Khanty-Mansiysk: Ivanchuk, Carlsen, Ponomariov through

The round two tiebreaks consisted of twelve matches, with two rapid games, two blitz games, and finally an Armageddon shootout. Top seed Vassily Ivanchuk coasted through with a fine win against Alexander Galkin, Magnus Carlsen won both his rapid games against Arkadij Naiditsch, and Ruslan Ponomariov played a very dangerous game to take out China's Wang Hao. Illustrated report.

A total of 126 participants turned up on November 23 for the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, located about 1400 miles (2250 km) east of Moscow. The competition is taking place from November 24 to December 18. The winner of the World Cup receives the right to challenge the former world champion Veselin Topalov in a match.

Round two Tiebreaks (Thursday, November 29)

Through to round three: top seed Vassily Ivanchuk

Vassily Ivanchuk played a fine first round rapid chess game, winning in style (and then drawing the second) to knock Alexander Galkin out and proceed to round three of the FIDE World Cup.

Magnus Carlsen won both his tiebreak games in impressive style against German GM Arkadij Naiditsch.

Playing a very dangerous game: Ruslan Ponomariov

Chinese GM Wang Hao, knocked out by Ponomariov

The first game between Ruslan Ponomariov and Wang Hao was a wild Slav in which Ponomariov got a rook, bishop and two pawns for his queen. The former FIDE world champions walked a very narrow path between victory and disaster, but managed to secure the first option with some fine endgame blockading. The second game was a draw and Ponomariov was in round three, where he should really experiment with not losing the first game for a change.

India's Krishnan Sasikiran took out Russia's Vadim Zvjaginsev.

Round two Tiebreaks

World Chess Cup Round 2 – 27th-29th November 2007
1	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2787	½	½	1	½	-	-	-	2.5
	Galkin, Alexander	RUS	2608	½	½	0	½	-	-	-	1.5
2	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2752	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Kozul, Zdenko	CRO	2609	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
3	Macieja, Bartlomiej	POL	2606	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	2.0
	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2742	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.0
4	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2741	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Gustafsson, Jan	GER	2606	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
5	Shulman, Yuri	USA	2616	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2739	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
6	Svidler, Peter	RUS	2732	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	2.0
	Pavasovic, Dusko	SLO	2597	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.0
7	Gurevich, Mikhail	TUR	2627	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Adams, Michael	ENG	2729	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
8	Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	2716	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Sakaev, Konstantin	RUS	2634	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
9	Najer, Evgeniy	RUS	2635	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2715	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
10	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2714	½	½	1	1	-	-	-	3.0
	Naiditsch, Arkadij	GER	2639	½	½	0	0	-	-	-	1.0
11	Avrukh, Boris	ISR	2641	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Kamsky, Gata	USA	2714	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
12	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	2713	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan	IRI	2591	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
13	Belov, Vladimir	RUS	2587	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2710	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
14	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2705	0	1	1	½	-	-	-	2.5
	Wang, Hao	CHN	2643	1	0	0	½	-	-	-	1.5
15	Tiviakov, Sergei	NED	2643	½	½	½	0	-	-	-	1.5
	Wang, Yue	CHN	2703	½	½	½	1	-	-	-	2.5
16	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2695	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Roiz, Michael	ISR	2644	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
17	Zhang, Pengxiang	CHN	2644	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	2694	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
18	Bu, Xiangzhi	CHN	2692	½	½	½	½	½	1	-	3.5
	Motylev, Alexander	RUS	2645	½	½	½	½	½	0	-	2.5
19	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	RUS	2646	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Hossain Enamul	BAN	2514	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
20	Almasi, Zoltan	HUN	2691	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	2.0
	Socko, Bartosz	POL	2646	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.0
21	Volkov, Sergey	RUS	2648	½	½	0	½	-	-	-	1.5
	Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	2690	½	½	1	½	-	-	-	2.5
22	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	UZB	2690	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	3.0
	Georgiev, Kiril	BUL	2649	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	4.0
23	Baramidze, David	GER	2569	½	0	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Dominguez Perez, Lenier	CUB	2683	½	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
24	Van Wely, Loek	NED	2679	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Bareev, Evgeny	RUS	2653	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
25	Fressinet, Laurent	FRA	2654	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Nevednichy, Vladislav	ROU	2531	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
26	Volokitin, Andrei	UKR	2678	½	½	½	½	0	1	0	3.0
	Zhou, Jianchao	CHN	2566	½	½	½	½	1	0	1	4.0
27	Navara, David	CZE	2656	½	½	0	1	½	0	-	2.5
	Rublevsky, Sergei	RUS	2676	½	½	1	0	½	1	-	3.5
28	Onischuk, Alexander	USA	2674	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
	Nikolic, Predrag	BIH	2657	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
29	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	ESP	2660	0	½	-	-	-	-	-	0.5
	Inarkiev, Ernesto	RUS	2674	1	½	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
30	Zvjaginsev, Vadim	RUS	2674	½	½	½	½	0	0	-	2.0
	Sasikiran, Krishnan	IND	2661	½	½	½	½	1	1	-	4.0
31	Tkachiev, Vladislav	FRA	2661	½	½	½	½	0	½	-	2.5
	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2670	½	½	½	½	1	½	-	3.5
32	Zhao, Jun	CHN	2552	½	½	0	½	-	-	-	1.5
	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	ROU	2668	½	½	1	½	-	-	-	2.5