The Round 2 of the Chess World Cup ended on September 2 in Khanty-Mansiysk. 19 participants of the Round 3 were determined yesterday, and the rest of the spots were 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.

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 ended 1-1, there are two semi-blitz games with 10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move, and then, if the overall score is 2-2, it is time for two blitz games with 5 mi-nutes plus 3 seconds per move. If the score is still tied, the 7th game is the Armageddon: White gets 5 minutes, Black gets 4, and White must win to advance. Both sides get 3 bonuses second per move af-ter the move 61, which prevents winning by flagging the opponent.

11 matches out of 13 were decided in rapid games already. Neither player of those six who lost the first game was able to strike back, and four of them lost the second game as well. The 2-0 tie-breaks are listed below:

Alexander Grischuk (Russia) – Sebastien Feller (France),
Etienne Bacrot (France) – Anton Filippov (Uzbekistan),
Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukraine) – Ruben Felgaer (Argentina),
Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine) – Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia).

Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) secured their promotion with draws against Alexander Riazantsev (Russia) and Daniel Friedman (Germany) respectively.

The following matches ended 1,5-0,5 with the decisive game played second:

Sergey Karjakin (Russia) – Wesley So (Philippines),
Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba) – Francisco Vallejo (Spain),
Bu Xiangzhi (China) – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France),
Igor Lysyj (Russia) – Alexander Ivanov (USA),
Peter-Heine Nielsen (Denmark) – Michael Adams (England).

The six-time Russian champion Peter Svidler missed a win in the second rapid game against Nguyen Ngoc Truong from Vietnam, but crushed him 2-0 in the 10-minute games. The former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) won the first semi-blitz game against Ni Hua (China), and protected his advantage in the second game.

The first games of the Round 3 are played on Friday, September 3. Below you may find the pairs with both players rated above or close to 2700 and are considered the elite players.

Sergey Karjakin (Russia) – Judit Polgar (Hungary),
Gata Kamsky (USA) – Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia),
Peter Svidler (Russia) – Fabiano Caruana (Italy),
Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) – Zakhar Efimenko (Ukraine),
Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) – Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia),
Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) – Emil Sutovsky (Israel),
Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) – Etienne Bacrot (France),
Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) – Baadur Jobava (Georgia),
Alexander Grischuk (Russia) – Alexander Morozevich (Russia).

All games are relayed with live grandmaster commentary in English and Russian on the official site of the World Cup: http://chess.ugrasport.com

Use the following link for computer analysis of the strongest engine – Houdini: http://chess.ugrasport.com/houdini.html