2009 World Cup: Round #3
Pivotal Round today in Siberia. Boris Gelfand will try to hold onto the board #1 position against Judit Polgar in what may be the marquee matchup of round #3. A deep field means that Polgar is the #32 ranked player at 2695 ELO. Wesley So is playing above his grade and will have a tough matchup in Gata Kamsky, the lone American survivor.
The overachieving Chinese will try to make it to the “Sweet Sixteen” and then advance to the quarterfinals. Li Chao and Yu Yangyi have shined in their respective debuts. Both Azerbaijan and France still have half of their of entrants in the mix (2/4). Both nations have reasonable chances of making it to the finals… Vugar Gashimov and Shahkiyar Mamedyarov for Azerbaijan and Etienne Bacrot and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from France.
Results: https://cup2009.fide.com/results.php
Games (PGN): (all)
go wesley!!! fight for champion
This vachier-lagrave (what a mouthfull!) plays some pretty good chess. Wesley So is so 2700…who is he playing in the quarters?
Malakhov is a very strong player. He is as underated as Wesley. This will be a challenge for Mr. So. I will consider beating Malakhov a bigger upset than beating Ivanchuk or Kamsky!
By the way Kamsky was pretty forthright and honest about his defeat and also Wesley So’s strength of play in his inteview. Not like Ivanchuk…though Ivanchuk is certainly the more emotional man and perhaps his outburst was understandable.