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After the first two days of Round 1 the favourites are all comfortably through with 16th seed Sergei Movsesian the biggest casualty so far. Leinier Dominguez Perez and David Navara still have work to do in the playoffs on Monday.

There has been a lot of chess to get through in the first two days of the FIDE World Cup. There are far too many games to go through in detail so I'll have a bit of a meander through selected results and games.

There were no shocks right at the top of the draw where the top seeds went through very comfortably. Boris Gelfand won comfortably in game one and then drew quickly in game two against Andrei Obodchuk. Vugar Gashimov was just too strong for Walaa Sarwat as was Peter Svidler for Jean Hebert and Alexander Morozevich for Khaled Abdel Razik (although after a castrophic game one he played pretty well in game two). Teimour Radjabov beat Mohamed Ezat, Vassily Ivanchuk beat Alexei Bezgodov 2-0. Essam El Gindy, Jha Sriram, Aimen Rizouk and Abhijit Kunte got single draws against Ruslan Ponomariov Alexander Grischuk, Dmitry Jakovenko and Alexei Shirov but all were eliminated by the favourites.

The shock of the first round so far is the elimination of Sergei Movsesian by the almost unknown Yu, Yangyi (born 1994). It can't be said that either game was particularly spectacular. In the first game Movsesian must have been better at some point, then white was a bit better, then they clearly had some kind of mad time scramble (although with 30 seconds a move it obviously wasn't that insane) where the assessment changed move to move until 38...Rd3 dropped the house for Movsesian. Game two saw Movsesian obtain an early advantage but by the time he agreed to repetition black was clearly slightly better and in no danger of losing.

Yu Yangyi (2527) - Movsesian,S (2718) [B48]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (1.1), 21.11.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Be7 9.f3 h5 10.Kb1 b5 11.Qf2 d6 12.h3 Bb7 13.Bd3 h4 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.Rhe1 b4 16.Ne2 e5 17.Bb6 Qb7 18.Nc1 Nd7 19.Ba5 0-0 20.Bc4 Rfc8 21.Nd3 Ba4 22.Bb3 Bxb3 23.axb3 Qb5 24.Bxb4 a5 25.Ba3 a4 26.Nb4 axb3 27.cxb3 Nc5 28.Nd5 Bg5 29.b4 Ne6 30.Nb6 Rxa3 31.bxa3 Rc3 32.Qb2 Rd3 33.Nd5 Nd4 34.a4 Qc4 35.Rc1 Qa6 36.Rc3 Rd2 37.Qa3 Ne2 38.Rc7 Rd3 39.b5 Qa5 40.Qxd3 Qxe1+ 41.Ka2 Qf2 42.Rc2 Nc1+ 43.Ka3 Qg1 44.Qc3 Qd1 45.b6 Nd3 46.b7 Qb1 47.Qxd3 Bc1+ 48.Rxc1 Qxd3+ 49.Nc3 1-0

David Navara will play off against Darwin Laylo (who won very nicely in game two) and David Smerdon will do the same against Leinier Dominguez Perez.

Laylo,D (2552) - Navara,D (2707) [D85]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (1.2), 22.11.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 7.Be3 0-0 8.h3 e5 9.Nf3 exd4 10.Bxd4 Nc6 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Bb5 Bd7 13.0-0 Qe7 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Ne5 16.Nxe5 Bxb5 17.Re1 Qd6 18.Qb3 Ba6 19.Qc3 f6 20.Ng4 Rae8 21.Rac1 Rxe1+ 22.Rxe1 h5 23.Re6 Qd8 24.Ne3 b6 25.g4 Bb7 26.g5 Bc8 27.gxf6+ Kg8 28.Re7 Rf7 29.Qe5 Qd6 30.Re8+ Rf8 31.Qg5 1-0

The mercurial Ivan Sokolov was eliminated by Sergey Fedorchuk after his over-optimistic 21.f5 backfired on him in game one and he lost a sharp struggle in game two.

Tomi Nyback won an extremely nice game against Dmitry Andreikin in game one and was only a couple of moves from a draw in game two when he completely lost the thread and dropped a piece. So they will go into a playoff.

Nyback,T (2628) - Andreikin,D (2636) [A60]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (1.1), 21.11.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.e4 Nxe4 8.Bxb5 Qa5+ 9.Nfd2 Bxd5 10.0-0 Qxb5 11.Nxe4 Qc6 12.Nbc3 Be6 13.f4 f5 14.Ng5 Be7 15.Qh5+ g6 16.Qh6 Bf8 17.Qh3 Bg7 18.Be3 Bc4 19.Rfe1 Kf8 20.g4 h6 21.Nf3 Be6 22.Nh4 Kf7 23.gxf5 gxf5 24.Nxf5 Bxc3 25.bxc3 Kf6 26.Kf2 Bxf5 27.Bd4+ cxd4 28.Qh4+ Kg6 29.Re7 Be6 30.Rg1+ Kf5 31.Qg4+ Ke4 32.Qf3+ Kf5 33.Qg4+ Ke4 34.f5+ Ke5 35.fxe6 Rf8+ 36.Rf7 Rxf7+ 37.exf7 Qf6+ 38.Qf3 Qxf3+ 39.Kxf3 Nc6 40.Rg8 dxc3 41.Re8+ 1-0

Pavel Eljanov was extremely fortunate to emerge with a win in his first game against Mohamad Al-Sayed, one could say that he was rewarded for the complications he created but on the other hand his position was clearly worse with 23...Nf5 being the clearest improvement. 30...Rac8 was just a terrible idea in a balanced position and Al-Sayed resigned a couple of moves later. Eljanov never had any trouble in his pursuit of the draw in game 2.

Something clearly is a bit wrong with the game score of Gata Kamsky's win against Antonio on day 1 with a Queen being en-prise for a move. Kamsky went through on day two with a draw.

The US contingent as a whole had a hard time of it. Evgeny Tomashevsky was just too good for Alexander Ivanov in game 1. Josh Friedel was in knots with white in game one after only a few moves against Wang Hao and was clearly lost after 11 moves (and probably before) in game two. Ray Robson was similarly outplayed by Baadur Jobava in game one with black and Jobava could have pressed for a win in game two had he needed to. Robert Hess took a quick draw with white and was doing fine with black until the run up to the first time control where he just collapsed to a loss against Alexander Motylev. Ilya Smirin had little difficulty dispatching Jaan Ehlvest after his position fell apart in game one. Smirin's King's Indian was more than enough to secure passage with a draw in game two.

Things went better for Alexander Onischuk who was probably never better in game one and most of game two until Diego Flores failed to find 40.b6! allowing Onischuk to progress with his pawn and progress in the tournament.

Alexander Shabalov will have to go through via the playoffs against Vladimir Baklan. Shabalov ground down his opponent in game one but allowed a huge tactic that disintegrated his position in game two. The same is true for Varuzhan Akobian who crushed the Dutch Defence (Yeah! I don't like the Dutch... and speaking of openings I don't like the Petroff has a +2 score for black so far, rather depressing) against Pavel Tregubov but then contrived to lose a very drawn Rook and Pawn ending (69...Kd8 is one of the moves that comes to mind) so will play off tomorrow.

Viktor Bologan found an extremely attractive way of dispatching Ahmed Adly in game one and was professional in going through in game 2.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu was really quite brutal in going for the throat against Constantin Lupulescu in game one and was rewarded with a nice win. Again he drew out to go through in game 2.

Alexander Areschenko slugged it out with Fidel Corrales Jimenez encouraging him to attack when it wasn't quite good enough in game one. He saw out game two to go through.

Areshchenko,A (2664) - Corrales Jimenez,F (2605) [B78]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (1.1), 21.11.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 Ne5 11.Bb3 h5 12.0-0-0 Rc8 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.Kb1 b5 15.g4 a5 16.gxh5 Nxh5 17.Nd5 Re8 18.Nf4 a4 19.Bd5 Nc4 20.Bxc4 bxc4 21.Nxh5 c3 22.Qe3 Qb6 23.b3 gxh5 24.Bh6 Bf6 25.Bg5 Bg7 26.Bh6 Bf6 27.Rhg1+ Kh7 28.Qf4 axb3 29.axb3 Qa6 30.Bg7 Bxg7 31.Rxg7+ Kxg7 32.Rg1+ Bg4 33.Ne6+ Kg6 34.fxg4 f6 35.Nxc5 dxc5 36.g5 Qa3 37.gxf6+ Kf7 38.fxe7+ 1-0

Wesley So will have to play off against Gadir Guseinov. So won a nice positional game in game one but lost quite a wild French Defence in game two.

SS Ganguly went through 2-0 against Anton Filippov in a closely contested couple of games. An odd match where Ganguly let a winning position go in game one (28...Qd4 looks good for Filippov) before winning and then coming back to win in game two too.

Parimarjan Negi won a nice positional game in game one against Vadim Milov but then lost a fluctuating struggle in game two where Fritz reveals that neither player seemed to have a good grasp of what was going on. They will play off for a place in round 2.

Jan Gustafsson took advantage of a bad blunder (56...Nd7) to win game one against Ernesto Inarkiev. Inarkiev proved much stronger in game two and won by outplaying his opponent in the run up to first time control to take the match to a playoff.

Sandipan Chanda went through by virtue of beating Mikhail Kobalia in game one. Probably 18...b5 was too optimistic and Chanda pressed his advantage well.

Sandipan,C (2623) - Kobalia,M (2643) [D31]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (1.1), 21.11.2009

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.e4 Bb4 7.Bxc4 Nxe4 8.0-0 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Be7 10.Ne5 0-0 11.Qg4 Nd7 12.Bh6 Bf6 13.Rae1 Kh8 14.Bc1 g6 15.Re3 Bg7 16.Rfe1 Nxe5 17.dxe5 f5 18.Qe2 b5 19.axb5 cxb5 20.Bxb5 Qb6 21.Ba3 Rg8 22.c4 Bf8 23.Bd6 Ba6 24.Bd7 Rg7 25.Bxe6 Bxd6 26.exd6 Qxd6 27.Qb2 f4 28.R3e2 h5 29.Bd5 Rb8 30.Qa1 Rb6 31.c5 Qxd5 32.Re7 1-0

After a round one draw Zhou Jianchao obtained a winning advantage in game two against Rauf Mamedov but he looked nervy in making it count.

World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 xi-14 xii 2009 Round 1 Results (128 players):
Name	NAT	Rtng	G1	G2	Rp1	Rp2	Bz1	Bz2	SD	Total
Round 1 Match 01
Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2758	1	½						1.5
Obodchuk, Andrei	RUS	2404	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 02
Sarwat, Walaa	EGY	2405	0	0						0
Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	2758	1	1						2
Round 1 Match 03
Svidler, Peter	RUS	2754	1	1						2
Hebert, Jean	CAN	2420	0	0						0
Round 1 Match 04
Abdel Razik, Khaled	EGY	2469	0	0						0
Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	2750	1	1						2
Round 1 Match 05
Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2748	1	1						2
Ezat, Mohamed	EGY	2472	0	0						0
Round 1 Match 06
Bezgodov, Alexei	RUS	2484	0	0						0
Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2739	1	1						2
Round 1 Match 07
Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2739	½	1						1.5
El Gindy, Essam	EGY	2493	½	0						0.5
Round 1 Match 08
Sriram, Jha	IND	2497	½	0						0.5
Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2736	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 09
Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2736	1	½						1.5
Rizouk, Aimen	ALG	2500	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 10
Kabanov, Nikolai	RUS	2501	0	0						0
Wang, Yue	CHN	2734	1	1						2
Round 1 Match 11
Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	2729	1	½						1.5
Al Sayed, Mohamad N.	QAT	2504	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 12
Rodriguez Vila, Andres	URU	2508	0	½						0.5
Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	2723	1	½						1.5
Round 1 Match 13
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2719	1	1						2
Kosteniuk, Alexandra	RUS	2517	0	0						0
Round 1 Match 14
Kunte, Abhijit	IND	2522	½	0						0.5
Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2719	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 15
Dominguez Perez, Leinier	CUB	2719	½	½						1
Smerdon, David	AUS	2525	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 16
Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2527	1	½						1.5
Movsesian, Sergei	SVK	2718	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 17
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2718	½	1						1.5
Yu, Shaoteng	CHN	2529	½	0						0.5
Round 1 Match 18
Pridorozhni, Aleksei	RUS	2533	½	0						0.5
Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	2715	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 19
Tomashevsky, Evgeny	RUS	2708	1	½						1.5
Ivanov, Alexander	USA	2539	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 20
Friedel, Joshua E	USA	2551	0	0						0
Wang, Hao	CHN	2708	1	1						2
Round 1 Match 21
Navara, David	CZE	2707	1	0						1
Laylo, Darwin	PHI	2552	0	1						1
Round 1 Match 22
Amin, Bassem	EGY	2553	0	0						0
Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	2706	1	1						2
Round 1 Match 23
Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2700	½	½						1
Nijboer, Friso	NED	2561	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 24
Morovic Fernandez, Ivan	CHI	2562	0	½						0.5
Rublevsky, Sergei	RUS	2697	1	½						1.5
Round 1 Match 25
Jobava, Baadur	GEO	2696	1	½						1.5
Robson, Ray	USA	2567	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 26
Hess, Robert L	USA	2572	½	0						0.5
Motylev, Alexander	RUS	2695	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 27
Kamsky, Gata	USA	2695	1	½						1.5
Antonio, Rogelio Jr	PHI	2574	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 28
Gupta, Abhijeet	IND	2578	½	0						0.5
Vitiugov, Nikita	RUS	2694	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 29
Bologan, Viktor	MDA	2692	1	½						1.5
Adly, Ahmed	EGY	2583	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 30
Hou, Yifan	CHN	2588	½	½						1
Naiditsch, Arkadij	GER	2689	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 31
Bu, Xiangzhi	CHN	2682	½	0						0.5
Pelletier, Yannick	SUI	2589	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 33
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	ROU	2677	1	½						1.5
Lupulescu, Constantin	ROU	2591	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 34
Li, Chao b	CHN	2596	½	½						1
Sargissian, Gabriel	ARM	2676	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 35
Onischuk, Alexander	USA	2672	½	1						1.5
Flores, Diego	ARG	2602	½	0						0.5
Round 1 Match 36
Kryvoruchko, Yuriy	UKR	2602	½	½						1
Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2671	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 37
Efimenko, Zahar	UKR	2668	0	½						0.5
Milos, Gilberto	BRA	2603	1	½						1.5
Round 1 Match 38
Zhou, Weiqi	CHN	2603	½	½						1
Sutovsky, Emil	ISR	2666	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 39
Najer, Evgeniy	RUS	2666	1	½						1.5
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan	IRI	2603	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 40
Iturrizaga, Eduardo	VEN	2605	½	½						1
Tiviakov, Sergei	NED	2664	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 41
Areshchenko, Alexander	UKR	2664	1	½						1.5
Corrales Jimenez, Fidel	CUB	2605	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 43
Smirin, Ilia	ISR	2662	1	½						1.5
Ehlvest, Jaan	USA	2606	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 44
Shabalov, Alexander	USA	2606	1	0						1
Baklan, Vladimir	UKR	2655	0	1						1
Round 1 Match 45
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	IND	2654	1	1						2
Filippov, Anton	UZB	2607	0	0						0
Round 1 Match 46
Khalifman, Alexander	RUS	2612	½	½						1
Fier, Alexandr	BRA	2653	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 47
Fressinet, Laurent	FRA	2653	1	1						2
Sjugirov, Sanan	RUS	2612	0	0						0
Round 1 Match 48
Petrosian, Tigran L.	ARM	2615	½	0						0.5
Meier, Georg	GER	2653	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 49
Grachev, Boris	RUS	2652	½	½						1
Bartel, Mateusz	POL	2618	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 50
Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	CUB	2619	½	0						0.5
Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	2652	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 51
Sokolov, Ivan	NED	2652	0	0						0
Fedorchuk, Sergey A.	UKR	2619	1	1						2
Round 1 Match 52
Negi, Parimarjan	IND	2620	1	0						1
Milov, Vadim	SUI	2652	0	1						1
Round 1 Match 53
Timofeev, Artyom	RUS	2651	½	½						1
Leitao, Rafael	BRA	2621	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 54
Gustafsson, Jan	GER	2622	1	0						1
Inarkiev, Ernesto	RUS	2645	0	1						1
Round 1 Match 55
Savchenko, Boris	RUS	2644	½	½						1
Shulman, Yuri	USA	2623	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 56
Sandipan, Chanda	IND	2623	1	½						1.5
Kobalia, Mikhail	RUS	2643	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 57
Tkachiev, Vladislav	FRA	2642	½	½						1
Le, Quang Liem	VIE	2624	½	½						1
Round 1 Match 58
Akobian, Varuzhan	USA	2624	1	0						1
Tregubov, Pavel V.	RUS	2642	0	1						1
Round 1 Match 59
So, Wesley	PHI	2640	1	0						1
Guseinov, Gadir	AZE	2625	0	1						1
Round 1 Match 60
Sakaev, Konstantin	RUS	2626	½	1						1.5
Granda Zuniga, Julio E	PER	2640	½	0						0.5
Round 1 Match 61
Laznicka, Viktor	CZE	2637	1	½						1.5
Papaioannou, Ioannis	GRE	2628	0	½						0.5
Round 1 Match 62
Nyback, Tomi	FIN	2628	1	0						1
Andreikin, Dmitry	RUS	2636	0	1						1
Round 1 Match 63
Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2634	½	0						0.5
Zhou, Jianchao	CHN	2629	½	1						1.5
Round 1 Match 64
Volkov, Sergey	RUS	2629	0	½						0.5
Amonatov, Farrukh	TJK	2631	1	½						1.5

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