Gashimov out; Smerdon wrong again!

As Bronsen mentioned, Gashimovwas last night knocked out of the World Cup, losing a pretty appalling tiebreak to Ponomariov. At one stage, he was a clear piece up! The other Azeri, Mamedyarov, also lost to a Ukranian, Karjakin, who is joined by Gelfand and Malakhov in the semi-finals.

Vladmir Malakhov is one of the surprise stories of the tournament, and not just because he was the only sub-2700 in the quarter finals. More importantly, he is one of the very few non-professionals in the Cup! A physicist by trade, he has really known amazing poise and coolness so far, taking out a few big names along the way. While it’s hard to imagine him going all the way to the title, he’s definitely been entertaining thus far.

Then again, given my current record with predictions, maybe this means Malakhov does have a shot! It’s honestly hard to split them at this stage. Karjakin and Ponomariov were both so unimpressive in the tiebreaks that I just can’t bring myself to favour them for the finals. Gelfand has been as impressive as a representative top seed could be, but his play is so incredibly boring in the Cup. Maybe that’s the secret to success, but it’s not what we want to see! Still, of the three 2700s, he’s looked the most promising.

But wouldn’t it be great if an amateur got up? I’m cheering for the physicist!