Word Cup 2009 Round 4 Game 1 results

Here are the results I have for game one of Round 4 of the World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, we are down to 16 players in this Match Style Tournament. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan showed that the Czech Viktor Laznicka does have chinks in his armor.  Perhaps he is getting tired or just that GM Mamedyarov simply outplayed him.  I will post this game at the end of the post.  Also winning was GM Peter Svidler over GM Alexei Shirov, the other games were all drawn, the So and Caruana fans will have to wait until tomorrow for possible advancement of the youngsters (at least to me) :) 

 The losses with the white pieces surely put the pressure on GM Laznicka and GM Shirov as now only a draw is needed by their opponents to win and advance to Round 5, attacking with black can be risky and both players do need to be bold to grind out wins with their chance on the black side of the board. I can't blame the other players for drawing, both young guns So and Caruana did try to win their games, So's game getting down to K+R vs K+R drawn endgame and Caruana's with a perpetual check.

Round 4 Game 1 Results: Today's GAME winners are in bold, they haven't advanced.

17. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2718 (FRA) 1/2-1/2 1. Boris Gelfand 2758 (ISR)   
8. Alexander Grischuk 2736 (RUS) 1/2-1/2 9. Dmitry Jakovenko 2736 (RUS)
61. Viktor Laznicka 2637 (CZE) 0-1 13. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2719 (AZE)
12 Sergey Karjakin 2723 (UKR) 1/2-1/2 28. Nikita Vitiugov 2694 (RUS)
2. Vugar Gashimov 2758 (AZE) 1/2-1/2 50. Fabiano Caruana 2652 (ITA)
23. Etienne Bacrot 2700 (FRA) 1/2-1/2 7. Ruslan Ponomariov 2739 (UKR)
14. Alexei Shirov 2719 (ESP) 0-1 3. Peter Svidler 2754 (RUS)
59. Wesley So 2640 (PHI) 1/2-1/2 22. Vladimir Malakhov 2706 (RUS)

GM Viktor Laznicka vs GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov




GM Alexei Shirov vs GM Peter Svidler