JOIN USIt will be an all-Russian final after Peter Svidler’s earlier booked his place in the summit clash at the expense of former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine.
The final will resume after a day’s break.
Ivanchuk was left ruing the fact that he had a nearly drawn endgame on board in the first game of the tie-breaker. A draw might have been enough to take him to the final as he won the second game to extend the match further.
The all-Russian final means that both Grischuk and Svidler are now part of the next candidates tournament as part of the World Championship cycle. The other player will be the winner of the third place classification match between Ivanchuk and Ponomariov.
The day started with a victory for Grischuk after Ivanchuk erred from a complicated rook and pawns endgame. Ivanchuk missed the thread of the position towards the end of the game when he failed to find the right moves to stay in the endgame where he was a pawn less.
Grischuk seized the initiative and was on the verge of winning another pawn when Ivanchuk resigned. The second tie-break game, however, saw Ivanchuk at his best as he outplayed Grischuk in the middle game arising out of an English opening. The Ukrainian raised visions of a great fight-back with this victory.