Khanty Mansiysk, Russia: Six-time Russian champion Peter Svidler added another feather to his cap by winning his maiden World Cup title after eking out a draw in the fourth and final game against friend and compatriot Alexander Grischuk here.
Svidler won the final with a 2.5-1.5 margin and the sole decisive game in the mini-match was the first one of the encounter that Svidler won with black pieces. The remaining three ended in a draw giving the Russian a pay-check of USD 96,000.
Ukraine's Vassily Ivanchuk, meanwhile, upstaged country-mate and former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov to win the right to be a part of next world championship cycle.
After Grischuk won the silver following the draw, Ivanchuk got the bronze medal after signing peace with Ponomariov and winning the match 2.5-1.5.
While the top three will be in the next world championship cycle, it remains to be seen what format will FIDE resort to after the match between India's Viswanathan Anand and Israeli Boris Gelfand in Russia in 2012.
It all came easy for Svidler as he had the advantage of playing white in the final game. Starting off with the King pawn, Svidler faced the Sicilian yet again and went for the Rossolimo instead of more popular modern main lines.
This variation is notoriously known for its drawing tendencies and Grischuk rightly went ceding space in order to avoid early exchanges. As the game progressed, Svidler showed little ambition and gave black an easy game although the complications remained.
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