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FIDE World Cup with $1.5 million prize in Khanty-Mansiysk
21.09.2005 – The world chess federation has found a sponsor for its 128-player knockout World Cup, to be held from Dec. 3rd to 25 this year. Remarkably the prize fund will be US $1.5 million, with FIDE President Ilyumzhinov putting up $300,000 of his own money. The venue is Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia. We can tell you where on earth that is. |
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FIDE World Cup starts in Khany-Mansiysk
27.11.2005 – It used to be known as the FIDE Knockout World Championship, now it is the World Cup, featuring 128 of the world's strongest players, who will play for a $1.5 million purse. 127 of them made to Khanty, 2250 km east of Moscow. We bring you a full report of round one, with results, games and pictures directly from this Siberian winter event. |
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FIDE World Cup Round 1.3 - Tiebreaks
29.11.2005 – The pressure builds and the time control shortens, it's tiebreak day in Khanty-Mansyisk. The 25 matches that weren't decided after two games went to rapid chess and then, if required, blitz and sudden death. Half of the 128 participants are now on the way home. Report, pairings, games and plenty of photos now up. |
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FIDE World Cup Round 1.2
29.11.2005 – Kamsky remembers how to write the moves, don't worry! 38 of the 64 first round matches have been decided without needing Tuesday's tiebreak games. There are more than a few surprises on the first plane out of Khanty-Mansyisk, including two of the world's top juniors. We have photos, results, and some elimination games. |
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FIDE World Cup Round 2.2
01.12.2005 – The top seed is out thanks to Bulgaria's Ivan Cheparinov. Most of the other favorites came through, however, while it seems like the rest of the field really likes to play rapid chess. 17 of 32 matches will go to tiebreaks tomorrow and a brace of must-win wins showed cold weather doesn't dampen fighting spirit. Report and photos. |
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Hot start to second round in Khanty-Mansyisk
01.12.2005 – If the players keep this up they'll melt a lot of the Siberian snow outside the venue. Seven if the top eight boards finished decisively and only half of the 32 games were drawn. Top seed Ivanchuk lost to Cheparinov, showing that Bulgaria is on the march even without Topalov. We have many beautiful photos and a guide to the best games. |
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FIDE World Cup Round 2.3 - Tiebreaks
02.12.2005 – The playing hall just got a whole lot emptier in Khanty-Mansyisk. The field is down to just 32. It was a wild day of tiebreaks with four of the seventeen matches going to sudden-death blitz. The remaining players are looking more like the usual suspects. The lowest-rated survivor is 2565. Report, game highlights, and photo report right here. |
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FIDE World Cup Round 3.1
04.12.2005 – Mikhail Gurevich works hard and it shows, even though he played a short draw today. Seven hard-fought wins distinguished the first day of the round of 32 in Khanty-Mansyisk. Three players won with black to really put the pressure on their opponents in the second game. Everyone is feeling the heat to make to the sweet sixteen. |
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FIDE World Cup Round 3.3 - Tiebreaks
05.12.2005 – The cull continues in Khanty-Mansyisk. 128 has now become 16. No sudden death was needed and most of the eleven tiebreak sessions were over after the rapid games. Almost all the favorites are through, joined by a 15-year-old prodigy and an American former prodigy on the comeback trail. 4th round pairings and all results here. |
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FIDE World Cup Round 3.2
05.12.2005 – Even Emil Sutovsky is feeling the heat. All but five of the sixteen matches are headed to rapid and blitz tiebreaks. Three players won back on the second day, but one favorite, Shirov, is on the way home thanks to Mikhail Gurevich. Maybe appearing on the homepage here is a good luck charm? Report and photos from Siberia. |
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Grischuk, Rublevsky, Ponomariov advance in Khanty
07.12.2005 – Five games of the FIDE World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansyisk go into the tiebreak on Thursday, with only the winners of yesterday's first game going through to the next round. Grischuk took Kamsky to the brink of a 2-0 shut-out, while Ruslan Ponomariov did exactly that to Dutch champion Loek van Wely. Report and games. |
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Grischuk, Rublevsky, Ponomariov win
07.12.2005 – With the FIDE World Chess Cup down to 16 players things are becoming tense. In the first half of round four Rublevsky and Ponomariov defeated Sakaev and van Wely with the black pieces, while Alexander Grischuk (picture) did the same, brutally, to Gata Kamsky with white. 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen is still going strong. Full report. |
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Bareev defeats Carlsen, Bacrot KO's Lautier
09.12.2005 – For young Magnus Carlsen (picture) the rocket ship ride in Khanty-Mansiysk has come to a tragic end. In the tiebreaks against Evgeny Bareev he turned a lovely win into a traumatic loss. The French civil war was duly won by Etienne Bacrot. Levon Aronian eliminated Vallejo Pons, Boris Gelfand ground down Alexey Dreev. Report and games. |
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Ponomariov, Bacrot, Aronian through
10.12.2005 – Three players went through to the semi-final stage of the FIDE World Cup three, while Grischuk fought back to even his loss against Gelfand in game one. Magnus Carlsen beat Joel Lautier in the second group, Kamsky was successful over Sakaev, as was Malakhov over Dreev. Full illustrated report. |
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Making sense of the FIDE cycle
10.12.2005 – Why, many of our readers have asked, are eight players who got knocked out in round four of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk still playing in the tournament? What, they want to know, is the point? Has it something to do with the 2007 FIDE world championship cycle? It most certainly does. Jeff Sonas explains in meticulous detail. Please concentrate. |
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Gelfand defeats Grischuk, Kamsky and Malakhov win
10.12.2005 – In round five of the FIDE World Cup three games were drawn. Only Boris Gelfand of Israel outplayed the young Russian hopeful Alexander Grischuk, 15 years his junior, to take a full point. In the battle for places 9-16 Gata Kamsky and Vladimir Malakhov scored. Results and games. |
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Grischuk and Vallejo advance to round six
11.12.2005 – All rapid games in the fifth round tiebreaks in Khanty were drawn, so the final places for the next round were decided in blitz games. Alexander Grischuk won both of his against Gelfand to book his place in the semifinals, while Francisco Vallejo Pons beat Dutch champion Loek van Wely to advance in the fight for places 9-16. Report and games. |
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Khanty-Mansiysk: First games in semifinals drawn
12.12.2005 – Both the semifinal games of the FIDE World Cup were drawn, one uneventfully and one with a bit of excitement. In the matches for the places 5-16 there were two decided encounters: Boris Gelfand beat Mikhail Gurevich by refuting his over-ambitious attack; and Konstantin Sakaev spoilt a very nice game against Dreev with a capital blunder. Report and interviews. |
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Aronian in the final – Winter in Khanty-Mansiysk
13.12.2005 – The only decisive game in the semifinals so far was Levon Aronian's victory over Etienne Bacrot. The Armenian GM proceeds to the final, while Ponomariov and Grischuk decide who faces him in the tiebreaks tomorrow. Gelfand beat Gurevich in the second group. Viktoria Abakumovskikh has sent us a lovely winter photo report. |
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Khanty-Mansiysk: The prodigies are through
15.12.2005 – All three are famous chess prodigies: Gata Kamsky drew attention to himself in the late eighties, 22-year-old Ruslan Ponomariov became a grandmaster at 14, and Magnus Carlsen is at 15 one of the hottest commodities in chess today. All three went through in the FIDE world cup in Siberia. Tomorrow it's prodigy vs prodigy. |
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Three magnificent games in Khanty
16.12.2005 – Playing for first place Ruslan Ponomariov and Levon Aronian fought uncompromisingly, and ended their game in a razor-sharp draw. Carlsen-Kamsky was a beautiful attacking effort by the 15-year-old Norwegian, and crowned by victory. And Malakhov outplayed Vallejo in a game you will want to study.
Illustrated report. |
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More excitement – Aronian-Ponomariov draw
17.12.2005 – The fight for first place goes on in the FIDE World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk. The two "youngsters" Levon Aronian and Ruslan Ponomariov played another super-sharp game which was a joy to watch. Gata Kamsky equalised against Magnus Carlsen, so it all comes down to the tiebreaks tomorrow. Report, pictures and interviews. |
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Levon Aronian wins FIDE World Cup
18.12.2005 – This knockout tournament of 128 players would, a year ago, have been the FIDE world championship title. The 23-year-old Armenian Levon Aronian won it, following in the footsteps of Karpov, Khalifman, Anand, Ponomariov and Kasimdzhanov. In the final round, yet another exciting affair, he beat Ruslan Ponomariov to take the title. Big illustrated report with analysis and statistics. |
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Players and performances in Khanty-Mansiysk
20.12.2005 – The FIDE World Cup is over, the players are mostly back home. Time to take a look back at the 128 players who battled it out in the Siberian winter, to check the statistics of the top players and provide pictures of the many lesser-known participants that dropped out of the limelight earlier in the event. Big photo report. |
