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Home » Chess News » Events » FIDE World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 » World Cup Round 1 playoffs see major stars go through in a day of blunders

Major stars Gata Kamsky and Alexander Morozevich go through

Ratings apart the two biggest stars to get caught up in the playoffs were Gata Kamsky and Alexander Morozevich.

Gata Kamsky ground his way past Rafael Di Berardino eventually winning game two of the rapids with black.

Morozevich won both his rapid games against Stelios Halkias, both times outplaying his opponent in the middlegame.

Wesley So ground down Ding Liren in the first rapid game and drew the second.

Nikita Vitiugov toiled his way past Alexei Bezgodov taking some huge risks to win the first blitz game.

Lazaro Bruzon Batista won the second blitz game to eliminate Yuniesky Quesada Perez.

Ni Hua found a huge piece sacrifice against Ildar Khairullin which got him progression in the event.

Alexander Motylev will be left wondering how he got himself eliminated. He was in the lead after winning the first 10 minute + 10 seconds a move game and had a winning position in the second but he let that game drift away. In the Armaggedon game he was in black and only needed a draw. He was so slow it didn't really matter what position he had (later he actually got a winning position as his dire time trouble affected his opponent). I look at this game in another article How not to play with black in an Armaggedon Game.

Francisco Vallejo Pons completely outplayed Jorge Cori on the black side of a Benoni in the first rapid game before drawing the second.

Sebastian Feller went through against Viorel Iordachescu and plays Grischuk next.

Ruben Felgaer eliminates Vladimir Malakhov

Ruben Felgaer blundered a totally winning advantage in the first game of the rapid to a draw. He then won game two against Vladimir Malakhov to go through.

FIDE World Cup 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 1.4

Vladimir Malakhov - Ruben Felgaer

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. c3 a6 7. Bc4 b5 8. Bf1 e5 9. h3 Be7 10. d4 O-O 11. d5 Na5 12. Nbd2 Qc7 13. Nh2 Kh8 14. Ng4 Nxg4 15. hxg4 Qc8 16. Be2 g6 17. Nf1 f5 18. gxf5 gxf5 19. exf5 Bxf5 20. Ng3 Bh4

21. Nxf5 Qxf5 22. Bf3 Rf7 23. Kf1 Bxf2 24. Kxf2 e4 25. Qc2??

In an already miserable position Malakhov blunders his queen to a trivial tactic.

25... e3+ 0-1

"Very difficult to play the second game" but in fact his opponent lost very quickly in a position that Felgaer was very confident in and had prepared the day before. Felgaer said they had never played before. He also said that it took 58 hours to travel to Khanty-Mansiysk from Argentina after he missed a connection, a new record for him beating 56 hours in the past.

"When Ruben is in good shape he really can play amazing chess." Yuri Shulman

Yaroslav Zherebukh eliminates Pavel Eljanov

Yaroslav Zherebukh eliminated fellow Ukrainian Pavel Eljanov in a strange match. The two standard timerate games were drawn but Zherebukh had a big advantage in the second of these games if the game score is to be believed. Then both players could have won games 3, but Zherebukh was fortunate enough to make the second to last fatal blunder. The final game was drawn after Eljanov had a nice position but couldn't quite win it.

27. Bxb4?

Losing: 27. Kh2 Rxd1 28. Qxd1 Qxa2 29. Qc1 is a bit better for white.

27...Qxd4+ 28. Kh2 Rxd1?

28... Qxb4 29. Rxc1 Qf4+ 30. Kh3 Qxc1 is winning but even if Eljanov missed this he surely must have known his move was losing and could have played 28...Qf4+

29. Qh8+ Nf8 30. Qxf8+ Kd7 31. Qd6+ Kc8 32. Qc6+ Kd8 33. Ba5+ Ke7 34. Qd6+ with mate next move 1-0

Media Coverage

The difference between following just the games and following commentary with pictures and seeing what is going on is like night and day. Russian and English commentaries are available with bi-lingual press conferences. These I think can only get better as the number of players reduces. Anna Sharevich and Konstantin Landa are excellent comentators in English. I think they're going to be bloody tired by the end of this though!!

Etienne Bacrot against Ray Robson

Ray Robson lost twice with black in a Gruenfeld, neither went especially well (although in game three he blundered right at the end of an ending with a draw in sight where he should have played 87… Kg2! ). He did strike back in game two of the rapid with a nice King's Gambit win. However he couldn't recover a second time. His clock handling in rapid and blitz is still poor as has been pointed out numerous times on coverage of the US Championships in Saint Louis.

23...Bd4! 24. Nh6+ Kh8 25. Qg4??

25. Kh1 Re1 26. Bd3 Rxf1+ 27. Bxf1 Qf6 28. g4 Ne5 is much better for black also.

25... Qf6 26. g3 Rxg3+ 0-1

Vladimir Potkin beat Yuri Shulman

Reigning European Champion Vladimir Potkin eventually got past Yuri Shulman by finding a fine piece sacrifice in the second blitz game. Probably one of the better matches of the day.

Peter Heine Nielsen beat Evgeny Postny

Peter Heine Nielsen won the first 5 minute blitz game from two pawns down and very low time against Evengy Postny when his opponent dropped a whole rook.

Peter Heine Nielsen had been busted for some time but Postny started to go wrong. Here he fails to notice his rook is attacked,

42. h5?? Qxc2 43. e3 Qc1+ 44. Kf2 Qc2+ 45. Kf1 Qb3 46. Nd6 Rxe3 47. hxg6 hxg6 48. Nxe8 Rxe8 49. Rd7 Qb5+ 50. Kg2 Qe2+ 51. Kg1 Qe3+ 52. Kg2 Bg7 53. Ra7 Rb8 0-1

Not surprisingly there wasn't much of a comeback in the final game from Postny,

A run through the playoff format

The first day of playoffs saw 17 of the 64 matches yet to be decided. The format has been slightly tinkered with, this was certainly welcomed by Emil Sutovsky who said that the idea of four rapid games was too much with such a long and exhausting event.

For the curious the regulations are here: http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/WorldCup2011Regulations.pdf

For the playoffs this boils down to the following mini-matches which indecisive go to the next stage:

2 rapid games at: 25 minutes for each player with an addition of 10 seconds after each move

2 blitz (or rapid, this time control is right on the boundary for me) at: 10 minutes plus 10 seconds increment after each move

2 blitz games at: 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment

1 final decisive blitz game: The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the opponent with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of 3 seconds for each move from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.

Progess to the final

The Wikipedea World Cup entry gives the brackets that show progress to the final.

FIDE World Cup 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS Sun 28th Aug 2011 - Tue 20th Sep 2011 Round 1 Results
Name	FED	G1	G2	R1	R2	B1	B2	B3	B4	SD	Tot
Round 1 Match 01
Kaabi, Mejdi	TUN	0	0								0
Karjakin, Sergey	RUS	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 02
Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	1	1								2
Steel, Henry Robert	RSA	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 03
Ibrahim, Hatim	EGY	0	0								0
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 04
Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	1	½								1.5
Gwaze, Robert	ZIM	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 05
Hansen, Eric	CAN	0	0								0
Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 06
Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	1	½								1.5
Genba, Vladimir	RUS	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 07
De La Paz Perdomo, Frank	CUB	0	0								0
Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 08
Kamsky, Gata	USA	1	0	½	1						2.5
Di Berardino, Diego Rafae	BRA	0	1	½	0						1.5
Round 1 Match 09
Lima, Darcy	BRA	½	0								0.5
Svidler, Peter	RUS	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 10
Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	1	1								2
Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 11
Bezgodov, Alexei	RUS	½	½	½	½	0	0				2
Vitiugov, Nikita	RUS	½	½	½	½	1	1				4
Round 1 Match 12
Almasi, Zoltan	HUN	1	1								2
El Gindy, Essam	EGY	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 13
Cori, Jorge	PER	0	1	0	½						1.5
Vallejo Pons, Francisco	ESP	1	0	1	½						2.5
Round 1 Match 14
Navara, David	CZE	1	1								2
Kabanov, Nikolai	RUS	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 15
Rahman, Ziaur	BAN	½	0								0.5
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 16
Dominguez Perez, Leinier	CUB	1	½								1.5
Moradiabadi, Elshan	IRI	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 17
Ivanov, Alexander	USA	1	1								2
Wang, Hao	CHN	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 18
Leko, Peter	HUN	0	½								0.5
Shankland, Samuel L	USA	1	½								1.5
Round 1 Match 19
Esen, Baris	TUR	½	0								0.5
Moiseenko, Alexander	UKR	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 20
Le, Quang Liem	VIE	1	½								1.5
Megaranto, Susanto	INA	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 21
Paragua, Mark	PHI	0	½								0.5
Adams, Michael	ENG	1	½								1.5
Round 1 Match 22
Shirov, Alexei	ESP	1	½								1.5
Leon Hoyos, Manuel	MEX	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 23
Guliyev, Namig	AZE	0	0								0
Jobava, Baadur	GEO	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 24
Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	1	½								1.5
Pridorozhni, Aleksei	RUS	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 25
Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynal	CUB	0	0								0
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 26
Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	½	½	1	0	1	1				4
Robson, Ray	USA	½	½	0	1	0	0				2
Round 1 Match 27
Fier, Alexandr	BRA	1	½								1.5
Wang, Yue	CHN	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 28
Tomashevsky, Evgeny	RUS	1	1								2
Zhao, Zong-Yuan	AUS	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 29
Babula, Vlastimil	CZE	½	0								0.5
Efimenko, Zahar	UKR	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 30
Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	½	½	½	0						1.5
Felgaer, Ruben	ARG	½	½	½	1						2.5
Round 1 Match 31
Vorobiov, Evgeny E.	RUS	½	½	½	0						1.5
Sutovsky, Emil	ISR	½	½	½	1						2.5
Round 1 Match 32
Movsesian, Sergei	ARM	1	1								2
Hou, Yifan	CHN	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 33
Corrales Jimenez, Fidel	CUB	0	0								0
Polgar, Judit	HUN	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 34
Fressinet, Laurent	FRA	1	1								2
Jumabayev, Rinat	KAZ	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 35
Zherebukh, Yaroslav	UKR	½	½	1	½						2.5
Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	½	½	0	½						1.5
Round 1 Match 36
Berkes, Ferenc	HUN	1	½								1.5
Mareco, Sandro	ARG	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 37
Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	KAZ	½	0								0.5
Andreikin, Dmitry	RUS	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 38
Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	½	½	1	1						3
Halkias, Stelios	GRE	½	½	0	0						1
Round 1 Match 39
Filippov, Anton	UZB	1	1								2
Zhigalko, Sergei	BLR	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 40
Riazantsev, Alexander	RUS	1	½								1.5
Bluvshtein, Mark	CAN	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 41
Drozdovskij, Yuri	UKR	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	1	5
Motylev, Alexander	RUS	½	½	½	½	1	0	½	½	0	4
Round 1 Match 42
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	1	1								2
Pashikian, Arman	ARM	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 43
Shulman, Yuri	USA	½	½	½	½	½	0				2.5
Potkin, Vladimir	RUS	½	½	½	½	½	1				3.5
Round 1 Match 44
Nielsen, Peter Heine	DEN	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1		5
Postny, Evgeny	ISR	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0		3
Round 1 Match 45
Romanov, Evgeny	RUS	½	0								0.5
Grachev, Boris	RUS	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 46
Inarkiev, Ernesto	RUS	1	½								1.5
Salgado Lopez, Ivan	ESP	0	½								0.5
Round 1 Match 47
Gupta, Abhijeet	IND	½	1								1.5
Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	½	0								0.5
Round 1 Match 48
Kobalia, Mikhail	RUS	½	½	0	0						1
Lysyj, Igor	RUS	½	½	1	1						3
Round 1 Match 49
Socko, Bartosz	POL	0	½								0.5
Bologan, Viktor	MDA	1	½								1.5
Round 1 Match 50
Bu, Xiangzhi	CHN	1	1								2
Adly, Ahmed	EGY	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 51
Ivanisevic, Ivan	SRB	½	0								0.5
Onischuk, Alexander	USA	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 52
Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	CUB	½	½	½	½	½	1				3.5
Quesada Perez, Yuniesky	CUB	½	½	½	½	½	0				2.5
Round 1 Match 53
Parligras, Mircea-Emilian	ROU	1	1								2
Yu, Yangyi	CHN	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 54
Korobov, Anton	UKR	1	1								2
Zhou, Jianchao	CHN	0	0								0
Round 1 Match 55
Rodshtein, Maxim	ISR	0	½								0.5
Harikrishna, P.	IND	1	½								1.5
Round 1 Match 56
Li, Chao b	CHN	½	0								0.5
Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 57
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	ROU	0	½								0.5
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	UZB	1	½								1.5
Round 1 Match 58
Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	0	0								0
Negi, Parimarjan	IND	1	1								2
Round 1 Match 59
Iordachescu, Viorel	MDA	1	0	½	0						1.5
Feller, Sebastien	FRA	0	1	½	1						2.5
Round 1 Match 60
Timofeev, Artyom	RUS	½	0								0.5
Azarov, Sergei	BLR	½	1								1.5
Round 1 Match 61
Khairullin, Ildar	RUS	½	½	½	½	0	½				2.5
Ni, Hua	CHN	½	½	½	½	1	½				3.5
Round 1 Match 62
Fridman, Daniel	GER	½	1								1.5
Lupulescu, Constantin	ROU	½	0								0.5
Round 1 Match 63
Ragger, Markus	AUT	½	½	½	0						1.5
Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	½	½	½	1						2.5
Round 1 Match 64
So, Wesley	PHI	½	½	1	½						2.5
Ding, Liren	CHN	½	½	0	½						1.5

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