Gelfand remains in command in World Cup

Khanty Mansiysk: Top seed Boris Gelfand of Israel advanced to the semifinals after scoring a

comfortable win over Russian Dmitry Jakovenko in the tiebreak rapid games of the World Chess Cup quarterfinals here. The Azerbaijani challenge in the event ended as former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine handed Vugar Gashimov a defeat. With Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine already in along with Russian Vladimir Malakhov, Gelfand and Ponomariov complete the line up for the semis. By his previous exploits, Ponomariov emerges as the favourite having won the world championship when it was in the similar format in the year 2001 in Moscow. The final then was an all Ukrainian affair after Vassily Ivanchuk beat India`s Viswanathan Anand in the semis. After drawing the first game as black, Gelfand juggled his moves in spectacular fashion and Jakovenko proved no match against the wisdom, experience and confidence of his opponent. Ponomariov took the upperhand straight up against second seed Gashimov who had nonchalantly walked up to the last-eight stage. Ponomariov got a chance to sacrifice a piece and did not hesitate in a double edged position that he converted nicely in the first rapid game. Needing just a draw in the remaining two rapid games, Ponomariov won the psychological battle in no time. PTI