World Cup final features an all-Russian cast with Peter Svidler versus Alexander Grischuk. The third place playoff has the Ukrainian duo of Ruslan Ponomariov and Vassily Ivanchuk. That match is more high-voltage than the final.
The top three make it the Candidates. Hence, Svidler and Grischuk are playing "only" for money and pride. The winner gets $120K, the loser receives $96K. On form and class, there's little to choose. Both play sharply and nerves shouldn't be a major factor.
Only one of Ponomariov and Ivanchuk will make it to the Candidates. Plus, there's history between the Ukrainians. The last time they met in a match, it was with the KO world title at stake. Ponomariov, then a teenager, won after Ivanchuk's nerves failed.
Ten years down the road, Ivanchuk's nerves haven't got any better, on the evidence of the semis. Grischuk and Ivanchuk played tiebreaks after splitting draws in the normal time control games.
In the first of the 25 minute rapids, Ivanchuk blundered in a technical rook ending, which he should have held with ease. In the second, the Ukrainian GM broke back with a nice win.
In the third, at an accelerated 10 minute control, Ivanchuk blundered horribly in a winning position. Grischuk held the fourth without difficulty. In the other semis, Svidler produced a far more clinical performance, winning in normal time from an unusual position.
Meanwhile Hou Yifan is surging ahead of the field at the Shenzhen Grand Prix. The world champion has 6 points from eight games (+4,=4) and a TPR of 2650, which places her ahead of Zhao Xue (5.5). Ruan Lufei and Anna Muzychuk share 3-4 with 5 points each.
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The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY (Ponomariov VS Svidler World Cup 2011) arose after the unusual 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Qa4+ Bd7 8.Qa3 Nc6 9.Nf3 e5 10.Be3 exd4 11.cxd4 Qe7 12.Qxe7+ Nxe7 13.Rb1 0-0-0 14.Bc4 f5 15.Ng5.
Svidler reacted 15. - fxe4! 16.Nf7 Nf5 17.0-0 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 ?! Bxd4 19.Nxh8 Rxh8 20.Bd5 b5 21.Bxe4 c5
It's dubious to offer the bishop pair. Black's pawn roller is now very potent. It's difficult to find flaws in white's play after this. Yet he seems to lose by force. Play continued 22.g3 a5 23.Kg2 b4 24.Bd5 Kc7 25.Bc4 Kd6 26.Rfe1 a4 27.f3 Rb8 28.Re2 Bf5 29.Rd1 b3 30.axb3 axb3 31.g4 Bd7 32.Re3 b2 33.Rb3 Rxb3 34.Bxb3 Bb5.
Now it's a technical win and Svidler brings it home with 35.Ba2 Kc6 36.Rd2 Kb6 37.f4 Bc6+ 38.Kg3 Be4 39.Rd1 Kb5 40.Re1 Bd3 41.Re7 c4 42.Rd7 c3! 43.Rd5+ Bc5 (0-1). Black simply rams the pawns home with 44. Rxd3 c2 45. Rb3+ Kc6 46. Rxb2 c1=Q.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player