World Cup R3 Tiebreaks: Navara wins, and Mamedyarov falls to Zherebukh

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 – Tiebreaks

Round three of the World Cup ended on Monday, September 5th in Khanty-Mansiysk. Six participants of the Round four were determined the day before: Judit Polgar (Hungary), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Bu Xiangzhi (China), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia). The remaining ten spots were filled on the tie-break.

The tiebreaks underway

The tie-break games at the World Cup go as follows: two 25-minute games with 10 bonus seconds per move, then, if the first two games end in a draw, two semi-blitz games are played with 10 minutes and a ten-second increment per move. If after this, the overall score is still tied 2-2, the match proceeds to two blitz games at the rate of five minutes plus three seconds per move. Finally, if the score is still tied at this point, the seventh and last game is the Armageddon: White gets five minutes, and Black gets four, and White must win to advance. Both sides receive a three-second increment per move after move 61.

An enraptured audience follows the action

The first rapid games were unusually bloodthirsty: out of ten games, nine ended in a decisive result, not to mention six were won by Black. Moiseenko was the only player who managed to even the score in the second game, while the rapid tiebreak match between Lysyj-Dominguez was tied with two draws.

A further eight matches ended at the rapid chess stage.

Vassily Ivanchuk

Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) – Emil Sutovsky (Israel) 2-0
Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukraine) – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) 1.5-0.5
Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) – Zakhar Efimenko (Ukraine) 1.5-0.5
Gata Kamsky (USA) – Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 2-0
Peter Svidler (Russia) – Fabiano Caruana (Italy) 1.5-0.5
Vladimir Potkin (Russia) – Nikita Vitiugov (Russia) 1.5-0.5
Peter-Heine Nielsen (Denmark) – Marcea-Emilian Parligras (Romania) 2-0
Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba) – Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) 1.5-0.5

The success of the 18-year-old Yaroslav Zherebukh deserves special attention: he defeated one of the World Cup favorites Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who recently participated in the candidates matches.

Ukrainian Yaroslav Zherebukh having the tournament of his life

The Czech grandmaster David Navara produced an unusual example of fair play by offering a draw to Alexander Moiseenko in a won position yesterday. Today he defeated the Ukrainian in two 10-minute games and advanced to the round four. Tomorrow both players will receive a special Fair Play prize from Natalia Komarova, the Governor of Ugra.

After playing by the rules in a gesture that could have cost him $8000, Navara's
sportsmanship was rewarded.

Lenier Dominguez (Cuba) and Igor Lysyj (Russia) became the first players to proceed all the way to the Armageddon decider. The former World Blitz Champion Lenier Dominguez received the White pieces and won the game with a crushing attack.

Dominguez (right) is the first player to win from an Armageddon game

Tuesday, round four features some fascinating matches: Polgar-Dominguez, Kamsky-Svidler, Ponomariov-Bruzon, Gashimov-Nielsen, Ivanchuk-Bu Xiangzhi, Radjabov-Jakovenko, Zherebukh-Navara and Grischuk-Potkin.

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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