Shocks at the top!

Leinier Dominguez
The top two seeds both lost in a dramatic day. Judit Polgar outplayed favourite Sergey Karjakin, and Emil Sutovsky beat Vassily Ivanchuk with the black pieces. The US Champion, Gata Kamsky, continues his recent good form with a first leg victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi.

In the third round there are 10 Russians, 5 Ukrainians, 3 Azeris, and 2 Cubans, along with participants from 12 other countries. Four of these Russians lost, including of course Gata Kamsky's victim.

Judit Polgar's victory over Sergey Karjakin will certainly give her an excellent chance of getting to the next round, but she'll have to avoid losing with Black tomorrow first.

Sergey in trouble

Alexander Grischuk's victory over fellow Russian Alexander Morozevich will be a boost for Grischuk's confidence as he has struggled to win classical games against strong contenders in recent months. Another Russian who lost today was underdog Igor Lysyj with black against the Cuban Leinier Dominguez.

Dmitry Jakovenko is also coming back into form and beat fellow 2700 Baadur Jobava.

The biggest surprise was Emil Sutovsky's win with Black over Vassily Ivanchuk. Apparently the Israeli GM previously had an appalling personal score with 'Chuky'.

Most matches (10 from 16) however are still in the balance. As for example are both matches

between two non-Europeans. Le Quang Liem versus Bruzon, and Gupta versus Bu.

The trio of Azeri stars all draw with Black and can look forward to the advantage of the white pieces tomorrow.

Le Quang Liem
Lazaro Bruzon

Match

White Country Elo Result Black Country Elo
01 Judit Polgar HUN  2699 1-0 Sergey Karjakin RUS  2788
02 Leinier Dominguez Perez CUB 2719 1-0 Igor Lysyj RUS 2629
03 Gata Kamsky USA 2741 1-0 Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2711
04 Fabiano Caruana ITA 2711 ½-½ Peter Svidler RUS  2739
05 Zahar Efimenko UKR 2706 ½-½ Ruslan Ponomariov UKR 2764
06 Le Quang Liem VIE 2715 ½-½ Lazaro Bruzon Batista CUB 2673
07 Evgeny Tomashevsky RUS 2707 ½-½ Vugar Gashimov AZE 2760
08 Mircea Parligras ROU 2636 ½-½ Peter Heine Nielsen DEN  2681
09 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2766 0-1 Emil Sutovsky ISR 2700
10 Abhijeet Gupta IND 2627 ½-½  Bu Xiangzhi CHN 2672
11 Etienne Bacrot FRA 2710 ½-½ Teimour Radjabov AZE 2744
12 Dmitry Jakovenko RUS 2736 1-0 Baadur Jobava GEO 2713
13 Yaroslav Zherebukh UKR 2590 ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2746
14 David Navara CZE 2722 ½-½  Alexander Moiseenko UKR 2715
15 Alexander Grischuk RUS  2746 1-0 Alexander Morozevich RUS 2694
16 Vladimir Potkin RUS 2682 ½-½  Nikita Vitiugov RUS 2733

The ratings are those of July 2011, the ones used in this competition to determine the seedings. It is customary to use, throughout a competition, the ratings in force at the beginning of the event.

For the latest ones, dating from the 1st of September 2011, see our special feature on Elo ratings.

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 great Dane: Peter Heine Nielsen

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€).


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