Youth was vanquished a second time at the FIDE World Cup taking place at Khanty Mansiysk in Siberia as Alexey Shirov eliminated the former chess prodigy Sergei Karjakin 1.5-0.5 to qualify for the final where he will play Gata Kamsky. Kamsky eliminated the 17 year Magnus Carlsen in the other semi final. At stake will be the winner’s prize of $120,000 and the right to play a world chess title eliminator against Veselin Topalov. The first game between Shirov and Karjakin, given in part below, was an epic encounter with many twists and turns. After catching Shirov in a prepared line Karjakin appeared to have a huge attack but was rocked by some typically brilliant sacrificial play from Shirov that brought the white king into the open. Karjakin defended desperately and after a huge time scramble the chess players reached ...

More...