The FIDE World Chess Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk -November 20th- December 15th 2009

(ChessBase, Hamburg)

World Cup R5: Malakhov and Karjakin take the lead

The FIDE World Chess Cup is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk from November 20th to December 15th 2009. It is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The final seventh round consists of four games. The time control is 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. Games start at 15:00h local time, which is GMT +5 hours = 11:00 a.m. European time = 5 a.m. New York. The World Chess Cup is an integral part of the World Championship Cycle 2009-2011.

Gelfand vs Jakovenko was a wholly uneventful 18-move draw; Ponomariov played well against Gashimov but was not able to clinch it when the opportunity came around; Shakh Mamediarov survived some shaky moments against Sergey Karjakin, only to blow it in the end; and Peter Svidler had a brilliant win against Vald Malakhov that was marred by a little point in the end.