Chess World Cup 2009

The Chess World Cup 2009 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 20 November and 14 December 2009, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.^[1] The Cup winner qualified for the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2011. Boris Gelfand defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in the final.

Format

Matches consisted of two games (except for the final, which consisted of four). Players had 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. If the match was tied after the regular games, tie breaks were played on the next day. The format for the tie breaks was as follows:^[2]

Four rapid games (25 minutes plus 10 second increment) were played. According to chess journalist Mig Greengard, a "high FIDE official" admitted off the record that this unusual decision of playing four games instead of two was actually a mistake that was spotted too late to correct it.^[3]
If the score was still tied, up to five pairs of blitz games (5 minutes plus 3 second increment) were played. If one player led after a pair of blitz games, that player was declared the winner. This was a change from previous events, for instance at the Chess World Cup 2007 the match went to an armageddon game after a single pair of blitz games.
If the score was still tied after five pairs of blitz games, a single armageddon game (white must win, black only needs to draw) would be played. White had 5 minutes, black had 4 minutes, and both players had three-second increments beginning with move 61. Eventually, no Armageddon games were played, as all matches were decided before that stage.

Participants

The players qualified for the event are:^[4]

Boris Gelfand (ISR), 2758 (R)
Vugar Gashimov (AZE), 2758 (R)
Peter Svidler (RUS), 2754 (R)
Alexander Morozevich (RUS), 2750 (R)
Teimour Radjabov (AZE), 2748 (R)
Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), 2739 (R)
Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR), 2739 (R)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS), 2736 (R)
Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS), 2736 (R)
Wang Yue (CHN), 2734 (R)
Pavel Eljanov (UKR), 2729 (E09)
Sergey Karjakin (UKR), 2723 (SF)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE), 2719 (R)
Alexei Shirov (ESP), 2719 (SF)
Leinier Domínguez (CUB), 2719 (R)
Sergei Movsesian (SVK), 2718 (E08)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), 2718 (E08)
Evgeny Alekseev (RUS), 2715 (R)
Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS), 2708 (E09)
Wang Hao (CHN), 2708 (R)
David Navara (CZE), 2707 (E09)
Vladimir Malakhov (RUS), 2706 (R)
Étienne Bacrot (FRA), 2700 (R)
Sergei Rublevsky (RUS), 2697 (R)
Baadur Jobava (GEO), 2696 (E09)
Alexander Motylev (RUS), 2695 (E09)
Gata Kamsky (USA), 2695 (SF)
Nikita Vitiugov (RUS), 2694 (E09)
Viktor Bologan (MDA), 2692 (E08)
Arkadij Naiditsch (GER), 2689 (E09)
Bu Xiangzhi (CHN), 2682 (R)
Judit Polgár (HUN), 2680 (R)
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (ROU), 2677 (E09)
Gabriel Sargissian (ARM), 2676 (E08)
Alexander Onischuk (USA), 2672 (Z2.1)
Ivan Cheparinov (BUL), 2671 (PN)
Zahar Efimenko (UKR), 2668 (E08)
Emil Sutovsky (ISR), 2666 (E08)
Evgeniy Najer (RUS), 2666 (E08)
Sergei Tiviakov (NED), 2664 (E08)
Alexander Areshchenko (UKR), 2664 (E09)
Krishnan Sasikiran (IND), 2664 (R)
Ilia Smirin (ISR), 2662 (E08)
Vladimir Baklan (UKR), 2655 (E08)
Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND), 2654 (AS)
Alexandr Fier (BRA), 2653 (Z2.4)
Laurent Fressinet (FRA), 2653 (E08)
Georg Meier (GER), 2653 (E09)
Boris Grachev (RUS), 2652 (E08)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA), 2652 (PN)
Ivan Sokolov (BIH), 2652 (E09)
Vadim Milov (SUI), 2652 (R)
Artyom Timofeev (RUS), 2651 (E09)
Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS), 2645 (E09)
Boris Savchenko (RUS), 2644 (E09)
Mikhail Kobalia (RUS), 2643 (E09)
Vladislav Tkachiev (FRA), 2642 (PN)
Pavel Tregubov (RUS), 2642 (E08)
Wesley So (PHI), 2640 (Z3.3)
Julio Granda (PER), 2640 (AM09)
Viktor Láznička (CZE), 2637 (E08)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS), 2636 (E08)
Rauf Mamedov (AZE), 2634 (E09)
Farrukh Amonatov (TJK), 2631 (Z3.4)

Sergey Volkov (RUS), 2629 (E08)
Zhou Jianchao (CHN), 2629 (Z3.5)
Tomi Nyback (FIN), 2628 (E08)
Ioannis Papaioannou (GRE), 2628 (E08)
Konstantin Sakaev (RUS), 2626 (E09)
Gadir Guseinov (AZE), 2625 (E09)
Varuzhan Akobian (USA), 2624 (Z2.1)
Lê Quang Liêm (VIE), 2624 (AS)
Chanda Sandipan (IND), 2623 (AS)
Yury Shulman (USA), 2623 (Z2.1)
Jan Gustafsson (GER), 2622 (E08)
Rafael Leitão (BRA), 2621 (Z2.4)
Parimarjan Negi (IND), 2620 (AS)
Sergey Fedorchuk (UKR), 2619 (E09)
Lázaro Bruzón (CUB), 2619 (Z2.3)
Mateusz Bartel (POL), 2618 (E09)
Tigran L. Petrosian (ARM), 2615 (E09)
Sanan Sjugirov (RUS), 2612 (E09)
Alexander Khalifman (RUS), 2612 (E08)
Anton Filippov (UZB), 2607 (Z3.4)
Alexander Shabalov (USA), 2606 (AM09)
Jaan Ehlvest (USA), 2606 (AM08)
Erwin l'Ami (NED), 2606 (E08)
Fidel Corrales Jimenez (CUB), 2605 (AM09)
Eduardo Iturrizaga (VEN), 2605 (Z2.3)
Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (IRI), 2603 (PN)
Zhou Weiqi (CHN), 2603 (AS)
Gilberto Milos (BRA), 2603 (AM09)
Yuriy Kryvoruchko (UKR), 2602 (E08)
Diego Flores (ARG), 2602 (AM09)
Li Chao (CHN), 2596 (Z3.5)
Constantin Lupulescu (ROU), 2591 (E09)
Duško Pavasovič (SLO), 2590 (E08)
Yannick Pelletier (SUI), 2589 (PN)
Hou Yifan (CHN), 2588 (AS)
Ahmed Adly (EGY), 2583 (J07)
Abhijeet Gupta (IND), 2578 (J08)
Rogelio Antonio, Jr. (PHI), 2574 (AS)
Robert Hess (USA), 2572 (Z2.1)
Ray Robson (USA), 2567, IM (PN)
Iván Morovic (CHI), 2562 (Z2.5)
Friso Nijboer (NED), 2561 (E09)
Bassem Amin (EGY), 2553 (AF)
Darwin Laylo (PHI), 2552 (Z3.3)
Joshua Friedel (USA), 2551 (Z2.1)
Alexander Ivanov (USA), 2539 (AM09)
Aleksei Pridorozhni (RUS), 2533, IM (ON)
Yu Shaoteng (CHN), 2529 (AS)
Yu Yangyi (CHN), 2527 (AS)
David Smerdon (AUS), 2525 (Z3.6)
Abhijit Kunte (IND), 2522 (AS)
Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS), 2516 (WWC)
Andrés Rodríguez (URU), 2508 (Z2.5)
Mohamad Al Sayed (QAT), 2504 (Z3.1)
Nikolai Kabanov (RUS), 2501 (ON)
Aimen Rizouk (ALG), 2500 (AF)
Sriram Jha (IND), 2497, IM (Z3.2)
Essam El-Gindy (EGY), 2493 (AF)
Alexei Bezgodov (RUS), 2484 (ON)
Mohamed Ezat (EGY), 2472, IM (AF)
Khaled Abdel Razik (EGY), 2469, IM (AF)
Jean Hébert (CAN), 2420, IM (Z2.2)
Walaa Sarwat (EGY), 2405, IM (AF)
Andrei Obodchuk (RUS), 2404, IM (ON)

All players are grandmasters unless indicated otherwise. The pairings of the 1st round (players were seeded according to their ratings) were announced on 2 November 2009, immediately after the publishing of the November rating list. The list of players who declined participation: Anand, Carlsen, Topalov, Aronian, Kramnik, Leko, Adams, Nakamura, and Ni Hua. Among them, Anand, Topalov and Aronian are already qualified for the Candidates or the Championship match; Carlsen, Kramnik, Nakamura, Adams and Ni have committed to play in the London Chess Classic on 7–15 December 2009.^[5]

Qualification paths:

SF: Semi-finalist of Chess World Cup 2007

WWC: Women's World Champion

J07 and J08: World Junior Champions 2007 and 2008

R: Rating (average of July 2008 and January 2009 ratings is used)

E08 and E09: European Individual Championships 2008 and 2009

AM08: Pan American Chess Championship 2008

AM09: Continental Absolute Chess Championship Americas 2009

AS: Asian Chess Championship 2009

AF: African Chess Championship 2009

Z2.1, Z2.2, Z2.3, Z2.4, Z2.5, Z3.1, Z3.2, Z3.3, Z3.4, Z3.5, Z3.6: Zonal tournaments

PN: FIDE president nominee

ON: Organizer nominee

Calendar

Round	Regular games	Tiebreaks
Round 1	21–22 November	23 November
Round 2	24–25 November	26 November
Round 3	27–28 November	29 November
Round 4	30 November, 1 December	2 December
Quarterfinals	3–4 December	5 December
Semifinals	6–7 December	8 December
Final	10–13 December	14 December

Summary of results

Round one

In the first round of the tournament all of the top 30 seeded players progressed, with the sole exception of Slovakian Sergei Movsesian (16), who was eliminated by the Chinese 113th seed Yu Yangyi. Judit Polgár achieved a walkover, due to her opponent Duško Pavasovič withdrawing from the competition due to injury.^[6] The round was notable for the 16-game match between Pavel Tregubov and Varuzhan Akobian: after each winning with white over the first two days, their tiebreak held a marathon of four rapid games followed by ten blitz games. The two players fought until near 1 a.m. local time for the right to face Ruslan Ponomariov in the second round (which would start the next morning), Akobian finally achieving the decisive two-point advantage in the final bout before an Armageddon game would have been required.

Round two

The first day of Round Two included a number of upsets. The highest seed to have won their match was Alexander Grischuk (8), as Peter Svidler (3), Alexander Morozevich (4), Teimour Radjabov (5) and Vassily Ivanchuk (6) all lost and the remaining highest seeds (Gelfand, Gashimov and Ponomariov) drew. On the next day of matches, Morozevich, Radjabov and Ivanchuk were all eliminated, and exactly half of the matches went to tie-breaks.^[7] Ultimately, of the 32 players to reach Round Three, all but seven players had been originally seeded in the top 32.

Round three

This round is scheduled for 27–29 November 2009. Sixteen-year-old Wesley So, who had upset Ivanchuk in Round Two, achieved another major upset, defeating Gata Kamsky, the 2007 winner, 1½-½.^[8] In the second rapid tiebreak, Chinese players Wang Yue and Li Chao were not at their seats for the start of the round, and lost the game, and their matches against Bacrot and Gashimov.^[9]

Round four

This round is scheduled for 30 November - 2 December 2009. It marked the departure of most of the youthful players from the World Cup. Wesley So (16), Fabiano Caruana (17) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (19) were eliminated by the more experienced Malakhov, Gashimov and Gelfand respectively, leaving Sergey Karjakin the only under-20 player left in contention.

Results, rounds 1–4

Section 1

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

Boris Gelfand

1½

128

Andrei Obodchuk

Boris Gelfand

1½

Farrukh Amonatov

Farrukh Amonatov

1½

Sergey Volkov

Boris Gelfand

3½

Judit Polgár

1½

Judit Polgár

w/o

Duško Pavasovič

Judit Polgár

4½

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

3½

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

1½

Constantin Lupulescu

Boris Gelfand

4½

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

3½

Sergei Movsesian

113

Yu Yangyi

1½

113

Yu Yangyi

1½

Mateusz Bartel

Boris Grachev

Mateusz Bartel

113

Yu Yangyi

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

1½

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

1½

112

Yu Shaoteng

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

3½

Georg Meier

2½

Georg Meier

1½

Tigran L. Petrosian

Section 2

First round			Second round			Third round			Fourth round


8	Alexander Grischuk	1½

121	Sriram Jha	½
			8	Alexander Grischuk	1½

			57	Vladislav Tkachiev	½
57	Vladislav Tkachiev	3½

72	Lê Quang Liêm	1½
						8	Alexander Grischuk	5

						25	Baadur Jobava	3
25	Baadur Jobava	1½

104	Ray Robson	½
			25	Baadur Jobava	1½

			89	Eduardo Iturrizaga	½
40	Sergei Tiviakov	2½

89	Eduardo Iturrizaga	3½
									8	Alexander Grischuk	3

									9	Dmitry Jakovenko	5
9	Dmitry Jakovenko	1½

120	Aimen Rizouk	½
			9	Dmitry Jakovenko	2

			73	Chanda Sandipan	0
56	Mikhail Kobalia	½

73	Chanda Sandipan	1½
						9	Dmitry Jakovenko	4

						41	Alexander Areshchenko	2
24	Sergei Rublevsky	1½

105	Iván Morovic	½
			24	Sergei Rublevsky	2½

			41	Alexander Areshchenko	3½
41	Alexander Areshchenko	1½

88	Fidel Corrales Jimenez	½

Section 3

First round			Second round			Third round			Fourth round


4	Alexander Morozevich	2

125	Khaled Abdel Razik	0
			4	Alexander Morozevich	0

			61	Viktor Láznička	2
61	Viktor Láznička	1½

68	Ioannis Papaioannou	½
						61	Viktor Láznička	3½

						29	Viktor Bologan	1½
29	Viktor Bologan	1½

100	Ahmed Adly	½
			29	Viktor Bologan	4

			36	Ivan Cheparinov	2
36	Ivan Cheparinov	3½

93	Yuriy Kryvoruchko	2½
									61	Viktor Láznička	½

									13	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	1½
13	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2

116	Alexandra Kosteniuk	0
			13	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2

			52	Vadim Milov	0
52	Vadim Milov	3½

77	Parimarjan Negi	1½
						13	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	1½

						20	Wang Hao	½
20	Wang Hao	2

109	Joshua Friedel	0
			20	Wang Hao	2

			45	Surya Shekhar Ganguly	0
45	Surya Shekhar Ganguly	2

84	Anton Filippov	0

Section 4

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

Teimour Radjabov

124

Mohamed Ezat

Teimour Radjabov

Konstantin Sakaev

1½

Julio Granda

Konstantin Sakaev

1½

Konstantin Sakaev

Nikita Vitiugov

1½

Nikita Vitiugov

1½

101

Abhijeet Gupta

Nikita Vitiugov

4½

Gilberto Milos

3½

Zahar Efimenko

Gilberto Milos

1½

Nikita Vitiugov

Sergey Karjakin

1½

Sergey Karjakin

1½

117

Andrés Rodríguez

Sergey Karjakin

3½

Artyom Timofeev

2½

Artyom Timofeev

3½

Rafael Leitão

2½

Sergey Karjakin

David Navara

David Navara

108

Darwin Laylo

David Navara

3½

Alexander Shabalov

2½

Vladimir Baklan

3½

Alexander Shabalov

4½

Section 5

First round			Second round			Third round			Fourth round


2	Vugar Gashimov	2

127	Walaa Sarwat	0
			2	Vugar Gashimov	1½

			66	Zhou Jianchao	½
63	Rauf Mamedov	½

66	Zhou Jianchao	1½
						2	Vugar Gashimov	3½

						95	Li Chao	1½
31	Bu Xiangzhi	½

98	Yannick Pelletier	1½
			98	Yannick Pelletier	3½

			95	Li Chao	4½
34	Gabriel Sargissian	3

95	Li Chao	5
									2	Vugar Gashimov	3½

									50	Fabiano Caruana	1½
15	Leinier Domínguez	3½

114	David Smerdon	2½
			15	Leinier Domínguez	2

			50	Fabiano Caruana	4
50	Fabiano Caruana	1½

79	Lázaro Bruzón	½
						50	Fabiano Caruana	3½

						18	Evgeny Alekseev	2½
18	Evgeny Alekseev	1½

111	Aleksei Pridorozhni	½
			18	Evgeny Alekseev	3½

			47	Laurent Fressinet	1½
47	Laurent Fressinet	2

82	Sanan Sjugirov	0

Section 6

First round			Second round			Third round			Fourth round


7	Ruslan Ponomariov	1½

122	Essam El-Gindy	½
			7	Ruslan Ponomariov	4

			71	Varuzhan Akobian	2
58	Pavel Tregubov	7

71	Varuzhan Akobian	9
						7	Ruslan Ponomariov	1½

						26	Alexander Motylev	½
26	Alexander Motylev	1½

103	Robert Hess	½
			26	Alexander Motylev	1½

			39	Evgeniy Najer	½
39	Evgeniy Najer	1½

90	Ehsan Ghaem Maghami	½
									7	Ruslan Ponomariov	3½

									23	Étienne Bacrot	2½
10	Wang Yue	2

119	Nikolai Kabanov	0
			10	Wang Yue	2

			55	Boris Savchenko	0
55	Boris Savchenko	4½

74	Yury Shulman	3½
						10	Wang Yue	1½

						23	Étienne Bacrot	3½
23	Étienne Bacrot	3½

106	Friso Nijboer	1½
			23	Étienne Bacrot	2

			42	Krishnan Sasikiran	0
42	Krishnan Sasikiran	3½

87	Erwin l'Ami	1½

Section 7

First round			Second round			Third round			Fourth round


3	Peter Svidler	2

126	Jean Hébert	0
			3	Peter Svidler	3½

			67	Tomi Nyback	1½
62	Dmitry Andreikin	3½

67	Tomi Nyback	4½
						3	Peter Svidler	5

						30	Arkadij Naiditsch	3
30	Arkadij Naiditsch	3½

99	Hou Yifan	2½
			30	Arkadij Naiditsch	1½

			35	Alexander Onischuk	½
35	Alexander Onischuk	1½

94	Diego Flores	½
									3	Peter Svidler	1½

									14	Alexei Shirov	½
14	Alexei Shirov	1½

115	Abhijit Kunte	½
			14	Alexei Shirov	4

			78	Sergey Fedorchuk	1
51	Ivan Sokolov	0

78	Sergey Fedorchuk	2
						14	Alexei Shirov	1½

						19	Evgeny Tomashevsky	½
19	Evgeny Tomashevsky	1½

110	Alexander Ivanov	½
			19	Evgeny Tomashevsky	3½

			83	Alexander Khalifman	2½
46	Alexandr Fier	2½

83	Alexander Khalifman	3½

Section 8

First round			Second round			Third round			Fourth round


6	Vassily Ivanchuk	2

123	Alexei Bezgodov	0
			6	Vassily Ivanchuk	½

			59	Wesley So	1½
59	Wesley So	4

70	Gadir Guseinov	1
						59	Wesley So	1½

						27	Gata Kamsky	½
27	Gata Kamsky	1½

102	Rogelio Antonio, Jr.	½
			27	Gata Kamsky	1½

			91	Zhou Weiqi	½
38	Emil Sutovsky	1½

91	Zhou Weiqi	3½
									59	Wesley So	1

									22	Vladimir Malakhov	4
11	Pavel Eljanov	1½

118	Mohamad Al Sayed	½
			11	Pavel Eljanov	3½

			54	Ernesto Inarkiev	2½
54	Ernesto Inarkiev	3½

75	Jan Gustafsson	1½
						11	Pavel Eljanov	1

						22	Vladimir Malakhov	4
22	Vladimir Malakhov	2

107	Bassem Amin	0
			22	Vladimir Malakhov	3½

			43	Ilia Smirin	1½
43	Ilia Smirin	1½

86	Jaan Ehlvest	½

Results, rounds 5–7

Quarterfinals			Semifinals			Final (best of 4)


1	Boris Gelfand	3½

9	Dmitry Jakovenko	1½
			1	Boris Gelfand	2

			12	Sergey Karjakin	0
13	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	½

12	Sergey Karjakin	1½
						1	Boris Gelfand	7

						7	Ruslan Ponomariov	5
2	Vugar Gashimov	1½

7	Ruslan Ponomariov	3½
			7	Ruslan Ponomariov	4

			22	Vladimir Malakhov	2
3	Peter Svidler	½

22	Vladimir Malakhov	1½

Final, 10–14 December

Seed	Name	Rating	1	2	3	4	R1	R2	R3	R4	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	Total
1	Boris Gelfand (ISR)	2758	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	0	1	0	1	1	7
7	Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR)	2739	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	1	0	1	0	0	5

References

↑ "General information on the World Chess Cup 2009".
↑ "Regulations for the World Chess Cup 2009".
↑ Mig Greengard (November 30, 2009). "World Cup 09 r4: Sweet 16".
↑ "World Cup 2009: Participant's Information". [sic]
↑ "London Chess Classic: Players".
↑ Susan Polgar blog entry, 'The WC round 1 matchups' dated November 21 2009.
↑ Round 2 Results, Official site
↑ Interview with Gata Kamsky from Khanty-Mansiysk. susanpolgar.blogspot.com. Retrieved on 2009-11-29.
↑ TIME TO QUIT SMOKING!

External links

World Cup 2009 - Official site

Chess World Cup

2000 (Anand) 2002 (Anand) 2005 (Aronian) 2007 (Kamsky) 2009 (Gelfand) 2011 (Svidler) 2013 (Kramnik) 2015 (Karjakin)

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