Chess World Cup 2007


The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2010. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
In an event attended by most leading players of the world, American Gata Kamsky emerged as the winner. He was unbeaten in the tournament, going into tie-break only once and defeating Spaniard Alexei Shirov, 2½–1½, in the four-game final. Two 17-year-old players, Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen, reached the semifinals.
By winning, Kamsky qualified for the Challenger Match, the final stage in determining the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2010; his participation in that match allowed him direct entry into the Candidates Matches for the World Chess Championship 2012.
The final four also received direct entry into the FIDE Grand Prix 2008-10, a qualifying stage for the World Chess Championship 2012.
The winner of the Chess World Cup 2005, Levon Aronian, was defeated by Dmitry Jakovenko in the fourth round.

Background

The 2007 World Cup was part of the cycle for the World Chess Championship 2010. Gata Kamsky, as the winner of this tournament, played an eight-game match against Veselin Topalov in 2008, for the right to be the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2010. Ultimately Topalov won the match and will face World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who successfully defended his title against former champion Vladimir Kramnik at the World Chess Championship 2008.

Prominent non-participants

and Veselin Topalov were ineligible to participate, due to special privileges they already had in the 2008-2010 World Championship cycle.
All other leading players, including world champion Viswanathan Anand, were eligible to participate. However Anand, who was already seeded into the 2008-2010 cycle, elected not to play.
Three other players who had recently competed in the World Chess Championship 2007 in Mexico - Péter Lékó, Aleksandr Morozevich and Boris Gelfand - elected not to play. Lékó and Morozevich refused to take part as a form of protest against the special privileges given for the inclusion of Kramnik and Topalov in the World Chess Championship Cycle.
The only other player from the Top 30 who did not participate was Judit Polgár.

Qualification

The final list of 128 qualifiers for the World Cup was as follows:
The individual Zones are described in the FIDE handbook.

Participants

All players are Grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.
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  8. , 2716
  9. , 2715
  10. , 2714
  11. , 2714
  12. , 2713
  13. , 2710
  14. , 2705
  15. , 2703
  16. , 2695
  17. , 2694
  18. , 2692
  19. , 2691
  20. , 2691
  21. , 2690
  22. , 2690
  23. , 2683
  24. , 2679
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  27. , 2676
  28. , 2674
  29. , 2674
  30. , 2674
  31. , 2670
  32. , 2668
  33. , 2668
  34. , 2661
  35. , 2661
  36. , 2660
  37. , 2657
  38. , 2656
  39. , 2655
  40. , 2654
  41. , 2653
  42. , 2649
  43. , 2649
  44. , 2648
  45. , 2646
  46. , 2646
  47. , 2645
  48. , 2644
  49. , 2643
  50. , 2643
  51. , 2643
  52. , 2643
  53. , 2643
  54. , 2641
  55. , 2639
  56. , 2635
  57. , 2634
  58. , 2627
  59. , 2626
  60. , 2616
  61. , 2615
  62. , 2610
  63. , 2609
  64. , 2608
  65. , 2608
  66. , 2607
  67. , 2606
  68. , 2606
  69. , 2601
  70. , 2597
  71. , 2597
  72. , 2594
  73. , 2593
  74. , 2592
  75. , 2592
  76. , 2591
  77. , 2587
  78. , 2586
  79. , 2585
  80. , 2584
  81. , 2584
  82. , 2583
  83. , 2582
  84. , 2576
  85. , 2573
  86. , 2569
  87. , 2569
  88. , 2568
  89. , 2566, IM
  90. , 2565
  91. , 2565
  92. , 2565
  93. , 2563
  94. , 2562
  95. , 2561
  96. , 2561
  97. , 2552
  98. , 2552
  99. , 2547
  100. , 2546
  101. , 2546
  102. , 2544
  103. , 2534
  104. , 2531
  105. , 2530
  106. , 2528
  107. , 2520, IM
  108. , 2517
  109. , 2515, IM
  110. , 2514, IM
  111. , 2512, IM
  112. , 2511, IM
  113. , 2508, IM
  114. , 2506, IM
  115. , 2503, IM
  116. , 2497
  117. , 2496, IM
  118. , 2494
  119. , 2491, IM
  120. , 2484
  121. , 2480, IM
  122. , 2477, IM
  123. , 2435, IM
  124. , 2429, IM
  125. , 2427, IM
  126. , 2413, IM
  127. , 2389, FM
  128. , 2352, IM
1 Izoria did not appear at the Cup due to visa problems. Gonzalez Zamora did not appear at the Cup due to illness.

Playing conditions

The tournament is in the style of the FIDE World Chess Championships 1998-2004: each round consists of a two-game match, followed by tie breaks at faster time controls if required.
The time control for regular games is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added after each move. Tie breaks consist of two rapid chess games ; followed by two blitz games if required ; followed by a single Armageddon chess game if required.
The prize money ranged from US$6,000 for players eliminated in the first round to $80,000 for the losing finalist and $120,000 for the winner.

Results, rounds 1–4

Summary

Round 1

Most of the top seeds progressed. From the top 32, the only higher seeded players eliminated were Pavel Eljanov, Konstantin Landa and Pendyala Harikrishna.

Round 2

Players in the top 32 eliminated in regular games were Teimour Radjabov, Loek van Wely. Top 32 players eliminated in tie breaks were Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Andrei Volokitin and Vadim Zvjaginsev. This left 24 of the top 32 seeds in the final 32.
High seeds needing tie breaks to progress included Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Ruslan Ponomariov and Wang Yue.

Round 3

After the two regular games, 10 of the 16 matches had decisive results. Players going through on the regular games are: Alexei Shirov, Michael Adams, Evgeny Alekseev, Magnus Carlsen, Gata Kamsky, Vladimir Akopian, Dmitry Jakovenko, Ruslan Ponomariov, Wang Yue and Ivan Cheparinov. Cheparinov eliminated the number 2 seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
The other six matches were decided in the tie breaks. Winners were Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu , Krishnan Sasikiran, Evgeny Bareev, Levon Aronian, Peter Svidler, Sergey Karjakin.

Round 4

In the regular time control games, Shirov, Ponomariov, Carlsen, Karjakin and Cheparinov won their respective matches against Akopian, Sasikiran, Adams, Nisipeanu and Wang Yue. The other three matches proceed to tie breaks, with wins to Jakovenko, Kamsky and Alekseev.

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Results, rounds 5–7

reports: ;
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Final stats

;13 December – 16 December
SeedNameRating1234Total
52739½0½½1½
112714½1½½2½