Former World Junior Champion Levon Aronian of Armenia, the latest player to break into the world's top 10 is the first player through to the final of the Fide World Cup. Aronian defeated French number one Etienne Bacrot 1.5-0.5 with a combination of aggression with the black pieces and then positional play with the white pieces which won a pawn and eventually the game.

It has been a feature of many decisive games in this tournament that the endings with rooks and opposite coloured bishops where one side has an extra pawn have eventually been won by the superior side. After drawing easily on the black side of the Marshall Attack Aronian countered Bacrot's Slav Defence with a Catalan setup

The 15 year old Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen pressed for a win against Russian GM Vladimir Malakhov but the Russian GM's defences held. These two playoff for a place in the 2006 Candidates Matches as do Francisco Vallejo Pons and former Fide finalist Gata Kamsky.

Places 1-4

Grischuk draw draw Ponomariov, playoff
Bacrot draw 0-1 Aronian, Aronian wins

Places 5-8

Rublevsky draw draw Bareev, playoff
Gurevich 0-1 0-1 Gelfand Gelfand wins

Places 9-12 (Winners reach the Candidates )

Malakhov draw draw Carlsen, playoff
Kamsky draw draw Vallejo Pons, playoff

Places 13-16

Lautier draw draw Van Wely, playoff
Dreev 1-0 draw Sakaev, Dreev wins

E Bareev (2675) - R Vasquez (2506)
FIDE WCup Khanty Mansyisk (1.1)

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 (The Main line of the Semi Slav attributed to former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik) 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.g3 (11.exf6 is also possible and often transposes) 11...Bb7 12.Bg2 Qb6 13.exf6 0-0-0 14.0-0 c5 15.dxc5!? (A rare move, the really wild lines come after 15.d5 b4 16.Rb1!? and 16.Na4) 15...Nxc5 16.Qe2 Bh6 (My preference would be to get the White king exposed on the diagonal by taking on g2 16...Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Bh6 (17...Nd3!?) 18.h4 Bxg5 19.hxg5 Qc6+ 20.f3 Rh5 was Timman-Tal Hilversum 1988 and now perhaps 21.g6!?) 17.Bxb7+ Kxb7 (After 17...Qxb7 18.Qe3 attacks bishop and knight so Black would have to play Bf8 although this seems to be playable with b5-b4 coming and Rd3. If Black remains active he can protect his weak king ) 18.Ne4 Nd3 (18...Nxe4 19.Qxe4+ Qc6 20.Qxc6+ Kxc6 21.f4 Bxg5 22.fxg5 Rd2 23.Rf2 (23.h4!?) 23...Rxf2 24.Kxf2 Rxh2+ 25.Ke3 Rxb2? 26.g6! wins) 19.b3! Qc6 (19...Qd4 20.Bxh6 Rxh6 21.a4 Rdh8 22.h4 and the white king is the safer) 20.bxc4 bxc4 21.Qe3 Bxg5 (21...Bf8!? as in a variation above might have offered better chances as the Bg5 is out of play) 22.Nxg5 Rd7 23.Rfd1 Rhd8 24.Rab1+ Ka8 25.Qe4! (Although the Black king is poorly protected in the endgame the white h pawn and the weak black f7 pawn are important factors) 25...Rc8 26.Rbc1!? (This tricky move threatening Rxc4 induces an error) 26...Nxc1? (26...Qxe4 27.Nxe4 with Rc3 to come) 27.Rxd7 Nxa2 (27...Ne2+ 28.Kf1 Qxe4 29.Nxe4 c3 30.Nxc3! Nxc3 31.Rxf7) 28.Qxc6+ Rxc6 29.Nxf7 and 1-0 in view of 29.Nxf7 c3 30.Nd6 a5 (30...Rxd6 31.Rxd6 Kb7 32.f7 c2 33.f8Q c1Q+ 34.Kg2) 31.f7

Vasquez

Bareev

Position after 29.Nxf7