov replied instantly

Susan Polgar and Lawrence Trent commenting on the Armageddon Daniil Dubov vs Ruslan Ponomariov

Ruslan Ponomariov (right) resigns, young Daniil Dubov is through to round three

Pictures provided by Paul Truong in Tromsø

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Video reports from Tromsø

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: R1 – R2 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.