Gelfand wins FIDE World Cup 2009

Boris Gelfand won the FIDE World Cup. He defeated Ruslan Ponomariov today in the tiebreak of the final, needing four rapid games and four blitz games to decide matters. The Israeli Grandmaster cashed US$ 120,000 (net 96,000) while Ponomariov takes home US$ 80,000 (net 64,000). Read more

World Cup: 4th game drawn – who will win tomorrow’s tiebreak?

The fourth game of the World Cup final between Boris Gelfand and Ruslan Ponomariov also ended in a draw and so tomorrow a tiebreak of rapid and possible blitz games will decide on the winner of the 2009 FIDE World Cup. Let us know who you think will win! Read more

World Cup final: 3rd game drawn too

The third game of the World Cup final between Ruslan Ponomariov and Boris Gelfand also ended in a draw and so we’re just one game away from a tiebreak. Ponomariov avoided the Petroff with 1.d4 and in a Slav that looked like a Slechter and soon like a Grünfeld, he won a pawn but then repeated moves in timetrouble. Read more

World Cup Final starts with two draws

Game 1 and 2 of the World Cup final between Boris Gelfand and Ruslan Ponomariov have ended in a draw. In the first, Ponomariov achieved a tiny edge against Gelfand’s Petroff but by strong play the Israeli GM held the draw quite easily. The second game lasted only 20 moves, when Gelfand apparently decided that his opponent had equalized in a Catalan. Read more

Ponomariov in World Cup final too

After Boris Gelfand, today Ruslan Ponomariov also qualified for the final of the 2009 FIDE World Cup. The Ukrainian defeated Vladimir Malakhov in a very exciting rapid tiebreak final: 3-1. Ponomariov lost the first game, but then won three in a row. Read more

Gelfand reaches World Cup final

Boris Gelfand has reached the final of the 2009 FIDE World Cup. Today he again defeated Sergey Karjakin, who had to take many risks in a must-win situation. Malakhov and Ponomariov drew again and so tomorrow’s tiebreaks will decide who will be Gelfand’s opponent. Read more

Gelfand beats Karjakin on first day semi-finals

On the first day of the World Cup’s semi-finals Boris Gelfand delivered a big blow to his 22 years younger opponent Sergey Karjakin. The Israeli grandmaster continued his fantastic World Cup tournament with a win with the black pieces today, and only needs a draw with White tomorrow to reach the final. The game Ponomariov-Malakhov ended in a draw. Read more

World Cup: Gelfand and Ponomariov also through

In today’s tiebreaks of the World Cup Boris Gelfand eliminated Dmitry Jakovenko while Ruslan Ponomariov knocked out Vugar Gashimov; both winners scored 2.5-0.5 in three rapid games. Tomorrow’s semi-finals will see Ponomariov-Malakhov and Karjakin-Gelfand. Read more

Karjakin and Malakhov reach semi-finals

All four games ended in draws on the second day of round 5, and so Sergei Karjakin and Vladimir Malakhov are through to the semi-finals of the World Cup, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Peter Svidler are out. Gelfand, Jakovenko, Ponomariov and Gashimov will play tiebreaks tomorrow. Read more

World Cup R5: Karjakin & Malakhov start with wins

Sergei Karjakin and Vladimir Malakhov have excellent chances to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. On the first day of round 5, Karjakin beat Mamedyarov with White in an Open Ruy Lopez while Malakhov beat Svidler with Black in a Chebanenko Slav. Both Gelfand-Jakovenko, and Ponomariov-Gashimov ended in a draw. Read more

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