World Cup R3.2: Fair play in Khanty-Mansiysk

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 two – Fair play in Khanty-Mansiysk

Three players proceeded to the fourth round with second-game wins: Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) defeated Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) defeated Etienne Bacrot (France), and Bu Xiangzhi (China) won against Abhijeet Gupta (India).

Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan in the process of beating French GM Etienne Bacrot

Top seed Sergey Karjakin was unable to win his second game against Judit Polgar
and has now been eliminated from the World Cup, while Judit is in the next round

Three players, Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), and Igor Lysyj (Russia) managed to equalize their scores after their losses yesterday. Ian handled the English Opening against Gata Kamsky (USA) in a very original fashion, didn't spend much time on his moves, and his opponent eventually lost his way.

The task of Ivanchuk was more difficult, as he was playing black today. However, Emil Sutovsky (Israel) is a very creative and fearless player, and he lit the fire on the board himself. Black's position looked quite dangerous, and Sutovsky wasn't spending much time on the moves, implying that everything had been analyzed at home. However, either his analysis had a hole or Sutovsky mixed up the move order. Ivanchuk easily parried his attack and won the game.

Igor Lysyj defeated Lenier Dominguez (Cuba) in a very long and tense game and also proceeded to the tie-breaks. Georgian grandmaster Baadur Jobava tried to win at all cost and suffered another defeat against Dmitry Jakovenko.

In the first game of round three Alexander Morozevich (above) had lost with the black pieces to Alexander Grischuk. Now the grandmaster from Moscow, who after a protracted absence from the international tournament scene, has been playing 2800+ level chess, needed to win the second game with white. This is what the spectators saw:

Asked in the press conference why his opponent had resigned this game so soon and so suddenly, Grischuk answered: "I think it is up to journalists to find this out – it is part of their job." With other words: "I haven't the foggiest idea."

The last game of the day ended in an unexpected way: David Navara (Czech Republic) offered a draw in a winning position against Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine). As the grandmasters said after the game, Navara touched two pieces simultaneously on the 35th move, and Moiseenko insists that his opponent touched the king first. According to the rules, Navara had to move the king, but each of those moves would lead to his loss. Realizing that Navara made a careless mistake, Moiseenko did not force him to obey the rules, and Navara returned the favor in the end, because he thougth it would be an unfair victory.

We remind you that if David Navara had actually executed the mate (which he clearly saw) he would have had a guaranteed prize sum of $20,000, instead of the $12,800 he will get if he does not win the tie-break on Monday. In addition the winner will stay in the fight for the three tickets to the next World Championship cycle.

This story came to knowledge of the Khanty-Mansiysk Governor, Natalia Komarova, who decided to establish a special prize for the World Cup: Fair play. And the President of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, said: "We go for nobility, at the chess board as well as in the everyday life. I am very proud of both sportsmen who acted in accordance with FIDE logo: Gens Una Sumus.

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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