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First stage completed
Qualifiers were decided on the final day of the first stage of the Fide World Cup in Shenyang.
Anand was clearly the most convincing player in the first half of the tournament. Having secured his qualification early on, he could conserve his energy by taking it very easy in the later rounds.
The Chinese players faltered on the final day, and only Ye qualified. The major disappointment was of course Alexander Morozevich in group A. His downfall can be attributed to over-trying.
Day 5
Group A
Milos and Azmaiparashvili go through.
Azmaiparashvili, Zurab - Dreev, Alexey ˝-˝
Morozevich, Alexander - Milos, Gilberto 0-1
Aleksandrov, Aleksei - Gulko, Boris ˝-˝
Game reports will follow shortly.
Standings:
Milos 3˝
Azmaiparashvili 3
Dreev, Gulko, Aleksandrov 2˝
Morozevich 1
Previous rounds in group A
Group B
Ye went straight through; Ivanchuk beat Short in the play-off 2-0.
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Ponomariov, Ruslan 1-0
Short, Nigel - Gurevich, Mikhail 1-0
Ye Jiangchuan - Xu Jun 1-0
Game reports will follow shortly.
Standings:
Ye 3˝
Ivanchuk, Short 3
Gurevich, Xu 2
Ponomariov 1˝
Previous rounds in group B
Group C
Bareev went straight through; Movsesian beat Svidler in the play-off 2-1.
Bareev, Evgeny - Fedorov, Alexei 1-0
Movsesian, Sergei - Svidler, Peter ˝-˝
Rizouk, Aimen - Zhang Zhong ˝-˝
Game reports will follow shortly.
Standings:
Bareev 3˝
Movsesian, Svidler 3
Zhang 2˝
Fedorov 2
Rizouk 1
Previous rounds in group C
Group D
Anand went straight through; Gelfand beat Tkachiev in the play-off 2-1.
Tkachiev, Vladislav - Anand, Viswanathan ˝-˝
Gelfand, Boris - Tissir, Mohamed ˝-˝
Tregubov, Pavel - Khalifman, Alexander ˝-˝
Game reports will follow shortly.
Standings:
Anand 3˝
Gelfand, Tkachiev 3
Tregubov 2˝
Khalifman 2
Tissir 1
Previous rounds in group D
Games in PGN
Live games at: http://www.worldchesscup.com/
Group A
Day 1
All games were drawn.
Aleksandrov, Aleksei - Azmaiparashvili, Zurab ˝-˝
Milos, Gilberto - Gulko, Boris ˝-˝
Dreev, Alexei - Morozevich, Alexander ˝-˝
Day 2
Aleksandrov was up against Morozevich's old weapon the King's Gambit. White sacced a Knight in the Muzio variation, but could not utilize his initiative. Black defended accurately and won.
Gulko, Boris - Azmaiparashvili, Zurab ˝-˝
Milos, Gilberto - Dreev, Alexei ˝-˝
Morozevich, Alexander - Aleksandrov, Aleksei 0-1
Day 3
Morozevich lost again! From a quiet position he overextended and Azmaiparashvili's attack crashed through. The surprise of the group is the Brazilian Milos, who shares the lead with Azmaiparashvili. Milos beat Alexandrov in a fascinating tactical game full of tension, but Dreev and Gulko had a quiet draw.
Azmaiparashvili, Zurab - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0
Aleksandrov, Aleksei - Milos, Gilberto 0-1
Dreev, Alexey - Gulko, Boris ˝-˝
Day 4
Milos, Gilberto - Azmaiparashvili, Zurab ˝-˝
Gulko, Boris - Morozevich, Alexander ˝-˝
Dreev, Alexey - Aleksandrov, Aleksei ˝-˝
Milos and Azmaiparashvili started with a 3..g6 Spanish Opening which soon turned into a King's Indian type position. But before anything happened, the two group leaders agreed a draw. Gulko easily held the out of form Morozevich to a draw, but Dreev and Aleksandrov needed 148 moves to come to the same conclusion. Aleksandrov was a piece down for most of the game, but all that Dreev could get was a R+N vs R ending with no pawns. What a waste of energy, both players must now feel!
Group B
Day 1
All games were drawn.
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Short, Nigel ˝-˝
Xu Jun - Ponomariov, Ruslan ˝-˝
Gurevich, Mikhail - Ye Jiangchuan ˝-˝
Day 2
Xu did not allow his Belgian opponent to castle, and broke through black's defences.
Xu Jun - Gurevich, Mikhail 1-0
Ponomariov, Ruslan - Short, Nigel ˝-˝
Ye Jiangchuan - Ivanchuk, Vassily ˝-˝
Day 3
Xu effortlessly held Ivanchuk to a draw, but his countryman Ye beat Nigel Short convincingly in a Closed Sicilian game that saw 8 passed pawns simultaneously on the board! Ye's pawns were the furthest advanced. Gurevich outplayed the young Ukranian Ponomariov.
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Xu Jun ˝-˝
Short, Nigel D - Ye Jiangchuan 0-1
Gurevich, Mikhail - Ponomariov, Ruslan 1-0
Day 4
Xu Jun - Short, Nigel 0-1
Gurevich, Mikhail - Ivanchuk, Vassily ˝-˝
Ponomariov, Ruslan - Ye Jiangchuan ˝-˝
Nigel Short caught up with the middle pack of group B by beating the surprise Chinese Xu. Black had a better bishop ending before move 20, and eventually reached an ending with the more dangerous passed pawns. Gurevich won a pawn from Ivanchuk but failed to transform this into a full point. Ye and Ponomariov exchanged all rooks before swapping any other pieces. Most pawns were wiped out in the process as well, and it seemed that both Kings were feeling the draft. But neither player could deliver checkmate, so a draw was agreed on move 49.
Group C
Day 1
The Dragon doesn't bring luck to Fedorov even in China. Svidler and Bareev take the early lead in the group. But this group is expected to be the closest of all as it has no clear Elo favourite.
Svidler, Peter - Fedorov, Alexei 1-0
Bareev, Evgeny - Rizouk, Aimen 1-0
Zhang Zhong - Movsesian, Sergei ˝-˝
Day 2
Peter Svidler is a very unpredictable player nowadays! After defeating Fedorov yesterday, today Svidler was ground down in his favourite Ruy Lopez by Zhang. Fedorov only drew with Rizouk, and Movsesian and Bareev had a rest day with a short draw.
Movsesian, Sergei - Bareev, Evgeny ˝-˝
Svidler, Peter - Zhang Zhong 0-1
Fedorov, Alexei - Rizouk, Aimen ˝-˝
Day 3
The Belorussian Fedorov has not tasted victory for some time, but now he got to taste that sweet taste again! Yesterday's winner Zhang was too optimistic in his quest for king-side initiative, and Fedorov just collected pawns and won. Bareev and Svidler exchanged pieces in a Grunfeld and were eventually left with a drawn ending. Movsesian's pieces hovered around Rizouk's king while the Algerian was busy guarding his passed a-pawn. Result: checkmate.
Bareev, Evgeny - Svidler, Peter ˝-˝
Zhang Zhong - Fedorov, Alexei 0-1
Rizouk, Aimen - Movsesian, Sergei 0-1
Day 4
Fedorov, Alexei - Movsesian, Sergei ˝-˝
Zhang Zhong - Bareev, Evgeny ˝-˝
Svidler, Peter - Rizouk, Aimen 1-0
Fedorov and Movsesian played an interesting draw, whereas Zhang and Bareev will have to give the audience their money back, so to speak: a French Exchange game with 6 moves. Svidler collected the obligatory point from the Algerian Rizouk.
Group D
Day 1
Anand took the early lead by easily beating the Moroccan 'tourist' Tissir.
Anand, Viswanathan - Tissir, Mohamed 1-0
Gelfand, Boris - Tregubov, Pavel ˝-˝
Khalifman, Alexander - Tkachiev, Vladislav ˝-˝
Day 2
Anand is hot! Khalifman got tangled up in the huge complications that the Indian's sacrifices brought along and did not find the correct defence.
Anand, Viswanathan - Khalifman, Alexander 1-0
Tkachiev, Vladislav - Gelfand, Boris ˝-˝
Tissir, Mohamed - Tregubov, Pavel ˝-˝
Day 3
Gelfand and Anand decided not to test each other, which will suit both players at this point. Khalifman disposed of the African Tissir and the other two T's drew their game.
Gelfand, Boris - Anand, Viswanathan ˝-˝
Tregubov, Pavel - Tkachiev, Vladislav ˝-˝
Khalifman, Alexander - Tissir, Mohamed 1-0
Day 4
Anand, Viswanathan - Tregubov, Pavel V ˝-˝
Khalifman, Alexander - Gelfand, Boris 0-1
Tissir, Mohamed - Tkachiev, Vladislav 0-1
Black ruled in group D. Khalifman could not make his Perenyi Sicilian piece sacrifice work against Gelfand and lost crudely. Anand is having a well-deserved rest before the knock-out phase. Tkachiev staked a claim for second place with a win over Tissir.
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