Russian Champion Svidler could not break ice with his white pieces and signed peace with former World Champion Ponomariov of Ukraine while the other game between Russian Grischuk and Ivanchuk of Ukraine met the same fate.
The World Cup, that started with 128 players including three Indians, is now down to last four and in the first game none of the contestants were willing to take any risk. This being a two-game match, the tension is high especially in the semifinals as one of the four contestants will be out of the next World Championship cycle. Svidler was up against the Berlin defense of Ponomariov, who has been finding some great results in this opening as black.
In the quarterfinals too Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan had tried to dismantle it against Ponomariov and found himself on the receiving end. Not wanting to play long-drawn endgames typical of the opening, Svidler went for a closed set up and won the Bishop pair in the ensuing middle game.
The resulting position, however, was only optically better for the Russian as Ponomariov quickly neutralised white’s initiative with a timely central pawn thrust leading to further simplification. As the drawn result became imminent after the likely trade of queens, Svidler took the draw in just 20 moves.
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