The 2011 FIDE World Chess Cup has been insane as always, with every player pushing harder for the win with every round. The Knockout format has become a trademark of this event, and deservedly so as this encourages highly entertaining chess only at the cost of the participants’ nervous systems.
Ruslan Ponomariov is a fierce attacking player who has been a member of the 2700 club for quite some time now. His opponent, Lazaro Bruzon, was having an exceptional tournament, having defeated Francisco Vallejo Pons in round 2 and Quang Liem Le in round 3. His match with Ponomariov really went the distance, as this video is covering the last of their 8 games (this is game 6 of the tiebreakers after 2 regulation games).
Bruzon played very exciting chess this year and was rewarded with victory in his other matches, however he did not see the trap that Ponomariov set with 13. Qxd4!? (instead of the calmer 13. Nb5) and bravely attempted to pick off the loose knight on e5 with 14. …g5?! However, the Ponomariov’s piece sacrifice proved sound enough for a blitz game and Bruzon was unable to find his way through the complications with very little time left. Ponomariov has moved on to round 6 where he is facing Vugar Gashimov – definitely going to be a hard-fought match.
Original article on FIDE Chess World Cup – Round 6 Tiebreaker – FIDE Chess World Cup – BLITZ! available on William’s site. Also check the FIDE World Chess Cup tag for William’s latest updates.
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Thanks for the analysis.