Internet Chess Club

After almost a month of intense and unrelenting action, the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansisyk in Siberia ended on Monday with the six-time Russian champion and special Chess.FM guest commentator, Peter Svidler, completing one of the best periods of his chess career to lift the title.

Svidler took the $120,000 first prize after beating his fellow countryman, Alexander Grischuk, 2.5-1.5, in the best-of-four game final. It proved to be a crushing psychological win for Svidler, who played to his opponent’s weakness of bad time-management, as he cleverly steered all the games into openings and lines that constantly had Grischuk thinking from the very early stages.

Despite Russia’s enormous strength and depth in the game, Svidler has now become the first Russian to win the World Cup title. He played brilliantly throughout to emerge as a very popular winner - and his back to back major title wins of the Russian Championship followed by the World Cup now see’s Svidler storming back once again into the world’s top ten.

Both Svidler and Grischuk also earned qualification for the 2012 World Championship Candidates tournament. And in the all-Ukrainian battle for the third Candidates spot, Vassily Ivanchuk emerged the victor, 2.5-1.5, after beating Ruslan Ponomariov.

Game of the Day

Rd	Date	Host	Preview	Members
7.4	09/19	GM Alex Yermolinsky "Sweere"
7.3	09/18	GM Alex Yermolinsky "Sweere"
7.2	09/17	GM Alex Yermolinsky "Sweere"
7.1	09/16	GM Alex Yermolinsky "Sweere"
6.2	09/13	GM Alex Yermolinsky "Sweere"
6.1	09/12	GM Alex Yermolinsky "Sweere"