New York Times
Dec 6 2009
Three Favorites, One Surprise, in Final Four at World Cup
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN
Though upsets continued at the World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia,
three of the four semifinalists ‘ Boris Gelfand of Israel, Ruslan
Ponomariov of Ukraine and Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine ‘ have enough of
a pedigree to not count as surprises. But probably no one could have
predicted the fourth, Vladimir Malakhov of Russia, who was the No. 22
seed before the tournament began. He beat Peter Svidler of Russia, the
No. 3 seed, in the quarterfinals.
Gelfand is the No. 1 seed, so clearly his presence in the semifinals
is not unexpected. He is, however, the oldest remaining player (he is
41) and was one of the oldest players at the beginning of the rigorous
event, so he has performed well, particularly in light of how many
other top contenders fell by the wayside early on. In the
quarterfinals, he outlasted Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia, No. 9, beating
him in the second and third tie-breaker games after the two games of
regulation ended in draws.
Ponomariov, No. 7, has a great deal of experience in the format used
by the World Cup. He won the World Chess Federation championship in
2002, which was also a knockout event, and he was runner-up to Levon
Aronian of Armenia in the 2005 World Cup. Like Gelfand, he won his
quarterfinal match against Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, No. 2, in the
tie-breaker games, winning the first and second and then drawing the
third. Ponomariov was a bit fortunate as he unsoundly sacrificed a
piece in the first tie-break game, but Gashimov misplayed the
position, allowing Ponomariov to advance a pawn far down the board,
which ultimately decided the game.
Karjakin, No. 12, is, at 19, the youngest semifinalist. He holds the
record as the youngest grandmaster in history (12 years 7 months) and
he was a semifinalist in the 2007 World Cup, so he has been here
before. Oddly, while his compatriot, Ponomariov, was beating Gashimov,
one of the two remaining players from Azerbaijan, Karjakin was beating
the other, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, No. 13. Unlike Gelfand and
Ponomariov, Karjakin took care of his opponent in the regulation part
of the match by winning the first game. Mamedyarov lost by blundering
in a rook-and-pawn endgame in which he could have probably held a
draw, but instead walked into a mating net.
Malakhov also won in regulation after Svidler, who was playing White,
launched a wild attack in Game 1. Svidler went all out for checkmate,
but overlooked something rather simple that allowed Malakhov to turn
the tables and ensnare Svidler’s king in a mating net. In Game 2,
Malakhov had White and easily held a draw to send Svidler home.
Though Malakhov is among the world’s super grandmasters (those rated
over 2,700), he is not all that well known, so much so that a search
for him on Google first turns up the ballet dancer and the ice hockey
player. Of course, few chess players share a name with people famous
in other disciplines, but Malakhov is ranked No. 24 in the world,
according to an unofficial, but reliable ranking list. Malakhov might
have to win the World Cup to get a higher profile than the hockey
player; the ballet dancer is probably out of reach.
The semifinals begin Sunday.
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