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Boris Gelfand has half a foot in the final after a crushing win with black against Sergey Karjakin. Ruslan Ponomariov and Vladimir Malakhov drew in the other semi-final.

Boris Gelfand has half a foot in the final after a crushing win with black against Sergey Karjakin. Ruslan Ponomariov and Vladimir Malakhov drew in the other semi-final.

Even though it wasn't even played today, the Petroff struck again. To my eyes, the main lines for white lead to so little that white instead takes variations that are less good in order to leave some content in the game. This in turn gives black winning chances he wouldn't normally have. The upshot is that white has a big problem. Today Sergey Karjakin decided to avoid the problem altogether and play 2.Bc4 against Boris Gelfand but black equalised extremely fast and already after 11...Ra6 needed to try and find the quickest way for equalisation. Karjakin seemed to almost sleep walk to disaster. 12...Qh5?! left his queen misplaced, further inaccuracies followed and after 18...Bxd6 he was lost. Gelfand moved in for the kill and even turned down a quick win for a certain one. In the end he had too many pawns.

Karjakin,Sergey - Gelfand,Boris [C55]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.1), 06.12.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4

One of the few ways of avoiding the Petroff Defence. However Karjakin seems all at sea almost from the start.

2...Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Bb3 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.h3?

I'm not at all sure this is a good idea. At the very least it reveals that white has already lost the initiative. Later this becomes a weakness that black exploits.

8...a5 9.a4 Nd4

[9...Be6 10.Re1 Bf6 11.Nbd2 Nf4 12.Bxe6 Nxe6 13.Nc4 Re8 14.Bd2 Nc5 15.Bc3 e4 16.Bxf6 1/2-1/2 Tiviakov,S (2663)-Onischuk,A (2663)/Sochi RUS 2007/The Week in Chess 653]

10.Nxd4

[10.Bc4 Nb6 11.Nxd4 exd4 12.Bb3 Bd7 13.Nd2 Bc6 14.Nf3 1/2-1/2 Sturua,Z (2540)-Yandemirov,V (2490)/Peristeri 1993; 10.Bc4 Nxf3+ 11.Qxf3 Be6 12.Re1 Nb4]

10...exd4 11.Re1

[11.Nd2; 11.Qf3 Be6 12.Nd2 Bg5 (12...Nb4 13.Qd1 Bd5 14.Re1 Re8 15.Bxd5 Qxd5 16.Nc4 Bh4 17.Rxe8+ Rxe8 18.Bf4 Bd8 19.Bd2 Be7 20.Rc1 Bg5 1/2-1/2 Dyakov,A (2280)-Leisebein,P (2100)/IECG 2004) 13.Ne4 Bxc1 14.Raxc1 b6 15.Rfe1 Qh4 16.g3 Qd8 17.h4 h6 18.Nd2 Qd7 19.Re5 Nb4 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Qg4 Rf5 22.Nc4 Raf8 23.Re2 Qxa4 24.Qxd4 Nd5 25.Qe4 R8f6 26.Ne3 Qa2 27.Nxf5 Qxb2 28.Rce1 Nc3 29.Nxh6+ Rxh6 30.Qa8+ Kh7 31.Rxe6 Rxe6 32.Rxe6 Qxc2 33.Qe8 Qd1+ 34.Kg2 Qg4 35.Re5 1-0 Stepovaia Dianchenko,T (2440)-Jaracz,B (2205)/Warsaw 1999]

11...Ra6

Black has quite some lead in development. He must be a lot better here.

12.Qh5?!

[12.Bxd5 leads to a scarey variation which leads to a draw. White needs to get pieces off. 12...Qxd5 13.Rxe7 Rg6 14.f3 Bxh3 15.Re2 Qxf3 16.Qf1 Bxg2 17.Rxg2 Rxg2+ 18.Qxg2 Qd1+ 19.Qf1 Qg4+ with a draw.]

12...Nb4 13.Na3 Rg6 14.Bf4

[14.Re4 with some additional defensive forces for the kingside is maybe better. 14...Nc6 (14...Be6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Qe2) 15.Bf4 Be6 16.Bc4]

14...b6 15.Qf3 Be6 16.Bxe6?

Now every black piece is in action.

[16.Bc4]

16...fxe6 17.Qe4 Bd6 18.Bxd6?

A final error. Now black gets an unstoppable attack.

[18.Bg3]

18...cxd6 19.Qxd4

[19.g3 e5]

19...Qg5 20.g3 Qf5 21.g4

[21.Kh2 Nxc2 22.Nxc2 Qxf2+ 23.Qxf2 Rxf2+ 24.Kh1 Rxc2 25.g4 e5; 21.Re2 Qxh3]

21...h5

[21...Nd5 is quite a lot nastier and also pretty obvious. Gelfand takes a slightly longer route. White is totally busted. 22.c4 (22.Kh2 Qf3 23.Qe4 Qxf2+ 24.Qg2 Rxg4 25.Qxf2 Rxf2+) 22...Qf3 23.cxd5 Qxh3 24.Re3 Rxg4+]

22.Re4 d5 23.Kh2

[23.Re5]

23...Qf3 24.Ree1 hxg4 25.Qe3 gxh3 26.Qxf3 Rxf3 27.Rg1 Rxf2+ 28.Kxh3 Rxg1 29.Rxg1 Nxc2

Black will win many pawns.

30.Nb5 Rf3+ 31.Kg4 Rxd3 32.Nd6 Ne3+ 33.Kf4 Nc4 0-1

Ruslan Ponomariov agaisnt Vladimir Malakhov was a good deal less interesting. Black managed to simplify early at the expense of space and development, when he unwound the game was completely equal.

Ponomariov,Ruslan - Malakhov,Vladimir [D15]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.1), 06.12.2009

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6 8.Bf4 Nh5 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bd2 Nhf6 11.Qc2 Qc7

[11...g6 12.h3 Qc7 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 Nf6 16.Qe3 Be6 17.Ne5 Nd5 18.Qg3 Bg7 19.Bd3 h5 20.h4 Bf5 21.Bxf5 Bxe5 22.dxe5 gxf5 23.0-0-0 0-0-0 24.Rhe1 Rdg8 25.Qf3 Rg4 26.Qxf5+ e6 27.Qf3 Rxh4 28.Kb1 Rc4 29.Rc1 Rxc1+ 30.Bxc1 Qe7 31.Rh1 h4 32.g4 Kb8 33.g5 Qxc5 34.Qxf7 Qc4 35.Qf3 Nb4 0-1 Van Wely,L (2629)-Hodgson,J (2605)/Bremen GER 1999]

12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qc2 Be6 16.Ne5 Nd7 17.Bf4 Nxe5 18.Bxe5 Qa5+ 19.Qc3 Qxc3+ 20.bxc3

White seems to have a nice bind but it proves illusory.

20...Bf5 21.0-0-0 0-0-0 22.Be2 f6 23.Bg3 e5 24.Rhe1

[24.f4 e4 may be a better option.]

24...Be7 25.Kb2

[25.f4 exd4 26.cxd4 Rde8 27.Bf3]

25...Rd7 26.dxe5 Bxc5 27.exf6 gxf6 28.Bh5 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 Rd8 30.Bf4 Rxd1 31.Bxd1 Bf8

This position can't be anything other than a draw.

32.g4 Be6 33.h4 b5 34.h5 Kd7 35.Be3 c5 36.Bf3 Kc7 37.Bf4+ Kb6 38.Be3 Kc7 39.Bf4+ Kb6 40.Be3 1/2-1/2

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