Chess World Cup 2009

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The Chess World Cup 2009 was a big knockout chess tournament with 128 players. It took place from 20 November to 14 December 2009 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Boris Gelfand won the event, defeating Ruslan Ponomariov in the final. By winning, Gelfand earned a place in the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2012.

Format and rules:
- Most matches were two games long; the final had four games.
- If a match was tied, players faced tie-breaks the next day using rapid and, if needed, blitz games.
- Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest, with 30 seconds added per move from move one.

Participants and openings:
- The first-round pairings were announced on 2 November 2009 after the November ratings list.
- Several top players declined to participate, including Anand, Carlsen, Topalov, Aronian, Kramnik, Leko, Adams, Nakamura and Ni Hua.
- In Round 1, all top-30 seeds progressed except Sergei Movsesian, who was upset by Yu Yangyi. Judit Polgár advanced after her opponent withdrew due to injury.

Notable moments:
- A marathon tie-break occurred between Pavel Tregubov and Varuzhan Akobian after a series of long games.
- Round 2 saw many upsets among the higher seeds.
- The 16-year-old Wesley So caused a major upset by defeating former world champion Gata Kamsky in Round 3.
- So also won later tie-breaks and was one of the youngest players to reach the later stages. Other young stars like Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave were eliminated by more experienced players.
- Sergey Karjakin remained the last under-20 player left in the competition.

Final result:
- Boris Gelfand defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in the final to win the Chess World Cup 2009.