WORLD CUP: SVIDLER IS KERZHAKOV IN CHESS

The second games of the final matches were played at the World Cup on Saturday September 17 in Khanty-Mansiysk. The battle between the Russian Grandmasters Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk turned out not to be very long – already on the 16th move the opponents agreed for a draw. Grischuk who was behind in score was also expected to strive for a full-blooded fight playing Black, that is why to the first White’s е2-е4 move he chose a sharp Najdorf system in the Sicilian Defense. However, we must precise that this system is sharpened only in case if White also strive for a sanguineous fight. As for Svidler, taking into account the situation in the match, he decided to play in a firmer way.

Svidler: As I said yesterday, most of my White games are drawn. I decided not to deviate from the recipe of success that is working very well. Seriously speaking, it was not exactly what I wanted when I played 6.a4, but rather soon we got a whittled position.

Grischuk: Today Peter proved once again that he is a man of his word. Like Alexander Kerzhakov, the Russian football player, who used to say: "I kicked, I kick and I will keep kicking!", Peter is saying: "With White I drew, I draw and I will draw!". I have calculated something: White have 10 main lines on the 6th move and the move 6.a4 is among them which is the most solid and boring one.

The match for the 3rd place and for the last ticket to the World Championship cycle between the Ukrainian Grandmasters Vassily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov was more eventful. Ponomariov with White did not interpret the Vienne Variation very successfully and after the opening got a hopeless position. Very soon queens disappeared from the chess board and the Black’s advantage became more obvious in the endgame. White had to speed up in order to develop the King’s side while Black gained the initiative all over the board: they moved forward their pawns on the Queen’s side and penetrated its rook into the opponent’s camp. White were defending very persistently: having sacrificed a pawn, they activated all their pieces and after it the fight has flashed with renewed energy. However, in the strict time-trouble Ponomariov blundered the blow on g2 after which the White's position became hopeless.

To conclude, after two playing days Svidler is ahead of Grischuk with the score 1,5-0,5, and Ivanchuk is leading with the same score in the match against Ponomariov. The 3rd games of the World Cup matches for the 1st and 3rd places will be played on Sunday, September 18. Let us remind you that the opponents are to play four classical games at this stage. If they finish with the score 2-2, then the fight will be continued in tie-breaks.

All the games of the World Cup broadcast live and accompanied by the commentaries of the Grandmasters both in English and Russian can be found on the official site of the World Chess Cup 2011 http://chess.ugrasport.com

The computer analysis by the strongest in the world Houdini program can be found on http://chess.ugrasport.com/houdini.html