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Home » Chess News » Events » FIDE World Cup Mini-Site 2009 » Malakhov and Karjakin through to Semi-Finals

A fairly dull days play with all the games being drawn. This means Vladimir Malakhov goes through against Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin went through against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Jakovenko-Gelfand and Gashimov-Ponomariov play off on Saturday.

A fairly dull days play with all the games being drawn. This means Vladimir Malakhov goes through against Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin went through against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Jakovenko-Gelfand and Gashimov-Ponomariov play off on Saturday.

Boris Gelfand equalised against Dmitry Jakovenko and the game was quickly drawn in 15 moves taking the match to a playoff.

Jakovenko,D (2736) - Gelfand,B (2758) [D30]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.2), 04.12.2009

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Nbd2 Nd7 7.Rc1 c6 8.g3 g5

[8...dxc4 9.Rxc4 Be7 10.Bg2 e5 11.0-0 0-0 12.e3 Re8 13.a3 Bf8 14.Qc2 exd4 15.Rxd4 Ne5 16.Nxe5 Qxe5 17.Nc4 Qc7 18.Rfd1 Be6 19.Qc3 Rad8 20.Na5 Be7 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Rxd8+ Bxd8 23.Nc4 Bf6 24.Qc2 Bxc4 25.Qxc4 Bxb2 26.a4 g6 27.h4 Bf6 28.Be4 Kg7 29.h5 gxh5 30.Qc5 Qe5 31.Qc2 h4 32.g4 Qc3 33.Qxc3 Bxc3 34.f4 Kf6 35.Kf2 Ke7 36.Ke2 Kd6 37.Kd3 Be1 38.Kd4 Bf2 39.Bg2 b5 40.axb5 cxb5 41.g5 hxg5 42.fxg5 a5 43.Bf1 a4 44.Bxb5 h3 0-1 Arsovic,G (2469)-Stojanovic,M (2561)/Zlatibor SRB 2008/The Week in Chess 714]

9.h3 Bg7 10.Bg2 0-0 11.0-0 Qe7 12.g4 f5 13.gxf5 exf5 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.Qb3 1/2-1/2

Boris Gelfand

Dmitry Jakovenko

Position 15.Qb3

Vugar Gashimov and Ruslan Ponomariov agreed a draw after 15 moves of a French. I would have liked to see a few more moves. Again this match goes to a playoff.

Gashimov,V (2758) - Ponomariov,R (2739) [C18]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.2), 04.12.2009

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Qa5 8.Bd2 c4 9.a4 Bd7 10.g3 0-0-0 11.h4

[11.Bh3 f6 12.0-0 h6 13.Nh4 g5 14.Ng6 Rh7 15.exf6 Nxf6 16.Qe1 Ne4 17.f3 Nxd2 18.Qxd2 e5 19.Bxd7+ Rhxd7 20.Nxe5 Nxe5 21.dxe5 d4 22.e6 Re7 23.Rfe1 dxc3 24.Qe2 Qa6 25.Qe3 Rd6 26.Qxc3 Rdxe6 27.Rxe6 1/2-1/2 Ricardi,P (2523)-Goldwaser,C (2350)/Berazategui ARG 2007/The Week in Chess 651]

11...f5 12.Ng5 Rf8 13.h5 Nh6 14.Rh4 Nf7 15.Nxf7 1/2-1/2

Ruslan Ponomariov

Vugar Gashimov

Position 15.Nxf7

Vladimir Malakhov played steadily with white and was never in danger of not getting the draw he needed to go through.

Malakhov,V (2706) - Svidler,P (2754) [E96]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.2), 04.12.2009

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.Re1 c6 9.Bf1 a5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Na4 Qe7 12.Qc2 b6 13.Be3 Rb8 14.h3 Ba6

[14...Ne8 15.c5 b5 16.Nb6 Nc7 17.a4 b4 1/2-1/2 Serrer,C (2257)-Toth,A (2297)/Budapest HUN 1999]

15.c5 Bxf1 16.Kxf1 b5 17.Nb6 Nxb6 18.cxb6 Rfc8 19.a4 Qe8 20.axb5 cxb5 21.Qd3 a4 22.b3 Rd8 23.Qb1 axb3 24.Qxb3 Nxe4 25.Ra7

White's activity is going to offer more than enough to get the draw he needs.

25...Nd6 26.Bg5 Rd7 27.Nxe5! Bxe5 28.Qd5 Rxb6

[28...Rxb6 29.Ra8 Rb8 30.Rxb8 Qxb8 31.Qxe5 Qf8 32.Qd5 h6 33.Bf6 Qc8 34.Rd1 Qc4+ 35.Qxc4 bxc4 36.Be5 c3 37.Bxc3 with the draw white requires.]

1/2-1/2

Peter Svidler

Vladimir Malakhov

Position 28...Rxb6

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was rarely in trouble before his quarter final loss in round 1. He didn't get anything like enough against Sergey Karjakin who held the draw comfortably.

Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar - Karjakin,Sergey [E12]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.2), 04.12.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qb3 0-0 10.Rd1 Re8 11.e3 c6 12.Bd3 Na6 13.0-0 Nc7 14.Rfe1 Ne6 15.Bb1 g6 16.Ba2 Bg7 17.e4 Qd7

[17...dxe4 18.Nxe4 h6 19.Ne5 Qc7 20.Nxf7 Kh7 21.Nfd6 Nxd4 22.Nxe8 Rxe8 23.Ng5+ hxg5 24.Qh3+ 1-0 Szeberenyi,A (2385)-Seifert,V (2371)/Hengelo NED 2003/The Week in Chess 457]

18.Qa4 Nf4 19.h3 Re7 20.e5 Kh8 21.b4 f6 22.b5 cxb5 23.Qxb5 Rc8 24.Qb4 a5 25.Qb3 fxe5 26.dxe5 Rf8 27.Re3 Bh6 28.Nd4 Ne6 29.Nxe6 Rxe6 30.Re2 Bg7 31.Nxd5 Rxe5 32.Rxe5 Bxe5 33.Qxb6 Qf5 34.Qe3 Bg7 35.Rd2 Rc8 36.f4 Bxd5 37.Rxd5 Qc2 38.Rd2 Qc1+ 39.Kh2 Rf8 40.g3 a4 41.h4 Bc3 42.Rd3 Qxa3 43.Qe5+ Bxe5 44.Rxa3 Bf6 45.Rxa4

The position offers very little.

45...Re8 46.Kh3 Kg7 47.Ra7+ Re7 48.Ra8 h6 49.Kg4 Rc7 50.Ra5 Be7 51.Ra6 h5+ 52.Kh3 Bf6 53.Ra8 Re7 54.Rb8 Bd4 55.Bb1 Bf6 56.Rb6 Re2 57.Bd3 Re3 58.Rd6 Re8 59.Rc6 Re3 60.Bb1 Re1 61.Bc2 Re3 62.Ra6 Re2 63.Bb1 Re1 64.Rb6 Re2 65.Rb7+ 1/2-1/2

Sergei Karjakin

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Position 45.Rxa4. The extra pawn doesn't really offer white anything in terms of winning chances.

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