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Gelfand makes it to the final where he awaits either Ruslan Ponomariov or Vladimir Malakhov.

Gelfand makes it to the final where he awaits either Ruslan Ponomariov or Vladimir Malakhov.

Boris Gelfand confidently advanced to the final with a second win against Sergey Karjakin. Gelfand tried to keep things solid but Karjakin with nothing to lose provoked an attack where Gelfand had to give up a piece, psychologically smart if it came off, but Gelfand made no mistakes and took home the full point.

Gelfand,B (2758) - Karjakin,Sergey (2723) [D45]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.2), 06.12.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Bd2 e5 13.Rac1 a6 14.b4 Rfe8 15.Bd3

[15.h3 e4 16.Ng5 Bxb4 17.Qb3 Nf8 18.Qxb4 h6 19.Ncxe4 Nxe4 20.Nxe4 Rxe4 21.Bf3 Re6 22.d5 Rd6 23.Qc5 Nd7 24.Ba5 Qb8 25.Qxd6 Qxd6 26.dxc6 Qa3 27.cxb7 Rf8 28.Rc8 1-0 Timoscenko,G (2530)-Schoeppl,E (2248)/Oberwart AUT 2003/The Week in Chess 453]

15...Bxb4

Sergey Karjakin

Boris Gelfand

Position after 15...Bxb4

Whether the players knew they were following a correspondence game is unclear but black (who needed a win) might as well as the question of Gelfand. "Can you win?" Gelfand is pretty much compelled to sacrifice a piece but fortunately for him it is just really good for white. Will he falter along the way?

16.Ng5 h6

[16...Nf8 17.Nxb5 axb5 18.Bxb4 exd4 19.exd4 Qf4 20.Nf3 Ne6 21.Bd2 Qd6 22.Qb1 Qd5 23.Qb3 Ra4 24.Be3 Rea8 25.Qxd5 Nxd5 26.Bb1 Nb4 27.Ne5 Nc7 28.Nd3 Nxa2 29.Bxa2 Rxa2 30.Nb4 R2a4 31.Rb1 Rc8 32.Rdc1 Na6 33.Nd3 f6 34.Ra1 Rxa1 35.Rxa1 Rd8 36.f3 Kf7 37.Kf2 Bc8 38.g4 Ke7 39.h4 Kd6 40.h5 Rd7 41.Ke2 Re7 42.Kd2 Rd7 43.Rc1 Bb7 44.Kc3 Ke7 45.g5 Kf7 46.h6 g6 47.gxf6 Kxf6 48.Rg1 Nc7 1/2-1/2 Soltau,A (2618)-Van Kempen,H (2554)/ICCF COR 2004/The Week in Chess 536]

17.Nxb5 axb5 18.Bh7+ Kf8 19.Bxb4+ c5 20.dxc5 Bc6 21.Be4 Nb8

[21...hxg5 22.Bxc6 Qxc6 23.Rd6 Qc7 24.c6]

22.Nh7+ Nxh7 23.Bxh7 g6?

Sergey Karjakin

Boris Gelfand

Position after 23...g6

It's hard to criticise black's play. He was in a desperate situation having to win with black. His big problem is that this move will more or less guarantee perpetual check at worst.

24.Rd6 Re7 25.h4

[25.Rf6 is the computer variation but it's entirely obvious a human wouldn't feel confident with the complications. 25...Nd7 26.Qxg6 Nxf6 27.Qxh6+ Ke8 28.Qxf6 Re6 29.Qg7 Qe7 30.Bf5 Qf6]

25...h5?

Very, very bad and not that hard for Gelfand to calculate.

[25...Qc8 26.f3]

26.Bxg6 fxg6 27.Qxg6 Rxa2 28.Rcd1 Rf7 29.Qh6+ Rg7 30.Qf6+ Kg8 31.Rd8+ Kh7 32.Qf5+ Rg6 33.Qxh5+ Rh6 34.Qf5+

Rg6 h5 is just one of the terminal problems.

1-0

Vladimir Malakhov and Ruslan Ponomariov drew for a second time and will playoff for a place in the final. They got a very unusual structure from a Nimzo-Indian which was quite hard to assess. It was one of those positions where you'd like to see a few more moves.

Malakhov,V (2706) - Ponomariov,R (2739) [E33]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.2), 06.12.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bd2 0-0 7.a3 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 Qe7 9.g3 e5 10.d5 e4

[10...Nb8 11.Bg2 Nbd7 12.0-0 Re8 13.e4 Nf8 14.c5 Bg4 15.cxd6 cxd6 16.Nd2 Rac8 17.Rfc1 h6 18.Qd3 N8d7 19.b4 Nh7 20.f3 Bh5 21.a4 Bg6 22.Nf1 h5 23.h4 Rc7 24.Ne3 Rec8 25.a5 Nhf8 26.Bd2 Qd8 27.Rxc7 Rxc7 28.Bh3 Bh7 29.Nc4 Qe7 30.Be3 a6 31.Kh2 Bg6 32.Bg5 f6 33.Bd2 Be8 34.Ne3 g6 35.Rg1 Qh7 36.Qa3 Qe7 37.g4 hxg4 38.Rxg4 Kh8 39.h5 f5 40.exf5 gxh5 41.Rg3 Nf6 42.b5 Bxb5 43.Bb4 Ne8 44.Qb2 Nd7 45.Qg2 Nef6 46.Qd2 Nc5 47.Ng2 Nh7 48.Qh6 Be8 49.Bxc5 dxc5 50.d6 Rc6 51.f6 Qxf6 52.Be6 Bf7 53.Bxf7 Qxf7 54.Nh4 1-0 Malakhatko,V (2569)-Berdychevaskaya,N (2215)/St Petersburg RUS 2009/The Week in Chess 780]

11.Ng5 Ne5 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Qxe4 f5 14.Qe3 f4 15.gxf4 Rxf4 16.0-0-0 Qf7 17.Rg1 Rxf2 18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.Qxe5 Bd7 20.Qd4 g6 21.e4 Qf4+ 22.Kb1 Re8 23.Bd3 Rxh2 24.c5 Qe5 25.Qb4 b6 26.c6 Bc8 27.Bc2 Kg7 1/2-1/2

Ruslan Ponomariov

Vladimir Malakhov

Final Position

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