Peter Svidler leads Alexander Grisckuk 2-1 for the World Cup title. Svidler has White and the two Russians are friends: a quick draw is not out of the realm of possibility. Both players have already secured a slot as one of the eight candidates for the next world championship.
Vassily Ivanchuk leads Ruslan Ponomariov 2-1 in the match for third place. To me, the Ukranian matchup is more fascinating: Ivanchuk has not been a Candidate in the classical cycle for twenty (!!) years, and in 2002, he lost a match to the teenaged Ponomariov for the pre-unification "FIDE World Championship" title. The winner automatically qualifies for the 2013 Candidates, while the loser is very unlikely to earn an invitation. Ponomariov managed to apply some pressure in today's game, but never came close to converting a pawn-up endgame.
Catch up on previous rounds at The Week in Chess, and follow the pre-dawn action at the official site!
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