World Chess Cup R6.2: Svidler beats Ponomariov to enter finals; Ivanchuk-Grischuk play tiebreak tomorrow

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,

Congratulations to Grandmaster Peter Svidler for making it to the finals of the World Chess Cup 2011. He beat Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov in the second match of Round 6. That earned him a place in the final. Alexander Grischuk and Vassily Ivanchuk drew both classical games and a tie-break on Wednesday will decide which player will face Svidler in the final, and which player will fight Ponomariov for the third spot in the next FIDE Candidates tournament. You will remember that Svidler is the current reigning Russian champion and recently won the title for the sixth time.

Svidler versus Ponomariov

And, Svidler's remark at the press conference: The usual story. An opening I've been playing for 25 years non-stop and yet I'm seriously worse after ten moves. 7...Bd7 is probably a mistake. After 8.Qa3! Black is in quite a bit of trouble. The play I chose is the only way to justify my ridicolous 7..Bd7. 

Grischuk versus Ivanchuk

As you know, the 2011 FIDE World Cup is a 128-player knock-out taking place August 27-September 20 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia. The tournament delivers three participants for the next Candidates tournament/matches, as part of the new World Championship cycle. Except for the final, all rounds have 2-game matches at the FIDE time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to finish the game, with a 30-second increment from the first move. In case of a 1-1 tie, on the third day of the round there's a tie-break with rapid games and if necessary blitz games and an Armageddon.

Here are the games of Round 6.2 via the official website.
Round 6. Game 2

1 0.5−1.5 Ponomariov, R (UKR) 0−1 Svidler, Peter (RUS) View
2 1−1 Ivanchuk, V (UKR) ½-½ Grischuk, A (RUS) View

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