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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Round two tiebreaks

Round two of the World ChessCup ended on September 2 in Khanty-Mansiysk. Nineteen participants of round three were determined yesterday, with the remainder contested on tie-breaks. One of the most successful knock-out players in the world Michael Adams (England) was unable to advance to the next round.

Though the rating difference is not large, it was still a surprise to see Adams eliminated
by Heine-Nielsen considering how well he usually does in knockout events.

The tie-break games at the World Cup go as follows: two 25-minute games with 10 bonus seconds per move, then, if the first two games end in a draw, two semi-blitz games are played with 10 minutes and a ten-second increment per move. If after this, the overall score is still tied 2-2, the match proceeds to two blitz games at the rate of five minutes plus three seconds per move. Finally, if the score is still tied at this point, the seventh and last game is the Armageddon: White gets five minutes, and Black gets four, and White must win to advance. Both sides receive a three-second increment per move after move 61.

Eleven matches out of thirteen were decided in rapid games already. Not one player of the six who lost their first game was able to strike back, and four of them lost the second game as well.

After drawing the classical games, Grischuk won 2-0 in the first set of rapid games

Karjakin had little trouble during the rapid games and secured his spot in round three

Results of round two

• Source: official results page

Results as a bracket table

The live commentary on Playchess will continue daily at 13:00h CEST (= 15:00h Moscow, 7 a.m. New York), with GM commentary in English and German. At around 19:00h there will be a wrap-up of the day's events.

Remaining schedule of the World Chess Cup 2011

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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