Cap d'Agde: The qualification fight hots up!

The top seeds looks close to booking their place in the quarter-finals, but the situation is still far from clear for many in the quest for qualification. The final games in the pools are tomorrow in the 2010 Trophée CCAS in Cap d'Agde.

The four highest rated players are all well set for the quarter finals. In pool A the situation is already becoming clear, but in pool B everything is to play for with four players seeking the final two slots.

Here are the details of the fourth and fifth rounds:

Pool A:

Round 4:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Nadezhda Kosintseva	RUS	2565	0-1	Anatoly Karpov	RUS	2619
Judit Polgar	HUN	2682	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2733
Sophie Milliet	FRA	2388	0-1	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2695
Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2633	0.5-0.5	Romain Edouard	FRA	2636

Round 5:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Anatoly Karpov	RUS	2619	0-1	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2633
Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2695	1-0	Nadezhda Kosintseva	RUS	2565
Romain Edouard	FRA	2636	0-1	Judit Polgar	HUN	2682
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2733	1-0	Sophie Milliet	FRA	2388

Anatoly Karpov has played too slowly (chessanytime)

Nakamura: Fast and furious for his 5/5 (chessanytime)

So the standings in Pool A after five rounds are as follows, the top four qualify for the quarter-finals:

Rank	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2733	5
2	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2695	4.5
3=	Judit Polgar	HUN	2682	3
3=	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2633	3
5	Nadezhda Kosintseva	RUS	2565	2
6	Romain Edouard	FRA	2636	1.5
7	Anatoly Karpov	RUS	2619	1
8	Sophie Milliet	FRA	2388	0

Nakamura and Bu Xiangzhi are home and dry, with Polgar and Nguyen looking good for the final two spots. Nedezhda Kosintseva has an outside chance but probably requires 2/2 against Nakamura and Nguyen, which looks like a long shot.

Kateryna Lahno: Unpredictable (chessanytime)

Tatiana Kosintseva: Lacklustre (chessanytime)

In Pool B the results from the third day's play went as follows:

Round 4:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2592	0.5-0.5	Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	2573
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2754	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer	NOR	2633
Zhu Chen	QAT	2480	0-1	Kateryna Lahno	UKR	2539
Tigran Gharamian	FRA	2658	0-1	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2694

Round 5:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	2573	0-1	Tigran Gharamian	FRA	2658
Kateryna Lahno	UKR	2539	0-1	Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2592
Jon Ludvig Hammer	NOR	2633	1-0	Zhu Chen	QAT	2480
Le Quang Liem	VIE	2694	0.5-0.5	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2754

So the standings are as follows after five rounds:

Rank	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1=	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2754	4
1=	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2694	4
3	Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2592	3
4=	Tigran Gharamian	FRA	2658	2.5
4=	Jon Ludvig Hammer	NOR	2633	2.5
4=	Kateryna Lahno	UKR	2539	2.5
7	Zhu Chen	QAT	2480	1
8	Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	2573	0.5

Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem look safe for qualification but the next four will have to fight it out for two places.

As a reminder, the earlier results (from the 23rd and 24th of October) were as follows:

Pool A:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Judit Polgar	HUN	2682	1-0	Nadezhda Kosintseva	RUS	2565
Sophie Milliet	FRA	2388	0-1	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2633
Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2695	1-0	Anatoly Karpov	RUS	2619
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2733	1-0	Romain Edouard	FRA	2636

Round 2:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Nadezhda Kosintseva	RUS	2565	1-0	Romain Edouard	FRA	2636
Judit Polgar	HUN	2682	1-0	Sophie Milliet	FRA	2388
Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2633	0.5-0.5	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2695
Anatoly Karpov	RUS	2619	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2733

Round 3:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Sophie Milliet	FRA	2388	0-1	Nadezhda Kosintseva	RUS	2565
Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2695	1-0	Judit Polgar	HUN	2682
Romain Edouard	FRA	2636	1-0	Anatoly Karpov	RUS	2619
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2733	1-0	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2633

Pool B:

Round 1:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2754	1-0	Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2592
Zhu Chen	QAT	2480	0.5-0.5	Tigran Gharamian	FRA	2658
Kateryna Lahno	UKR	2539	1-0	Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	2573
Jon Ludvig Hammer	NOR	2633	0-1	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2694

Round 2:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2592	0.5-0.5	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2694
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2754	0.5-0.5	Zhu Chen	QAT	2480
Tigran Gharamian	FRA	2658	0.5-0.5	Kateryna Lahno	UKR	2539
Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	2573	0-1	Jon Ludvig Hammer	NOR	2633

Round 3:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating
Zhu Chen	QAT	2480	0-1	Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2592
Kateryna Lahno	UKR	2539	0-1	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2754
Jon Ludvig Hammer	NOR	2633	0.5-0.5	Tigran Gharamian	FRA	2658
Le Quang Liem	VIE	2694	1-0	Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	2573

Sophie Milliet: A baptism of fire

Judit Polgar: Patchy play, but still on the road to qualification (chessanytime)

Live games can be watched everyday from 13.00 local time Live Games

You can choose between English and French. The English-language commentators being Glenn Flear (that is, yours truly!) and Javier Moreno.

Moscow 15.00am

Paris, Madrid 13.00am

London 12.00 midday

New York 07.00am

Los Angeles 04.00am

For more information go to the Official site