Round 3
Among 32 grandmasters , who passed the 2nd round, are the most of top seeded players. Only GM Peter Leko and Aleksander Grischuk were not able to make it. Former World Champion Alexander Khalifman was victim of Joel Lautier from France in the tie-break games. Loek Van Wely went out by Ye form China after losing the first game and unable to win the second. However we saw a lot of dramatic games in the 3rd round, mostly in the tie-breaks. In the match Motylev – Shirov everybody could find a lot of interesting positions, sacrifices of pawn, pieces, mating combinations etc. The fortune was in a favour of Shirov who saved the lost position in the second blitz game. Another thriller was the match I. Smirin against J. Ehlvest which concluded after 9 hours and 6 games before to see the former candidate to emerge.
Men’s Results
- Anand (IND) – V. Tkachiev (FRA) – 2.5-1.5 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 1-0, 0.5)
- V. Zvjaginsev (RUS) – M. Adams (ENG) – 1-3 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 0-1, 0-1)
- A. Morozevich (RUS) – M. Gurevich (BEL) – 1.5-0.5 (1-0, 0.5)
- E. Sutovsky – V. Ivanchuk (UKR) – 0.5-1.5 (0.5, 0-1)
- A. Anastasian (ARM) – P. Nikolic (BIH) – 0.5-1.5 (0.5, 0-1)
- K. Sakaev (RUS) – E. Bareev (RUS) – 1-3 (1-0, 0-1 tie-break: 0-1, 0-1)
- B. Gelfand (ISR) – A. Delchev (BUL) – 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
- Z. Zhang (CHN) – V. Topalov (BUL) – 0.5-1.5 (0.5, 0-1)
- A. Shirov (ESP) – A. Motylev (RUS) – 3.5-2.5 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 1-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0.5)
- Z. Azmaiparashvili (GEO) – R. Kasimdzhanov (UZB) – 2.5-1.5 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 0.5, 1-0)
- I. Smirin (ISR) – J. Ehlvest (EST) – 3-4 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 0.5, 0.5, 1-0, 0-1, 0-1)
- J. Lautier (FRA) – A. Khalifman (RUS) – 3-1 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 1-0, 1-0)
- L. Van Wely (NED) – J.Ye (CHN) – 0.5-1.5 (0-1, 0.5)
- R. Ponomariov (UKR) – K. Georgiev (BUL) – 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
- P. Svidler (RUS) – V. Milov (SUI) – 2-0 (1-0, 1-0) A. Dreev (RUS) – E. Pigusov (RUS) – 1.5-0.5 (1-0, 0.5)
Round 4
The top seeded player Anand played only several moves and agreed a draw his first game with Dreev. Ponomariov, the runner-up in the last European Championship, overplayed Morozevich. The tough fight was in the game Topalov – Shirov. White got winning position and was closed to score a point. However in the second part of the game Topalov looked tired and lost an advantage. Shirov even got the better endings but it was not sufficient to win a game. Also Azmaiparashvili had clear advantage vs. Gelfand but could not find the winning plan.
The pressure of the finish was seen in the Women’s World championship Championship. Three games out of four ended draw despite complicated position. Only the 2nd seeded former World Champion Chiburdanidze lost to Peng.
Exciting and very dramatic was the 2nd day of the 4th round. Only three players passed the competition without tie break. Anand, Bareev and Ivanchuk had no difficulties to overplay opponents.
Morozevich equalised the score but lost to Ponomariov in the rapid struggle. A lot of spectators were awaiting for results of three other tiebreak matches. Unbelievable positions were played in the match Azmaiparashvili – Gelfand. You could see very different material on the chessboard – Queen against Rook and Knight, two pawns against a piece – as well as direct mating attack or perpetual checks. Azmaipashili was the last who made mistake and he had to leave the field. Svidler and Adams already played a lot tough games in past. Adams was always an the difficult opponent to Grandmaster of S. Petersburg, but this time the last word belonged to Svidler who after many draws overplayed Adams in the 2nd blitz game. Shirov draw four games vs. Topalov, two classical and two rapid. However he was better prepared to the sharp variation chose by Topalov in the sudden death game and he will meet the world champion Anand in the quarter-final.
The participants of the Women’s World Championship were fighting for the place in the semi-final. Maya Chiburdanidze twice equalised the score in the classical and rapid games and was able to eliminate Peng in the bitz match. Two other semi-finalist Zhu Chen and Xu Yuhua also passed through tiebreak and we await the match China – “Rest of World” in the Semi-final games.
Men’s Results
- Dreev (RUS) – V. Anand (IND) – 0.5-1.5 (0.5, 0-1)
- M. Adams (ENG) – P. Svidler (RUS) – 2.5-3.5 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0-1)
- R. Ponomariov (UKR) – A. Morozevich (RUS) – 2.5-1.5 (1-0, 0-1 tie-break: 0.5, 1-0)
- V.Ivanchuk (UKR) – J. Ye (CHN) – 1.5-0.5 (1-0, 0.5)
- J. Lautier (FRA) – P. Nikolic (BIH) – 3-1 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 1-0, 1-0)
- E. Bareev (RUS) – J. Ehlvest (EST) – 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
- Z. Azmaiparashvili (GEO) – B. Gelfand (ISR) – 2.5-3.5 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break 0-1, 1-0, 0-1, 0.5)
- V. Topalov (BUL) – Shirov (ESP) – 3-4 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 0.5, 0.5, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1)
5th Round
The first part of the 5th round was much less combative tha the round before. We could see no less than four short draws out of six games played in both Championships.
The only real games were played on the first boards. This year Anand met Shirov in the quarter-final instead of the previous World Championship final match. However he played at the same style like in Tehran and gained the point.
In the second day, Anand had not difficulties to pass to the semi-final. He gave no chances to Shirov in the second classical game. All other semi-finalist had to combat in the tiebreak. Bareev overlooked the piece in the first rapid games vs. Ruslan Ponomariov and despite his efforts and very risky play could not beat him in the second game. Ivanchuk had to play blitz match to eliminate Lautier. The most dramatic match was played between Gelfand and Svidler. In the rapid game Svidler could not win the ending a Queen against a Rook, but in return Gelfand with a piece more in blitz game did not score a point. So Svidler will meet Ponomariov in the semi-final.
- Anand (IND) – A. Shirov (ESP) – 1.5-0.5 (1-0, 0.5)
- B. Gelfand (ISR) – P.Svidler (RUS) – 2.5-3.5 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 0.5, 0.5, 0-1, 0.5)
- R. Ponomariov (UKR) – E. Bareev (RUS) – 3-1 (0.5, 0.5 tie-break: 1-0, 1-0)
- V. Ivanchuk (UKR)- J. Lautier (FRA)
Round 6
Grandmasters shared the point in two games of the 1st round of men’s semi-finals Ivanchuk tried to get advantage against Anand and got slightly better ending. However the World champion found the way to draw the game. Much more interesting was the second game Svidler – Ponomariov. White had some advantage in the opening but Ponomariov defended well and complicated the position. He wished to use the opportunity to press on weak pawns in the White camp, but Svidler was able to defend the position and draw the game.
In the 2nd game of both men’s semi-final matches two sharp Sicilian Defenses were played. However games Ivanchuk – Anand and Ponomariov – Svidler were both drawn, leaving matches still tied 1-1. In the most interesting game of the day Ponomariov sacrificed a knight and took three pawns in return. He tried to win a game but Svidler was able to found several manoeuvres and created counterplay. The perpetual check ended the game.
Anand sacrificed a pawn gaining the initiative for white. It was not sufficient to win a game. Ivanchuk exchanged queens and equalised the game.
Game three of the semi-final match Ivanchuk – Anand was an interesting Rubinstein’s variation of the French Defence. Anand made a surprise at the opening playing an unexpected plane e6-e5-e4, followed by very strong move Qe6! He equalised chances soon and both players drew the game. Anand has never been eliminated in the FIDE KO World Championship and is trying to reach the third final match.
Ponomariov with black pieces quite easy equalised the game in the Russian Defence against Svidler. Later on Ponomariov sacrificed the exchange, got an advantage and won the game. He is leading 2-1 before the last game.
After games 4 which finished in a draw, 18 years old Ukranian grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov has defeated Peter Svidler of Russia with the score of 2.5 – 1.5. Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine has succeed to defeat after 4 tie-break games the last year’s World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand of India . With the score of 2.5 against 1.5 Vassily Ivanchuk has qualified to the World Chess Championship .
- Ivanchuk (UKR) – V. Anand (IND) – 2.5-1.5 (0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1-0)
- P. Svidler (RUS) – R. Ponomariov (UKR) – 1.5-2.5 (0.5, 0.5, 0-1, 0.5)