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Aronian Takes World Cup Title In Tiebreak

After two hard-fought draws, Levon Aronian convincingly won two rapid playoff games to claim the FIDE World Cup title over former FIDE Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Aronian will take home a prize of $100,000 ($80,000 after FIDE fees), and will also earn the top seed in the FIDE Championship candidate matches.

The final was an interesting matchup which produced fighting chess. Both players had reason to go into the match thinking they should be favored to win.

Aronian (2724, ranked 10th in the world) was the higher rated player, recently breaking into the top 10 and consistantly rising over the past two years. On the other hand, Ponomariov (2704, 19th) had been to the finals of a FIDE knockout tournament before - at a time when this tournamentstill determined the FIDE Championship.

While both of their classical chess games were drawn, neither was boring - both games featured players fighting to win, not attempts to escape with easy draws. Despite this, the 1-1 score forced a rapid playoff - and this is where Aronian shined, taking the first game with the while pieces, after finding a difficult win in an endgame that appeared drawn to some.

After losing the first game, Ponomariov needed a win with white to keep his tournament hopes alive. Aronian needed just a draw with black to clinch the title, but showed he wasn't going to settle for less than the full point:

White: Ponomariov, R (2704)
Black: Aronian, L (2724)
FIDE World Cup, Final, Rapid Game 2
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a3 d6 9. c3 Be6 10. d4 Bxb3 11. Qxb3 Re8 12. Qc2 Bf8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 g5 15. Bg3 g4 16. Nh4 exd4 17. Nd2 dxc3 18. Qxc3 Ne5 19. Nf5 Nh5 20. Nf1 Nxg3 21. N1xg3 Re6 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Ne2 Qg5 24. Ned4 Rf6 25. h4 gxh3 26. Qxh3 Qg4 27. Qxg4+ Nxg4 28. Nc6 Re6 29. f3 Ne5 30. Nfd4 Ree8 31. Re2 d5 32. exd5 Nxc6 33. dxc6 Bg7 34. Rxe8+ Rxe8 35. Nf5 Bxb2 36. Rd7 Re6 37. Rxc7 Bxa3 38. Kf1 Bc5 39. Ng3 b4 40. Rc8+ Kh7 41. Ne4 b3 42. c7 Rc6 43. Nf6+ Kg6 44. Rg8+ Kxf6 45. c8=Q Rxc8 46. Rxc8 Bb4 47. Rc1 a5 48. Ke2 a4 49. Rc6+ Kg7 50. Kd3 a3 51. Ra6 a2 0-1

With that win, Aronian finished off a well deserved victory. Amazingly, he did not lose a single game, winning ten and losing eight over the course of the tournament, for a performance rating of 2853.

The win also puts Aronian in good poisition to make a challenge for the World Championship. As the top seed, Aronian will play the lowest-rated player in the canididates matches. This will almost certainly be Magnus Carlsen, in what should be the most closely followed match of the first round. Presuming he wins against Carlsen, Aronian would now have to play the winner of the match betwee the #8 and #9 seeds - meaning he can make it to the final Championship tournament without having to face any of the top competitors.

For more information on the FIDE World Cup, and the FIDE World Championship Cycle, click here.