Grandmasters Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Peter Svidler were knocked out of the World Chess Cup after being held to draws in their respective second quarterfinal games here.
Mamedyarov’s impeccable record in the event did not come handy when he was ousted following a draw against Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine.
In an all-Russian duel, Svidler could not conjure up enough play to fight for survival against Vladimir Malakhov and was also shown the exit door by the latter after the peace was signed.
Both Svidler and Mamedyarov had lost the first game of the quarterfinals and the opponents needed just half a point to proceed to the next round of this knockout event.
Top seed Grandmaster Boris Gelfand of Israel played out his second draw on the trot with Russian Dmitry Jakovenko and the two will now fight for supremacy in the tie—break games.
It was a similar story in the other match of the quarters wherein Ruslan Ponomariov Of Ukraine drew with Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan.
Mamedyarov, who had come to the quarters with six wins and two draws and without a single tiebreaker thus far, tried very hard but Karjakin was rock solid.
