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🏆 World Cup (2009)

  PARTICIPANTS (sorted by highest achieved rating; click on name to see player's games)
Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Grischuk, Teimour Radjabov, Alexander Morozevich, Sergey Karjakin, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, Peter Svidler, Ruslan Ponomariov, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Pavel Eljanov, Hao Wang, Gata Kamsky, Yangyi Yu, Vugar Gashimov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Chao Li, Yue Wang, Alexey Shirov, Sergei Movsesian, David Navara, Nikita Vitiugov, Etienne Bacrot, Le Quang Liem, Arkadij Naiditsch, Dmitry Andreikin, Judit Polgar, Baadur Jobava, Victor Bologan, Vladimir Malakhov, Ernesto Inarkiev, Xiangzhi Bu, Evgeny Alekseev, Alexander Areshchenko, Krishnan Sasikiran, Laurent Fressinet, Lazaro Bruzon Batista, Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Ivan Cheparinov, Sanan Sjugirov, Alexander Motylev, Rauf Mamedov, Zahar Efimenko, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Evgeny Najer, Sergei Rublevsky, Ivan Sokolov, Boris Grachev, Vadim Milov, Ray Robson, Viktor Laznicka, Emil Sutovsky, Gabriel Sargissian, Ilia Smirin, Alexander Khalifman, Alexander Onischuk, Bassem Amin, Sergei Tiviakov, Julio Granda Zuniga, Sergey Volkov, Yifan Hou, Artyom Timofeev, Mikhail Kobalia, Mateusz Bartel, Sergey A Fedorchuk, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, Varuzhan Akobian, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Vladislav Tkachiev, Konstantin Sakaev, Parimarjan Negi, Tigran L Petrosian, Georg Meier, Jianchao Zhou, Abhijeet Gupta, Gadir Guseinov, Pavel Tregubov, Constantin Lupulescu, Vladimir Baklan, Sandipan Chanda, Tomi Nyback, Boris Savchenko, Alexandr Fier, Anton Filippov, Rafael Leitao, Ioannis Papaioannou, Jan Gustafsson, Erwin L'Ami, Farrukh Amonatov, Yury Shulman, Weiqi Zhou, Alexander Shabalov, Gilberto Milos, Friso Nijboer, Ahmed Adly, Jaan Ehlvest plus 27 more players.

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
World Cup (2009)

The 2009 FIDE World Cup was a 127-player (Dusko Pavasovic withdrew) knockout tournament, held from 21 November to 14 December in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The winner would qualify for the Candidates tournament in 2011. The early rounds had two games each, plus tiebreak games if necessary. The final match was of four games, plus tiebreak games. Players received 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added per move from move 1. The tiebreaks were four 25 min + 10-sec increment Rapid games, then if necessary up to five pairs of 5+3 Blitz games, and an Armageddon game where White had 5 minutes to Black's 4 (with 3 seconds increment from move 61), but a draw counted as a win for Black. The total prize fund was $1,600,000, with the winner taking home $120,000 from the final, minus 20% tax to FIDE. Games started at 3 pm. Chief arbiter: Ashot Vardapetyan.

On his way to the final, Gelfand eliminated Andrei Anatolyevich Obodchuk in Round 1, Farrukh Amonatov in Round 2, Judit Polgar in Round 3, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Round 4, Dmitry Jakovenko in the quarterfinal and Sergey Karjakin in the semifinal. Ruslan Ponomariov eliminated Essam El Gindy in Round 1, Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian in Round 2, Alexander Motylev in Round 3, Etienne Bacrot in Round 4, Vugar Gashimov in the quarterfinal, and Vladimir Malakhov in the semifinal. The final match took place 10-14 December. After 1-1 in the Classical games, and 1-1 in the Rapid games, Boris Gelfand won the second pair of Blitz games and qualified for the World Championship Candidates (2011).

Elo Classic Rapid Blitz Gelfand 2758 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 10 11 7 Ponomariov 2739 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 01 00 5

Regulations: https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/...
Mark Weeks: https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/a8...
Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/gel...
Planet Catur: http://planetcatur.blogspot.com/200...
ChessBase: https://en.chessbase.com/post/world...
Ruchess: https://ruchess.ru/championship/det...
TWIC: https://theweekinchess.com/chessnew...
FIDE: https://ratings.fide.com/tournament...
Wikipedia article: Chess World Cup 2009

Previous: World Cup (2007). Next: World Cup (2011)

 page 1 of 20; games 1-25 of 490  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Gelfand vs A Obodchuk 1-0402009World CupA16 English
2. W Sarwat vs V Gashimov 0-1402009World CupB50 Sicilian
3. Svidler vs J Hebert 1-0662009World CupC05 French, Tarrasch
4. K Abdel Razik vs Morozevich 0-1222009World CupD90 Grunfeld
5. Radjabov vs M Ezat 1-0302009World CupB12 Caro-Kann Defense
6. A Bezgodov vs Ivanchuk 0-1402009World CupC11 French
7. Ponomariov vs E El Gindy  ½-½472009World CupE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
8. J Sriram vs Grischuk ½-½862009World CupD47 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
9. Jakovenko vs A Rizouk  1-0532009World CupD38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation
10. N Kabanov vs Y Wang 0-1662009World CupC42 Petrov Defense
11. Eljanov vs M Al Sayed 1-0322009World CupE97 King's Indian
12. Mamedyarov vs Kosteniuk 1-0642009World CupA06 Reti Opening
13. A Kunte vs Shirov ½-½152009World CupD21 Queen's Gambit Accepted
14. Dominguez Perez vs D Smerdon ½-½342009World CupB76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
15. Y Yu vs Movsesian 1-0492009World CupB48 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation
16. Vachier-Lagrave vs S Yu ½-½452009World CupC07 French, Tarrasch
17. Tomashevsky vs A Ivanov 1-0412009World CupA15 English
18. J Friedel vs H Wang 0-1312009World CupB13 Caro-Kann, Exchange
19. Navara vs D Laylo 1-0412009World CupB01 Scandinavian
20. B Amin vs V Malakhov  0-1442009World CupC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
21. I Morovic Fernandez vs Rublevsky 0-1392009World CupD20 Queen's Gambit Accepted
22. Jobava vs Robson 1-0402009World CupD31 Queen's Gambit Declined
23. R Hess vs Motylev  ½-½242009World CupB52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack
24. Kamsky vs R Antonio 1-0422009World CupB12 Caro-Kann Defense
25. A Gupta vs Vitiugov  ½-½232009World CupD17 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
 page 1 of 20; games 1-25 of 490  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 128 OF 128 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-14-09  ercliderc: <Eyal: <Overall, I don't think Gelfand gained so much rating points from this tournament>>

with Gelfand being the top seed and with unrated tiebreak games as means to advance in this format mathematically it was somewhat expected for him to win the tourney according to his rating, without gaining points.

Dec-14-09  Eyal: Oh, I'm sure Gelfand hasn't any reason to be disappointed about it... In the 2007 World Cup, btw, both finalists (Kamsky and Shirov) reached the final with only one tiebreak on the way - and the final itself was decided without one. Here, including the final, Gelfand played tiebreaks 4 times and Pono 5.
Dec-14-09  Eyal: Btw, according to chessvibes this probably earned Gelfand an invitation to Linares as well.
Dec-14-09  siamesedream: Gelfand: "The World Cup is the best souvenir!":

http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/interv...

Dec-14-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: <returnoftheking:> Is Gashimov your 'wild card' pick? I think the other places are all determined, based on current Grand Prix points, and other factors. The organizers allowed themselves one wild card choice, to complete the field, must be +2700. Is Radjabov already in on Grand Prix points? I thought he would be the wild card, if he does not qualify through GP.

Perhaps someone rated higher than Gashimov will be the wild card.

Dec-14-09  Eyal: It's going to be hosted by Azerbaijan, so the assumption is that since they have the right to pick the wild card, it would be an Azeri player. Radjabov hasn't qualified yet from the 2nd spot of the GP, but with one tournament to go he has the best chances (http://grandprix.fide.com/gp-standi... - note that the best 3 results out of 4 count).
Dec-14-09  bharatiy: and where and when is the one last tournament?
Dec-14-09  visayanbraindoctor: We often forgot the past, even the recent past. In 1991, Gelfand at the age of 23 reached the Candidates Matches, beating Nikolic and losing only to Short who was then at his prime.

In the FIDE Candidates Matches of 1994-1995, Gelfand mowed down Adams and Kramnik. It took a Karpov to stop him in the Candidates finals.

As for the World Cup being gruelingly exhausting, yes it is. However, have there been even more trying Qualifiers in the past? Zurich 1953 had 30 rounds of classical chess and lasted more than a month!

I wonder how the top players on the World Cup would do in a tournament like Zurich. All the faint-hearted ones would probably end at the bottom due to lack of motivation, and perhaps also the early all-out attackers who have not learned to conserve their energy for the later rounds.

Dec-14-09  ashalpha: Gelfand seems to bring his best to any chance to win the World Championship. He placed joint second in Mexico, and did very well in the past Candidates. I think it is more a matter of motivation for an extremely able and solid player. He just cannot seem to mitivate himself sometimes for ordinary tournaments but a chance at the World Championship and he is interested again.
Dec-14-09  redwhitechess: Congratulation, Boris G-Spotted it! World cup is a good exercise because only a good classical, rapid,and blitz player can win it.
Dec-14-09  PaperBridge: A splendid Chanukah for Gelfand!
Dec-15-09  pulsar: Congratulations to GM Boris Gelfand!
Dec-15-09  DUS: Yes, congratulations to GM Gelfand! This was a great victory, the final section was very interesting and against so strong opponent, Ruslan Ponomariov.

I read somewhere that Gelfand is of the same generation and not less talented than Anand and Ivanchuk, but he has been less lucky than the other two players. I am very glad now he had this great success.

Dec-15-09  Rolfo: Congrats to Gelfand. He kept himself warm from the Siberian cold by wearing a fantastic foxtail fur hat .. Could make a difference :)
Dec-15-09  virginmind: excellent gelfand...excellent job!
"i just like to play chess. therefore i work much" - isn't this the secret to any fullfillment in life? enjoying what you're doing, making a job of what you like, pushing hard to do best what you like. this is what brings us happiness. bravo gelfy.
Dec-15-09  dunkenchess: Congratulations to GM Gelfand! Great!
Dec-15-09  Matsumoto: Carlsen is world number 1!
Dec-15-09  acirce: <Zurich 1953 had 30 rounds of classical chess and lasted more than a month!>

With 30 rounds (and adjournments), I certainly hope it lasted more than a month.

Dec-15-09  whiteshark: <Zurich 1953> there is a wonderful page on this tournament, http://blunderprone.blogspot.com/se...
Dec-15-09  Hovik2009: Thanks a lot <whiteshark> for the link, It is really wonderful.
Dec-15-09  Rolfo: Gelfand's cooperation with new second Rodsthein seems to work out well
Dec-15-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  moronovich: >Rolfo> It was Rodsthein who bought him the hat . I quess :)
Dec-16-09  Chessforeva: 3D games: http://chessforeva.appspot.com/C0_p...
Dec-25-09  whiteshark: "I have always said that the knockout system is not an ideal scheme. And I hope the system which is going to replace it will be a stepping stone to a fairer scheme of identifying the champion."

-- Alexander Khalifman

on 'his' website http://www.gmchess.com/

Apr-23-10  rapidcitychess: Wait,wait,wait. Gelfand, not Topy, should be playing in the WC!!
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