The tournament is taking place in the Ugorian Chess Academy in the very heart of Khanty-Mansiysk, which has hosted three previous World Cups: 2005, 2007, and 2009. The 128 participants hail from 46 different countries, and are playing for a total prize fund of US $1.6 million. In addition the first three finisher get tickets to the Candidates tournament in the next World Championship cycle.
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The first game of the finals and the fight for third place were not without drama. The primary battle between Grischuk and Svidler was everything fans had hoped for and ended in a win for Svidler after a difficult game. Grishuck was White and had come up with a strong novelty, however it was one that Peter had clearly anticipated as he continued to play fairly quickly.
Grischuk struck first with a strong novelty...
The first and foremost question was whether the pawn White proferred could be taken, and while the answere seemed to be no, only post-mortem analysis confirmed the wisdom of this choice, The minute he got a chance, Black castled, giving up a pawn temporarily, and though some opined it was a poisoned pawn, the turth is that White didn't have any real alternatives. At this point, perhaps rattled by the move, Alexander began to err, and never really seemed himself as he lost his advantage. A few moves later, after two successive mistakes, he was just lost.
...but Svidler had the last word.
The question in everyone's mind was: would history repeat itself?
Ivanchuk-Ponomariov also promised to be an interesting encounter as this is their first match since the Ivanchuk's World Championship fiasco in which his nerves single-handedly lost to Ponomariov. The game was an interesting one though seemed headed towards a draw until imprecisions by Ruslan, and sharp technique by Vassily, gave Ivanchuk reasonable winning chances. Whether or not it was a case of nerves or not, he missed the best chance to pressure Ponomariov and a draw was agreed upon.
Praying for inspiration
| Name | G1 |
G2 |
R1 |
R2 |
r3 |
r4 |
B1 |
B2 |
SD |
Tot |
| Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) | 0 |
0.0 |
||||||||
| Svidler, Peter (RUS) | 1 |
1.0 |
||||||||
| Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) | ½ |
0.5 |
||||||||
| Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR) | ½ |
0.5 |
||||||||
| Date | Day | Time | Rounds | Players |
| 17.09.2011 | Saturday | 15:00 | Round 7, game 2 | |
| 18.09.2011 | Sunday | 15:00 | Round 7, game 3 | |
| 19.09.2011 | Monday | 15:00 | Round 7, game 4 | |
| 20.09.2011 | Tuesday | 11:00 | Tiebreaks, Closing | |
| 21.09.2011 | Wednesday | Departure |
LinksThe 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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