Match 1:
Judit Polgar sacrificed a pawn for some pressure in an opposite bishop middlegame. She had a repetition if she wanted, but decided to play for more. However it soon became apparent that she was getting less.
Svidler made no mistakes in finishing her off.
| Seed | Name | Country | Rating | World ranking: Present/Best ever | C1 | C2 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | B1 | B2 | AB | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09 | Peter Svidler | RUS | 2739 | 16/4 | ½w | 1b | 1.5 | |||||||
| 33 | Judit Polgar | HUN | 2699 | 48/8 | ½b | 0w | 0.5 |
Match 2:
Teimour Radjabov's revenge came in an unusual manner. The Azerbaijani sacrificed a piece for two pawns in the opening, hoping that the passed h-pawn would cause some damage. Ivanchuk was unable to find an effective answer and indeed the h-pawn went the whole way!
| Seed | Name | Country | Rating | World ranking: Present/Best | C1 | C2 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | B1 | B2 | AB | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | Vassily Ivanchuk | UKR | 2766 | 7/2 | 1w | 0b | 1 | |||||||
| 07 | Teimour Radjabov | AZE | 2744 | 13/5 | 0b | 1w | 1 |
Tie-break 3:
David Navara played positionally and pressed with 'good knight' versus 'not so great bishop', with a pair of rooks apiece. He made decent progress and even won a pawn, but Grischuk found a way to wriggle out, but Navara will probably have a few regrets that he couldn't squeeze out a win.
| Seed | Name | Country | Rating | World Ranking: Present/Best | C1 | C2 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | B1 | B2 | AB | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06 | Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2746 | 9/6 | ½w | ½b | 1 | |||||||
| 14 | David Navara | CZE | 2722 | 42/14 | ½b | ½w | 1 |
Tie-break 4:
From a Berlin Defence, simplification left Ponomariov with the superior minor piece, and he ground away. It took him over 100 moves, but in this case the knight beat the bishop!
| Seed | Name | Country | Rating | World Ranking: Present/Best ever | C1 | C2 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | B1 | B2 | AB | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 | Ruslan Ponomariov | CUB | 2764 | 8/6 | ½w | 1b | 1.5 | |||||||
| 05 | Vugar Gashimov | AZE | 2760 | 11/6 | ½b | 0w | 0.5 |
There will be two matches in the tie-breaks tomorrow. However, Gashimov's first loss as White means he won't be there. Peter Svidler is now the only unbeaten player remaining in the competition.
For more information go to the official site: http://chess.ugrasport.com/
Live games: http://chess.ugrasport.com/?cat=12
If you want to follow the live games then note the following:
The local starting time is 3pm and 3pm Khanty Mansiysk = 11am Paris = 10am London = 5am New York = 2am Los Angeles.
All the photos today are from the official site.
The total prize fund is of $1.600.000 (about 1.100.000€):
First round losers win $6.000 (about 4.100€);
Second round losers win $10.000 (or roughly 6.900€);
Third round losers $16.000 (or 11.000€);
Fourth round $25.000 (or 17.000€);
Fifth round (Quarter-finals) $35.000 (or 24.000€);
Sixth round (Semi-final) $50.000 (or 34.500€);
Losing finalist $80.000 (or 55.000€);
The winner receives $120.000 (or 82.500€).
