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Chess World Cup 2007

The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2009. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

In an event attended by most leading players of the world, American Gata Kamsky emerged as the winner. He was unbeaten in the tournament, going into tie-break only once and defeating Spaniard Alexei Shirov, 2½-1½, in the four-game final. Two 17-year-old players, Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen, reached the semifinals.

By winning, Kamsky qualified for the Challenger Match, the final stage in determining the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2010; his participation in that match allowed him direct entry into the Candidates Matches for the World Chess Championship 2012.

The final four also received direct entry into the FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009, a qualifying stage for the World Chess Championship 2012.

Background

The 2007 World Cup was part of the cycle for the World Chess Championship 2009. Gata Kamsky, as the winner of this tournament, played an eight game match against Veselin Topalov in 2008, for the right to be the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2010. Ultimately Topalov won the match and will face World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who successfully defended his title against former champion Vladimir Kramnik at the World Chess Championship 2008.

Prominent non-participants

Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov were ineligible to participate, due to special privileges they already had in the 2008-2009 World Championship cycle.

All other leading players, including world champion Viswanathan Anand, were eligible to participate. However Anand, who was already seeded into the 2008-2009 cycle, elected not to play.

Three other players who had recently competed in the World Chess Championship 2007 in Mexico - Péter Lékó, Aleksandr Morozevich and Boris Gelfand - elected not to play. Lékó and Morozevich refused to take part as a form of protest against the special privileges given for the inclusion of Kramnik and Topalov in the World Chess Championship Cycle.

The only other player from the Top 30 who did not participate was Judit Polgár.

Qualification

The final list of 128 qualifiers for the World Cup was as follows:

The individual Zones (for Zonals) are described in the FIDE handbook.

Participants

All players are Grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.

1 Izoria did not appear at the Cup due to visa problems. Gonzalez Zamora did not appear at the Cup due to illness.

Playing conditions

The tournament is in the style of the FIDE World Chess Championships 1998-2004: each round consists of a two game match (except for the final round, which will be a four game match), followed by tie breaks at faster time controls if required.

The time control for regular games is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added after each move. Tie breaks consist of two rapid chess games (25 minutes each + 10 seconds per move); followed by two blitz games if required (5 minutes + 10 seconds per move); followed by a single Armageddon chess game if required (white has 6 minutes and must win, black has 5 minutes and only needs to draw).

The prize money ranged from US$6,000 for players eliminated in the first round to $80,000 for the losing finalist and $120,000 for the winner.

Results, rounds 1-4

Summary

Round 1

Most of the top seeds progressed. From the top 32, the only higher seeded players eliminated were Pavel Eljanov (19th seed), Konstantin Landa (25) and Pendyala Harikrishna (32).

Round 2

Players in the top 32 eliminated in regular games were Teimour Radjabov (seeded 3), Loek van Wely (24). Top 32 players eliminated in tie breaks were Rustam Kasimdzhanov (22), Andrei Volokitin (26) and Vadim Zvjaginsev (30). This left 24 of the top 32 seeds in the final 32.

High seeds needing tie breaks to progress included Vassily Ivanchuk (1), Magnus Carlsen (10), Ruslan Ponomariov (14) and Wang Yue (15).

Round 3

After the two regular games, 10 of the 16 matches had decisive results. Players going through on the regular games are: Alexei Shirov (seeded 5), Michael Adams (7), Evgeny Alekseev (8), Magnus Carlsen (10), Gata Kamsky (11), Vladimir Akopian (12), Dmitry Jakovenko (13), Ruslan Ponomariov (14), Wang Yue (15) and Ivan Cheparinov (31). Cheparinov eliminated the number 2 seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

The other six matches were decided in the tie breaks. Winners were Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (33) (eliminating top seed Vassily Ivanchuk), Krishnan Sasikiran (35), Evgeny Bareev (41), Levon Aronian (4), Peter Svidler (6), Sergey Karjakin (17).

Round 4

In the regular time control games, Shirov, Ponomariov, Carlsen, Karjakin and Cheparinov won their respective matches against Akopian, Sasikiran, Adams, Nisipeanu and Wang Yue. The other three matches (Jakovenko-Aronian, Svidler-Kamsky and Bareev-Alekseev) proceed to tie breaks, with wins to Jakovenko, Kamsky and Alekseev.

Section 1

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
1 Vassily Ivanchuk 2
128 Pedro Aderito 0
1 Vassily Ivanchuk
65 Aleksandr Galkin
64 Mateusz Bartel 1
65 Aleksandr Galkin 3
1 Vassily Ivanchuk
33 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
32 Pendyala Harikrishna
97 Zhao Jun
97 Zhao Jun
33 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
33 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
96 Bassem Amin ½
33 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu ½
17 Sergey Karjakin
16 Étienne Bacrot
113 Darwin Laylo ½
16 Étienne Bacrot
49 Michael Roiz ½
49 Michael Roiz 4
80 Varuzhan Akobian 3
16 Étienne Bacrot 1
17 Sergey Karjakin 3
17 Sergey Karjakin 2
112 Everaldo Matsuura 0
17 Sergey Karjakin
48 Zhang Pengxiang ½
48 Zhang Pengxiang
81 Merab Gagunashvili

Section 2

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
8 Evgeny Alekseev
121 Anuar Ismagambetov
8 Evgeny Alekseev
57 Konstantin Sakaev ½
57 Konstantin Sakaev 4
72 Nikita Vitiugov 3
8 Evgeny Alekseev
40 Laurent Fressinet ½
25 Konstantin Landa ½
104 Vladislav Nevednichy
104 Vladislav Nevednichy ½
40 Laurent Fressinet
40 Laurent Fressinet 2
89 Diego Flores 0
8 Evgeny Alekseev 3
41 Evgeny Bareev 1
9 Alexander Grischuk
120 Darcy Lima ½
9 Alexander Grischuk
56 Evgeniy Najer ½
56 Evgeniy Najer
73 Emanuel Berg ½
9 Alexander Grischuk
41 Evgeny Bareev
24 Loek van Wely
105 Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son
24 Loek van Wely ½
41 Evgeny Bareev
41 Evgeny Bareev 2
88 Julio Becerra Rivero 0

Section 3

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
4 Levon Aronian 2
125 Juan Pablo Hobaica 0
4 Levon Aronian
68 Jan Gustafsson ½
61 Maxim Rodshtein ½
68 Jan Gustafsson
4 Levon Aronian 3
29 Ernesto Inarkiev 1
29 Ernesto Inarkiev
100 Fernando Peralta ½
29 Ernesto Inarkiev
36 Francisco Vallejo Pons ½
36 Francisco Vallejo Pons
93 Sergey Kudrin ½
4 Levon Aronian
13 Dmitry Jakovenko
13 Dmitry Jakovenko 2
116 Ziaur Rahman 0
13 Dmitry Jakovenko
77 Vladimir Belov ½
52 Alexander Khalifman
77 Vladimir Belov
13 Dmitry Jakovenko
20 Zoltán Almási ½
20 Zoltán Almási
109 Wen Yang ½
20 Zoltán Almási 2
45 Bartosz Soćko 0
45 Bartosz Soćko 2
84 Vladimir Georgiev 0

Section 4

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
5 Alexei Shirov 2
124 Robert Gwaze 0
5 Alexei Shirov
60 Yuri Shulman ½
60 Yuri Shulman 3
69 Rafael Leitao 1
5 Alexei Shirov
28 Alexander Onischuk ½
28 Alexander Onischuk
101 Zaven Andriasian
28 Alexander Onischuk
37 Predrag Nikolić ½
37 Predrag Nikolić 2
92 Artem Iljin 0
5 Alexei Shirov
12 Vladimir Akopian ½
12 Vladimir Akopian
117 Anton Filippov
12 Vladimir Akopian
76 Ehsan Ghaem Maghami ½
53 Zviad Izoria
76 Ehsan Ghaem Maghami w/o
12 Vladimir Akopian
21 Vladimir Malakhov ½
21 Vladimir Malakhov 2
108 Xu Yuhua 0
21 Vladimir Malakhov
44 Sergey Volkov
44 Sergey Volkov
85 Grzegorz Gajewski ½

Section 5

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2
127 Khaled Abdel Razik 0
2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
63 Zdenko Kozul ½
63 Zdenko Kozul
66 Lazaro Bruzon Batista
2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ½
31 Ivan Cheparinov
31 Ivan Cheparinov w/o
98 Juan Carlos González Zamora
31 Ivan Cheparinov
34 Vladislav Tkachiev
34 Vladislav Tkachiev
95 Csaba Balogh ½
31 Ivan Cheparinov
15 Wang Yue ½
15 Wang Yue
114 Aleksei Pridorozhni ½
15 Wang Yue
50 Sergei Tiviakov
50 Sergei Tiviakov
79 Surya Shekhar Ganguly ½
15 Wang Yue
18 Bu Xiangzhi ½
18 Bu Xiangzhi 2
111 Nikolai Kabanov 0
18 Bu Xiangzhi
47 Alexander Motylev
47 Alexander Motylev
82 Boris Savchenko ½

Section 6

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
7 Michael Adams
122 Igor Zugic ½
7 Michael Adams
58 Mikhail Gurevich ½
58 Mikhail Gurevich
71 Gregory S. Kaidanov
7 Michael Adams
90 Zhou Jianchao ½
26 Andrei Volokitin
103 Lê Quang Liêm ½
26 Andrei Volokitin 3
90 Zhou Jianchao 4
39 Emil Sutovsky ½
90 Zhou Jianchao
7 Michael Adams ½
10 Magnus Carlsen
10 Magnus Carlsen 2
119 Zhao Zong-Yuan 0
10 Magnus Carlsen 3
55 Arkadij Naiditsch 1
55 Arkadij Naiditsch
74 Julio E. Granda Zuniga ½
10 Magnus Carlsen
23 Leinier Domínguez ½
23 Leinier Domínguez 2
106 Alexei Iljushin 0
23 Leinier Domínguez
87 David Baramidze ½
42 Nigel D. Short
87 David Baramidze

Section 7

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
3 Teimour Radjabov 2
126 Vladimir Genba 0
3 Teimour Radjabov 0
67 Bartłomiej Macieja 2
62 Viktor Laznicka ½
67 Bartłomiej Macieja
67 Bartłomiej Macieja 2
35 Krishnan Sasikiran 4
30 Vadim Zvjaginsev
99 Abhijit Kunte
30 Vadim Zvjaginsev 2
35 Krishnan Sasikiran 4
35 Krishnan Sasikiran
94 Sergei Zhigalko
35 Krishnan Sasikiran ½
14 Ruslan Ponomariov
14 Ruslan Ponomariov
115 Essam El Gindy
14 Ruslan Ponomariov
51 Wang Hao
51 Wang Hao
78 Robert Markuš ½
14 Ruslan Ponomariov
46 Evgeny Tomashevsky ½
19 Pavel Eljanov ½
110 Enamul Hossain
110 Enamul Hossain ½
46 Evgeny Tomashevsky
46 Evgeny Tomashevsky
83 Rauf Mammadov

Section 8

First round Second round Third round Fourth round
                       
6 Peter Svidler 2
123 Eduardo Iturrizaga 0
6 Peter Svidler 2
70 Dusko Pavasovic 0
59 Alexander Shabalov ½
70 Dusko Pavasovic
6 Peter Svidler
27 Sergei Rublevsky
27 Sergei Rublevsky
102 Imre Hera, Jr. ½
27 Sergei Rublevsky
38 David Navara
38 David Navara
91 Alexander Ivanov ½
6 Peter Svidler
11 Gata Kamsky
11 Gata Kamsky
118 Ahmed Adly ½
11 Gata Kamsky
54 Boris Avrukh ½
54 Boris Avrukh 3
75 Gilberto Milos 1
11 Gata Kamsky
43 Kiril Georgiev ½
22 Rustam Kasimdzhanov 4
107 G.N. Gopal 2
22 Rustam Kasimdzhanov 3
43 Kiril Georgiev 4
43 Kiril Georgiev 2
86 Susanto Megaranto 0

Results, rounds 5-7

Quarterfinals Semifinals Final (best of 4)
                 
17 Sergey Karjakin
8 Evgeny Alekseev
17 Sergey Karjakin
5 Alexei Shirov
13 Dmitry Jakovenko 0
5 Alexei Shirov 2
5 Alexei Shirov 1½'
11 Gata Kamsky
31 Ivan Cheparinov ½
10 Magnus Carlsen
10 Magnus Carlsen ½
11 Gata Kamsky
14 Ruslan Ponomariov ½
11 Gata Kamsky

Chessbase reports: Round five Game one; Round five Game two; Round five tie breaks; Round six Game one.

Final stats

13 December - 16 December
Seed Name Rating 1 2 3 4 Total
5 Alexei Shirov (ESP) 2739 ½ 0 ½ ½
11 Gata Kamsky (USA) 2714 ½ 1 ½ ½
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