World Cup R3.1: Top players clash, Polgar, Kamsky, Sutovsky win

The tournament is taking place in the Ugorian Chess Academy in the very heart of Khanty-Mansiysk, which has hosted three previous World Cups: 2005, 2007, and 2009. The 128 participants hail from 46 different countries, and are playing for a total prize fund of US $1.6 million. In addition the first three finisher get tickets to the Candidates tournament in the next World Championship cycle.

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Round three game one – Polgar, Kamsky, Sutovsky win

In two games Black faced 1.e4 and selected the super-solid Berlin Defence, also nicknamed the "Berlin Wall" after the Kramnik-Kasparov match in London, 2000. The majority of games in this variation end in draws, but today the wall was breached: the highest rated player Sergey Karjakin (Russia) fell to the pressure of Judit Polgar (Hungary), and Igor Lysyj (Russia) lost to Lenier Dominguez (Cuba).

Judit in her sensational game against...

...top seed Sergey Karjakin

Polgar played an inspired game – carried out the standard e5-e6 break, invaded Black's queenside with her bishop, and virtually trampled down the opponent's soldiers:

After a difficult first round, and potential scare, against Brazilian IM di Berardino, Kamsky had to have felt he had dodged the bullet to a degree, especially after equally unimpressive rapid games. A player can react in one of two ways: he can feel upset about his performance and get down on himself, which usually leads to disaster, or he can feel reborn, and that luck is on his side. Considering the American's superb play in round two, there is no need to guess how he felt, and it would seem this has continued into the third round. With his incredibly deep match experience, which would benefit him in later rounds, and his recent run of exceptional form, Kamsky is now looking like one of the tournament favorites.

The game between Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2757, number 9 in the world) and Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2737, number 17) was also in the spotlight today.

Grischuk (above right), playing white, decided to counter Morozevich's pet French Defence by an old-fashioned gambit variation in which White sacrifices a pawn for the initiative. Black fell behind in development, and his queen got stuck on the kingside.

In order to castle and connect his pieces, Morozevich (above) sacrificed two pawns, but the compensation appeared insufficient, and Grischuk converted his advantage after very sharp and nervous struggle spiced up by mutual time trouble.

The only win with black was achieved by Emil Sutovsky (Israel), who defeated Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine). The achievement of the Israeli grandmaster is highly remarkable, as Sutovsky had never before won a games against Ivanchuk, losing six times and making six draws.

Israeli GM Emil Sutovsky scroing an important victory with the black pieces

Aren't I supposed to be beating this guy? Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk

A very tense game between good friends, Ruslan Ponomariov and Zakhar Efimenko, both from Ukraine, also ended in a draw. Two games ended quickly and without much fight: Vladimir Potkin (Russia) drew with Nikita Vitiugov (Russia), and Etienne Bacrot split the point with Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan).

Results of round three

• Source: official results page

Results as a bracket table

On Wednesday, August 31, 64 chess players will continue their battles in the 1/32 of the World Cup Final. We should mention such pairings as Kamsky (USA) vs Kasimdzhanov (UZB), Movsesian (ARM) vs Polgar (HUN), Grischuk (RUS) vs Feller (FRA).

The live commentary on Playchess will continue daily at 13:00h CEST (= 15:00h Moscow, 7 a.m. New York), with GM commentary in English and German. At around 19:00h there will be a wrap-up of the day's events.

Remaining schedule of the World Chess Cup 2011

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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