OT: World Cup - Knock Out

[swami]

A poll about the World Cup - Knock Out championship.

This is very interesting tournament. Tough fights.

[shiv]

I am hoping Gelfand wins as this will show that experience wins over youth and helps him cap his strong 2009 results (amongst other things) but unfortunately I feel it will be tough for him to pull it off due to the rapid and blitz games.

[swami]

I am hoping Gelfand wins as this will show that experience wins over youth and helps him cap his strong 2009 results (amongst other things) but unfortunately I feel it will be tough for him to pull it off due to the rapid and blitz games.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. These players are almost evenly matched that it's hard to determine who has a plus. Perhaps their time management plays the big role.

I can't believe Wesley So got badly defeated.

[swami]

Karjakin and Malakhov both won their first game in the quarter finals.

Code: Select all

[Event "World Chess Cup 1/4-final"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk/Russia"]
[Date "2009.12.03"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[Annotator "Robot 3"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 d3 13. Bb1 Nxb3 14. axb3 Bf5 15.
b4 O-O 16. Re1 Qd5 17. h3 Rfd8 18. g4 Be6 19. Re3 h5 20. Qxd3 Qxd3 21. Bxd3
hxg4 22. hxg4 Bd5 23. Bc2 Bxf3 24. Rxf3 Nxe5 25. Rh3 g6 26. g5 Re8 27. Bf4 Bf8
28. Re3 Bd6 29. Bb3 Nc4 30. Bxc4 Bxf4 31. Rf3 Bh2+ 32. Kxh2 bxc4 33. Rf4 Re5
34. Rxc4 Rxg5 35. Ra5 Rxa5 36. bxa5 Ra7 37. Kg3 Kf8 38. Kf4 Ke7 39. b4 Kd7 40.
Ke5 Rb7 41. Rd4+ Kc8 42. Kf6 Rb5 43. Rf4 Rd5 44. Kxf7 g5 45. Rf6 Rd3 46. c4 Rd4
47. c5 Rxb4 48. c6 Kd8 49. Rf5 Rb2 50. f4 Rf2 51. Rd5+ Kc8 52. Ke7 1-0

Vladimir Malakhov seems real strong.

Code: Select all

[Event "World Chess Cup 1/4-final"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk/Russia"]
[Date "2009.12.03"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[Annotator "Robot 3"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. e3 b5 6. c5 g6 7. Bd3 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3
9. Qxf3 Bg7 10. g4 e5 11. Qg3 Nfd7 12. Ne2 Qe7 13. O-O h5 14. f3 Nf8 15. a4 b4
16. Bd2 a5 17. e4 dxe4 18. Bxe4 Ne6 19. Rae1 h4 20. Qf2 O-O 21. f4 exd4 22. f5
Nxc5 23. Bb1 d3 24. Nc1 Qd6 25. Ba2 Bd4 26. Be3 Ne4 27. Qxh4 g5 28. Qh5 d2 29.
f6 Qxf6 30. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 31. Kg2 dxe1=N+ 0-1

[beachknight]

Svidler is err was my favourite, Swami.

Well, lets watch further

Best,

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

I voted for Karjakin, Sergey
Dr.D

[swami]

Gelfand wins 2.5 - 0.5 against Jakovenko

Ponomariov wins 2.5 to 0.5 against Gashimov.

Any idea what the semi finals pairing is?