The World Cup: Navara advances!

The Round 3 of the World Cup ended on Monday, September 5th in Khanty-Mansiysk. Six participants of the Round 4 were determined yesterday: Judit Polgar (Hungary), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Bu Xiangzhi (China), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia). The remaining ten spots were filled today on the tie-break.

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 minutes 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 bonus second per move after the move 61, which prevents winning by flagging the opponent.

The first rapid games were unusually bloodthirsty: there were nine decisive results out of ten, and six games were won by Black. Moiseenko was the only player who managed to even the score in the second game. The rapid match Lysyj-Dominguez was tied with two draws. Other eight matches ended at the rapid chess stage.

Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) – Emil Sutovsky (Israel) 2-0
Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukraine) – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) 1,5-0,5
Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) – Zakhar Efimenko (Ukraine) 1,5-0,5
Gata Kamsky (USA) – Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 2-0
Peter Svidler (Russia) – Fabiano Caruana (Italy) 1,5-0,5
Vladimir Potkin (Russia) – Nikita Vitiugov (Russia) 1,5-0,5
Peter-Heine Nielsen (Denmark) – Marcea-Emilian Parligras (Romania) 2-0
Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba) – Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) 1,5-0,5

The success of the 18-year-old Yaroslav Zherebukh deserves special attention: he defeated one of the World Cup favorites Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who recently participated in the candidates matches.

The Czech grandmaster David Navara produced an unusual example of fair play by offering a draw to Alexander Moiseenko in a won position yesterday. Today he defeated the Ukrainian in two 10-minute games and advanced to the Round 4. Tomorrow both players will receive a special Fair Play prize from Natalia Komarova, the Governor of Ugra.

Lenier Dominguez (Cuba) and Igor Lysyj (Russia) became the first players to proceed to the sudden death game. The former World Blitz Champion Lenier Dominguez got the White pieces and won the game with a crushing attack.

The Round 4 begins on Tuesday September 6 with the following games: Polgar-Dominguez, Kamsky-Svidler, Ponomariov-Bruzon, Gashimov-Nielsen, Ivanchuk-Bu Xiangzhi, Radjabov-Jakovenko, Zherebukh-Navara and Grischuk-Potkin.

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