World Cup R4.1: no draw death in Khanty-Mansiysk

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 four game one – no draw death in Khanty-Mansiysk

Ukrainian GM Yaroslav Zherebukh, who has already eliminated Pavel Eljanov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, was not successful in his opening against David Navara (who was awarded his Fair Play prize today – see below). Not willing to defend passively, Zherebukh sacrificed a rook and went off for a desperate attack. Black carefully parried all the threats and launched the decisive counter-attack.

Ukrainian GM Yaroslav Zherebukh, who is just eighteen years old

David Navara of the Czech Republic at the start of round four

The game between Judit Polgar (Hungary) and Lenier Dominguez (Cuba) followed the same scenario. In a Sicilian Defense Black quickly seized the initiative and started to advance his central pawns. White had decent drawing chances due to opposite-colored bishops, but Judit didn't want to suffer for a draw and made a careless pawn push. Black immediately took control of the open file and created the winning attack.

Tomorrow Judit Polgar and Yaroslav Zherebukh will face a very difficult task — winning on demand as Black.

Vladimir Potkin (right) at the start of his game against Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Grischuk (Russia) abandoned his favorite Gruenfeld Defence in favor of the King's Indian against his friend and compatriot Vladimir Potkin. However, Potkin's reputation as a great opening expert received another confirmation today when White obtained a big advantage. Grischuk defended stubbornly, but made a few inaccuracies, and Potkin won in the endgame with a spectacular pawn break.

Azeri GM Teimour Radjabov (above) handled the opening against Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia, Ugra) very creatively. Black's light-squared bishop was shut off, and trying to bring it back, Jakovenko got himself a weak isolated pawn which was soon captured by his opponent. Radjabov was flawless in the rook ending that followed and concluded the game in his favor.

Peter Svidler (Russia) vs Gata Kamsky (USA) and Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) vs Peter-Heine Nielsen (Denmark) games were rather similar — in both games White got the opening initiative, Black defended tenaciously, but White finally prevailed in the endgame.

Only two games ended in draws: Ukrainian grandmasters Vassily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov defended with the Black pieces against Bu Xiangzhi (China) and Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba) respectively. "Today's round clearly showed that there is no real «draw death» threat in modern chess," say the satisfied organisers.

Results of round four

• Source: official results page

Results as a bracket table

Remaining schedule of the World Chess Cup 2011

A statement by David Navara

After he had offered a draw in a winning position in his second game of round three against Alexander Moiseenko we wrote to David Navara, asking him to describe exactly what happened. This he did, promptly, in spite of the impending tiebreak games. However David asked us not to publish his email until after the round had been completed. He also asked us to check if there was video of the action at the critical moment in the game. He wrote:

The Governor of Ugra, Natalia Komarova, decided to award both players a special prize to acknowledge their fair play. "In Ugra we encourage honor and generosity both at the chess board and in everyday life," she said. "I am personally very proud of both players, and could not simply overlook such a knightly act. This is the first time we are awarding the Fair Play Prize, but I think we will make it a tradition in future. You don't have to become a champion to win this prize, you just have to live in harmony with world and other people. I want to thank Alexander and David for reminding us of the principles of fair play.".

David Navara thanked the Governor and said: "I didn't think of any reward when I offered a draw, I just did the right thing." Alexander Moiseenko added: "I lost not just to a very strong player, but also to a noble man. I think David's decision to offer me a draw is unique for the chess world. No one else would do it under such circumstances. I was quite shocked by his offer. I admire David's decision and wish him the best of luck at the World Cup."

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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