For whole pairing tree see here:

http://www.pgndownloads.com/files/2009/2009_World_Cup.png

Obodchuk is a DISGRACE. He should be ashamed of himself. Why does he even play chess, the gimp that he is. For not even trying to win he deserves never to get an invite to any tournament again.....a few thousand dollars must keep him in vodka for a long time, sad.

"Boris Gelfand, top seed at this event, was indeed the first to reach the second round because he didn’t care too much about losing a few rating points and agreed to a draw at move 12."

Technically, Judit polgar was the first to qualify for the second round.

ceann,

you are a discgrace too, but we try to tolerate you, because you must have some reasons for your actions (as Obodchuk does).

At least these knockouts have done away with the myth that elite GMs only maintain their high ratings by playing each other in exclusive tournaments. Elo is a good indicator of ability.

In fact given that even the 'weak GMs' must have spent several months preparing their opening lines on the computer for this tournament, what is surprising that there are so few surprises.

I also am surprised that he didn't try harder to win the game, but that's no reason to start calling names.

who is the player with the stick?

@ test

For ceann ANYthing is a reason to start calling names, it's a reflex; kind of a enhanced version of Pawlow's theories.

@ Muadhib

:D

how ironic to call obodchuk a "gimp" given that he actually is physically disabled. ceann's disabilities seem a lot more serious - maybe he should have been given that spot.

poor Alexandra. she lost. on a picture on chessbase before the game she was still laughing:(

Wonderful World Cup. Alexandra Kosteniuk you are great. Please go on. I love your beauty and brain. Dominguez good job. From ecuador South America.

While browsing through today's games, it struck me how often the Grünfeld was played. Out of 24 games that started with 1.d4, there were 10 Grünfelds (and one Grünfeld/Slay-hybrid). Even some players who, to my knowledge, have hardly played this opening berfore, seem to have taken it up. A new fashion caused by Carlsparov?

Another interesting point to make about the Grunfeld in the World Cup, sort of following on from Michael's point: the current trend of popularity suggests the Grunfeld is doing very well, which it has, with the exception of Svidler's losses with it to Kramnik and Anand in the Tal memorial. But in the World Cup, its been crushed twice already; Yannick Pelletier beating Bu Xiangzhi and Darwin Laylo winning against Navara (rating differential 103 and 155 points respectively).

China Rules: Wang Yue, Wang Hao, Zhao1 Zhao 2, Chiao Li ahead!

I'm sorry for some of them, like Granda (I'm his fan for many years, he's an original and a genious) or Bruzon, who (I think) had the first game won against Caruana but seemed to have chosen the wrong endgame. Justice to Caruana, who played a 2nd great game.

Go Gata!!!

Dominguez Perez must win the tiebreak to advance. It would be an even bigger upset than Movsesian.

l'Ami and Sasikiran also play a tiebreak (is not mentioned). Which means that the three Dutch players all play a tiebreak. (And will win, I hope......)

Seems like only two rapid games will be played instead of four.

Regulations still say 4 rapid games though
http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/WorldCup2009Regulations.pdf

How do they qualify for this knockout tournament?
Wondered why no English players to follow....

@ Muadhib
Well I think that the regulations mentioned here should be considered the latest news; the FIDE website might not be fully updated yet.

@Tickles

• World Champion;
• 4 semi-finalists from the World Cup 2007;
• Women’s World Champion;
• World Junior U-20 Champions 2007 & 2008;
• 20 rated players;
• 90 players from Continental Championships;
• 6 FIDE President nominees;
• 4 organiser nominees.

For the purpose of deciding the 20 rated player qualifiers, as well as any replacements, the average of the July 2008 and January 2009 rating lists was used.

Well these things happen I guess when an official tournament website doesn't even have a simple "Regulations" page...

You misundersood - the regulations say 4 rapid games, but the official site indicates that only 2 rapid games will be played.

See here:
http://cup2009.fide.com/results.php

Ceann,

Winning against the petroff defence played by Boris Gelfand is nearly impossible for a 2400 player.
So there's nothing wrong with his decision.

Thats the main problem with FIDE. The regulations are always made long before the competition begins and by that this regulations (should) become some kind of constitution for that event. You just can not change it anymore just like that. If for the past year it says that there will be 4 rapid games, then there should be 4 f...ing rapid games!

Arghh, these kind of things really piss me off.

@Tickles: I don't know how many English players qualified, or tried but didn't succeed. The fact that relatively old rating lists are used would be an advantage for Adams, but a disadvantage for Short ... .

In any case, Adams, Short, McShane and Howell play the London supertournament, which collides with the World Cup. Same answer to recurrent questions "where is Nakamura?" ... .

Please ban Ceann from commenting on this site: to call Obodchuk (who was representing the International Physical-Disabled Chess Assocation at the World Cup) a "gimp" is simply disgusting.

Heh, now the official site is changed again. Looks like 4 rapid games will be played afterall. Like the regulations say.

It's very hard to walk if your right leg doesn't know what the left one does :)

Please bann nobody from this site.
Free speech is more important than anything else.

Tregubov and Akobian played an absolute marathon! Right down to the very last pair of blitz games, with only two draws in the rapid set of four. Heroically well fought. Poor Tregubov must feel utterly disappointed to lose in such a way. Terrific entertainment for the fans though! :)

Yep, they startted at 15.00 local time and finished at 00:43 !!!
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Akobian offers an early draw with the white pieces tomorrow. And Ponomariov (as black) might just accept it if he follows "draw with black, win with white" policy.

Let's all give ceann the love he obviously needs.

Something else: why are all comments in bold face?

I don´t think Ponomariov follows that rule normally, Muadhib. Hopefully he will take the advantage to try to crush Akobian from the first game.

@Frits Not here (Firefox)!?

KO's are different than "normal" tournaments. The only thing that matters is advancing into the next round with as little effort as possible (for example Khalifman and Fier quickly drawn both regular games and first two rapid games, before they started to actually play). So Ponomariov might feel enough confident to win with the white pieces, and might be willing to accept a quick draw as black.

But of course it's all speculation.

Yes Peter, on IE8 everything is bold for days now. Like there would be [/B] missing somewhere.

Solved now?

Yes.

I agree on the will to save energy, Muadhib, but don´t you think it´s also quite logical to try to beat a tired opponent and, if successful, your chances of not having to play the tie-breaks increase considerably? Not having to play the tie-breaks is great, it´s one free day and more time to prepare for your next rival. However, it must have been a bit of a nuisance too not to be able to prepare for a particular rival yesterday, since by the time Tregubov and Akobian finished yesterday probably even the arbiter had gone to sleep :)