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It took three and a half hours before the first qualifier for the fourth round of the FIDE World Cup was established. At the end of the day only 6 players (Vitiugov, So, Ponomariov, Mamedyarov, Shirov and Vachier-Lagrave) have advanced to the next round, 10 matches continue into rapid and blitz playoffs on Sunday.

It took three and a half hours before the first qualifier for the fourth round of the FIDE World Cup was established. At the end of the day only 6 players (Vitiugov, So, Ponomariov, Mamedyarov, Shirov and Vachier-Lagrave) have advanced to the next round, 10 matches continue into rapid and blitz playoffs on Sunday.

Judit Polgar has started to play more chess after taking care of her young family for a few years now. She has shown clear signs of rust compared to the time when she was in the top 10. In some of these events she has been almost unrecognisable. She recently said that she plans to play a lot more, and today will give her encouragement. In a must-win situation we saw her at her best, setting Boris Gelfand problems that he just could not solve.

Polgar,Ju (2680) - Gelfand,B (2758) [C24]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (3.2), 28.11.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Qe2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bb3 d6 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.c3 a5

[8...Re8 1/2-1/2 Alavi,S (2368)-Mareco,S (2335)/Yerevan ARM 2006 (28); 8...Nc5 1/2-1/2 Engert,I-Gstettenbauer,H/Bottrop 1971 (31); 8...Qc7 0-1 Martinovic,S (2460)-Tolnai,T (2465)/Dortmund 1988 (63); 8...b5 1/2-1/2 Tolnai,T (2465)-Ivanchuk,V (2535)/Debrecen 1988 (24)]

9.a4 b5

[9...Qc7 10.h3 b6 11.Be3 Ba6 12.Nbd2 d5 13.c4 Rfe8 14.Rac1 Qb7 15.Nh2 Rad8 16.Qf3 Bb4 17.Rfd1 Bxd2 18.Rxd2 Nc5 19.Bc2 dxe4 20.dxe4 Rxd2 21.Bxd2 Bxc4 22.b4 axb4 23.Bxb4 Ncd7 24.Bb1 Be6 25.Bc3 c5 26.Qe2 Ra8 27.Bc2 Qc7 28.Nf3 h6 29.Qb5 Nh7 30.Rd1 Nhf8 31.Nd2 Ng6 32.Nc4 Rb8 33.g3 Bxh3 34.Nd6 Be6 35.Qf1 c4 36.f4 Qc5+ 37.Kg2 exf4 38.gxf4 Bg4 39.Rd4 Qh5 40.Kg1 Nh4 41.Rxc4 Be2 42.Qf2 0-1 Geracik,R-Schunk,T (2300)/Germany 1995]

10.Bc2 Ba6 11.axb5 cxb5 12.Nbd2 Qc7 13.d4 a4 14.Bd3 Rfb8 15.Nh4 g6 16.f4 exf4 17.Ndf3 Nh5 18.Bd2 Nb6 19.g4!?

A typical Polgar coup. She sets about confusing things greatly.

19...fxg3 20.Ng5 Nc4

[20...Bxg5]

21.Nf5!?

[21.Rxf7 gxh2+ 22.Kxh2 Bc8 23.Raf1]

21...Bxg5 22.Bxg5 f6 23.Bh4

23...gxh2+?

[23...gxf5 24.Qxh5 Qf7]

24.Qxh2 Rf8 25.Be2 gxf5 26.Bxh5 fxe4 27.Qf4 f5 28.Kh1 Kh8 29.Rg1 Rf7

[29...Nb6 30.Qh6 Nd5 31.c4 bxc4 32.Rxa4]

30.Bxf7 Qxf7 31.Qh6 Rf8 32.Rg6 1-0

If Li Chao doesn't go through to the next round he will only have himself to blame. Yesterday he spurned at least three great chances to win, today his Petroff Defence left him an advantage when the draw was agreed after 16 moves.

16 year old Wesley So is clearly going places. He beat former World Championship challenger Gata Kamsky 1.5-0.5. In truth today's game was all about So getting a draw. Gata Kamsky tried to get complications at the expense of a pretty lousy position, but it is terribly difficult to play for a win with black. So, didn't look for a win but to defuse the complications. In the end he was a lot better when the draw was finally agreed.

So,W (2640) - Kamsky,G (2695) [A86]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (3.2), 28.11.2009

1.c4 f5 2.d4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Nf3 d6 7.0-0 Qe8 8.Re1 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.e4 f4 11.gxf4 Bg4

[11...Nh5 1/2-1/2 Short,P (2295)-Landenberger,M (2143)/Kilkenny IRL 1999 (26); 11...exf4 1-0 Zuk,R (1800)-Piescikowski,M (1775)/Augustow 1996 (52); 11...Nc6 1-0 Klemm,D (2207)-Moos,G (2046)/Dresden 2004 (40)]

12.Nd5 Na6 13.Nxf6+ Bxf6 14.Qd5+ Be6 15.Qxb7 Nc5

Black is trying to get complications but it is already at the expense of a pretty terrible position.

16.Qb5

[16.Qxc7 Nd3 17.Rd1 Rd8 18.fxe5 Rf7 19.Qa5 Nxe5 20.Rxd8 Nxf3+ 21.Bxf3 Bxd8 22.Qc3]

16...Nd3 17.Qxe8 Raxe8 18.Rd1 Nxf4 19.Bxf4 exf4 20.e5 Bg7 21.Nd4 Kh8 22.Bc6 Re7 23.Bd5 Bh3 24.Rd3 Rxe5 25.Rxh3 Rg5+ 26.Kf1 Bxd4 27.Re1 Bc5 28.Re6 Bd6 29.Rb3 Rh5 30.h3 Kg7 31.Rb7 Kh6 32.Bf3 Rxh3 33.Kg2 Rh4 34.Rb5

[34.b4]

34...Rf7 35.Rd5 Bf8 36.c5 Bg7 37.b4 Bc3 38.a3 Bb2 39.Ra6 Re7 40.Rxa7 Re1 41.Rd1 Rxd1 42.Bxd1

Black has absolutely no winning chances.

1/2-1/2

Sergey Karjakin got a nice position on the white side of a French against David Navara. Navara never found a solution to the queenside pawn push from Karjakin and those pawns proved decisive. A possible improvement was 28...e4. The match now goes to a playoff.

Karjakin,Sergey (2723) - Navara,D (2707) [C10]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (3.2), 28.11.2009

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Be3 Nd5 8.Bd2 c5 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.c4 Nb6 12.Rc1 Be7 13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.b4 Be7 15.c5 Nd5 16.Ne5 Qc7 17.Qa4+ Kf8 18.Nd3

[18.Nc4 h5 19.0-0 h4 20.h3 Rh5 21.Rfe1 a6 22.Qd1 Rf5 23.Qe2 Rd8 24.a3 Kg8 25.Ne5 Bf6 26.Nf3 Qc6 27.Rcd1 Qa4 28.Bc1 Rd7 29.Qd3 Nb6 30.Qe2 Nd5 31.Qd3 Nb6 32.Qe2 1/2-1/2 Nepomniachtchi,I (2632)-Ding Liren (2530)/Sochi RUS 2009/The Week in Chess 771]

18...a6 19.0-0 Rd8 20.Qb3 h5 21.a4 h4 22.h3 Rh5 23.b5 Bg5 24.b6 Qb8 25.Bxg5 Rxg5 26.c6 bxc6 27.Rc5 e5 28.a5 Qd6?

[28...Rd6 29.b7 e4 30.Nf4; 28...e4 29.Nb4 Qd6 30.Nxc6 Re8 31.Rc4 Nf4 32.b7 Rb5 33.Qe3 Rxb7]

29.Rfc1 Ne7 30.Ne1 Rf5 31.Qc4 Rf4 32.Qxa6 Rxf2 33.Qd3 Qxd3 34.Nxd3 Ra2 35.Nxe5 Rdd2 36.R5c2 Rdxc2 37.Rxc2 Rxc2 38.b7 Rb2 39.Nd7+ Ke8 40.Nb6 1-0

Konstantin Sakaev was another player who was in the unenviable position of having to win with black to stay in the tournament. He played a Schmid Benoni and at least got complications without huge disadvantage. However Nikita Vitiugov played very solidly and Sakaev's position started to disintegrate as he tried to find a win. Vitiugov was completely winning at the end when the draw that allowed him through to the next round was agreed.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov played actively as black against Wang Hao and easily attained the draw he required to progress.

Wang Hao (2708) - Mamedyarov,S (2719) [D85]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (3.2), 28.11.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Qd2 Qa5 9.Nf3 0-0 10.Rc1 Rd8 11.d5 e6 12.Bg5 Re8 13.d6 b5

[13...Bd7 14.Bh6 Qd8 15.h4 f6 16.e5 Bc6 17.h5 g5 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.exf6+ Qxf6 20.h6+ Kh8 21.Qxg5 Rf8 22.Qxf6+ Rxf6 23.Ne5 Rf5 24.Nxc6 Nxc6 25.Rd1 Rd8 26.Rh4 Rf6 27.Bb5 Ne5 28.Rh5 Nf7 29.Rxc5 Rxh6 30.d7 a6 31.Bf1 Kg7 32.Rc7 b5 33.Rc6 Kf6 34.Rxa6 Rh5 35.Rb6 Rc5 36.Bxb5 Rxc3 37.a4 Ke7 38.a5 Rg8 39.Kf1 Ra3 40.a6 Nd8 41.Be2 Rg5 42.Bc4 Rc5 43.Bxe6 Rca5 44.Bc4 Ra1 45.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 46.Ke2 1-0 Anand,V (2783)-Leko,P (2751)/Miskolc HUN 2009/The Week in Chess 761]

14.Be2 Nd7 15.e5 Bb7 16.0-0 Rab8 17.Rfe1 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 Nxe5 19.d7 Red8 20.Qd6 Nxd7 21.Bxd8 Rxd8 22.Red1 Bf6 23.Qf4 Kg7 24.h4 Ne5 25.Rxd8 Qxd8 26.Rd1 Qa5 27.h5 gxh5 28.Qg3+ Ng6 29.Bxh5 Qxc3 30.Qxc3 Bxc3 31.Rd7 a5 32.Be2 b4 33.Ra7 Ne5 34.Kf1 Kf6 35.g3 h6 36.f4 Ng6 37.Rxa5 b3 38.Ra3 bxa2 39.Rxa2 Ne7 40.Kg2 e5 41.Ra6+ Kg7 42.Kf3 exf4 43.gxf4 h5 44.Bc4 Bd4 45.Ra7 Kf6 46.Ke4 h4 47.Kf3 h3 48.Kg3 Be3 49.Ra1 h2 50.Ra6+ Kg7 51.Kxh2 Bxf4+ 52.Kg2 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov progress as Evgeny Tomashevsky blundered on the last move before first time control. In a middlegame where Shirov had two minor pieces for a rook he kept setting tricky problems until Tomashevsky missed something. My feeling is that he should have been able to hold but that it was terribly difficult against a player of Shirov's class.

Shirov,A (2719) - Tomashevsky,E (2708) [C78]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (3.2), 28.11.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.c3 Nxe4 8.d4 Na5 9.Bc2 exd4 10.b4 Nc4 11.Bxe4 Bxe4 12.Re1 d5 13.Nxd4 c5 14.bxc5 Bxc5 15.f3 0-0 16.fxe4 dxe4 17.Rxe4 Qd5 18.Qf3 Ne5 19.Qf5 Rae8 20.Nd2 g6 21.Qf4 b4 22.Bb2 bxc3 23.Bxc3 Nc6 24.Kh1 Bxd4

[24...Nxd4 25.Rxd4 Bxd4 26.Qxd4 Qxd4 27.Bxd4 Re2 28.Nf3 f6 29.a3 g5 30.Bc3 Rc2 31.Bb4 Rfc8 32.h3 Rc1+ 33.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 34.Kh2 Kf7 35.Nd4 h5 36.Kg3 h4+ 37.Kf3 Kg6 38.Ne2 Rc2 39.Nd4 Rc4 40.Ke4 Rc1 41.Kf3 f5 42.Ne2 Rf1+ 43.Ke3 f4+ 44.Ke4 Rf2 45.Ng1 Rxg2 46.Bc5 Rg3 47.a4 Rc3 48.Bd4 Ra3 49.Nf3 Rxa4 50.Ne5+ Kh5 51.Ng4 Ra5 52.Ne5 Rb5 53.Kf5 a5 54.Kf6 a4 55.Ng4 a3 56.Kg7 Rb7+ 57.Kf6 a2 58.Be5 f3 59.Bd4 Ra7 60.Ba1 Ra4 0-1 Koch,J (2495)-Degraeve,J (2540)/Narbonne FRA 1997]

25.Rxd4 Nxd4 26.Bxd4 Re2 27.Nf3 f6 28.h3 Re4 29.Qd2 Rd8 30.Rd1 Re6 31.Qc3 Qc6 32.Qb3 Rdd6 33.Rb1 Kg7 34.Qb8 Re7 35.Be3 Rdd7 36.Rb6 Qc3 37.Bf4 a5 38.Kh2 Qc4 39.Bg3 Re6 40.Rb2

40....Re2??

[40...Qc6]

41.Bd6 1-0

Alexander Areshchenko beat Dmitry Jakovenko in a Scotch game. Jakovenko should have been able to hold but probably after 23...Bxg3 his position was certainly very hard. They now go into a playoff.

Areshchenko,A (2664) - Jakovenko,D (2736) [C45]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (3.2), 28.11.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.Nd2 0-0-0 10.b3 f6 11.Bb2 fxe5 12.0-0-0 Nf6 13.Qxe5 Qxe5 14.Bxe5 Ng4 15.Bg3 Ba3+ 16.Kb1

[16.Kc2 Rhf8 17.Nf3 Bc5 18.Rd2 d5 19.Bh4 Nf6 20.cxd5 Bxf1 21.Rxf1 cxd5 22.Rfd1 c6 23.Ne5 Kb7 24.f3 Rde8 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Nd7 Be3 27.Nxf8 Bxd2 28.Kxd2 Rxf8 29.Re1 Rf7 30.Re6 Kc7 31.f4 h5 32.g3 Kd7 33.f5 h4 34.g4 h3 35.Ke3 Re7 36.Rxe7+ Kxe7 37.Kd4 Kf7 38.b4 Kg7 39.Ke3 Kh6 40.Kf4 d4 41.a4 d3 42.Ke3 Kg5 43.Kxd3 Kxg4 44.Ke4 Kg5 45.a5 a6 46.Kd4 Kxf5 47.Kc5 Ke4 48.Kxc6 f5 49.b5 f4 50.bxa6 f3 51.a7 f2 52.a8Q f1Q 53.a6 Qf6+ 54.Kc7+ Ke3 55.Qc6 Qe7+ 56.Kc8 Qf8+ 57.Kd7 Qf7+ 58.Kd8 Kf2 59.Qc5+ Kg2 60.a7 Qb7 1-0 Amonatov,F (2558)-Kuznetsov,V (2399)/Voronezh RUS 2003/The Week in Chess 451]

16...Rhf8 17.Nf3 Bc5 18.Rd2 Nf6 19.Bd3 Rde8 20.Bf5 Re7 21.Ne5 Bb7 22.Rhd1 Bd6 23.Ng4

23...Bxg3?!

Ne4 looks like the way to go.

[23...Ne4 24.Bxe4 Bxg3 25.Bxh7 Bf4 26.Ne3 c5 27.Nd5 Bxd5 28.Rxd5 Bxh2 29.f3 d6; 23...Bb4 24.Nxf6 Bxd2 25.Bxd7+ Kb8 26.Rxd2 Rd8 27.Nxh7 Rexd7]

24.Nxf6 Rxf6 25.Rxd7 Rxd7 26.Bxd7+ Kb8 27.fxg3 c5 28.Rd2 Rd6 29.Kc1 Bxg2 30.Bf5

White takes some advantage into the endgame due to a better King position and black's weak queenside.

30...Rxd2 31.Kxd2 g6

Maybe h6 was better but I'm starting to think this ending is just lost for black.

[31...h6 32.Ke3 g5 33.Be4 Bh3 34.Bc6 (34.Kf3 Be6 35.Bd3 Kc8 36.Ke4 Kd7 37.Ke5 Ke7 38.Bf5 Bg8 39.Be4 Bf7 40.Bd5 Bh5 41.Bc6 Bf7 42.g4 Be6 43.h3 Bf7 44.Kf5 Kd6 45.Kf6 Be6 46.a3 a6 47.Ba4 a5 48.Bb5 Bc8 49.Kg7 Ke5 50.Kxh6 Kf4 51.Bc6 Be6) 34...Bf5 (34...a5 35.Kf3 Bf5 36.Be4 Bd7) 35.h4]

32.Bc2 Kc8 33.Ke3 Kd7 34.Kf4 Ke6 35.Kg5 Kf7 36.Kh6 Kg8 37.h4 Bf3 38.Bd3 Bd1 39.Be4 a5 40.Bd5+ Kh8 41.Be4 Kg8 42.Bd3 Kh8 43.Kg5 Kg7 44.g4 Bf3 45.Kf4 Bb7 46.Be4 Bc8 47.g5 Kf7 48.Ke5 Ke7 49.Bf3 Be6 50.Bc6 Bf7 51.Bd5 Be8 52.Be4 c6

A strong indication that this position is no longer holdable.

53.Bf3 Bd7 54.Bg2 Be8 55.Bh3 Bf7 56.a4 Bg8 57.Bg2 Be6 58.Bxc6 Bf5 59.Kd5 Bc2 60.Kxc5 Bxb3 61.Kb5 1-0

I'm sure we'll hear more fo Yu Yangyi who has made a favourable impression here. Maxime Vachier Lagrave secured a fairly easy draw which took him through to the next round.

Ruslan Ponomariov was another player who needed only a draw with black to advance. He held the draw fairly comfortably and indeed he was better for much of the middlegame before he steered the position to sterility.

>

World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 xi-14 xii 2009 Round 3 Day 2 Results (KO 128 players):
Bd	MSco	White	FED	GmRes	Black	FED
1	1-1	Polgar, Judit	HUN	1-0	Gelfand, Boris	ISR
2	1-1	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	½-½	Li, Chao b	CHN
3	1-1	Naiditsch, Arkadij	GER	½-½	Svidler, Peter	RUS
4	1-1	Laznicka, Viktor	CZE	½-½	Bologan, Viktor	MDA
5	1.5-0.5	Vitiugov, Nikita	RUS	½-½	Sakaev, Konstantin	RUS
6	1.5-0.5	So, Wesley	PHI	½-½	Kamsky, Gata	USA
7	0.5-1.5	Motylev, Alexander	RUS	½-½	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR
8	1-1	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	½-½	Jobava, Baadur	GEO
9	1-1	Areshchenko, Alexander	UKR	1-0	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS
10	1-1	Wang, Yue	CHN	½-½	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA
11	1-1	Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	½-½	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR
12	1-1	Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	1-0	Navara, David	CZE
13	0.5-1.5	Wang, Hao	CHN	½-½	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE
14	1.5-0.5	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	1-0	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	RUS
15	1-1	Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	½-½	Caruana, Fabiano	ITA
16	0.5-1.5	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	½-½	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA

World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 xi-14 xii 2009 Round 3 Results (128 players):
Name	NAT	G1	G2	R1	R2	R3	R4	B1	B2	B3	B4	B5	B6	B7	B8	B9	B10	SD	Tot
Round 3 Match 01
Gelfand, Boris	ISR	1	0																1
Polgar, Judit	HUN	0	1																1
Round 3 Match 02
Li, Chao b	CHN	½	½																1
Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	½	½																1
Round 3 Match 03
Svidler, Peter	RUS	½	½																1
Naiditsch, Arkadij	GER	½	½																1
Round 3 Match 04
Bologan, Viktor	MDA	½	½																1
Laznicka, Viktor	CZE	½	½																1
Round 3 Match 05
Sakaev, Konstantin	RUS	0	½																0.5
Vitiugov, Nikita	RUS	1	½																1.5
Round 3 Match 06
Kamsky, Gata	USA	0	½																0.5
So, Wesley	PHI	1	½																1.5
Round 3 Match 07
Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	1	½																1.5
Motylev, Alexander	RUS	0	½																0.5
Round 3 Match 08
Jobava, Baadur	GEO	½	½																1
Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	½	½																1
Round 3 Match 09
Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	1	0																1
Areshchenko, Alexander	UKR	0	1																1
Round 3 Match 10
Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	½	½																1
Wang, Yue	CHN	½	½																1
Round 3 Match 11
Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	½	½																1
Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	½	½																1
Round 3 Match 12
Navara, David	CZE	1	0																1
Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	0	1																1
Round 3 Match 13
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	1	½																1.5
Wang, Hao	CHN	0	½																0.5
Round 3 Match 14
Tomashevsky, Evgeny	RUS	½	0																0.5
Shirov, Alexei	ESP	½	1																1.5
Round 3 Match 15
Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	½	½																1
Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	½	½																1
Round 3 Match 16
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	1	½																1.5
Yu, Yangyi	CHN	0	½																0.5

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