Former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine worked on the chequered board like a man on a mission and defeated Evgeny Bareev of Russia [Images] in a keenly-contested game to move into the semi-finals in the World Chess Cup with a 1.5-0.5 victory.

Ponomariov, who had drawn the first game as black, gave an exemplary display to keep Bareev out of contention for the top slots in the over US $1.5 million event.

Though Russia is known as a super power in the chess world, interestingly enough, Alexander Grishcuk remained the only Russian in with a chance of clinching the title after he matched the skills of Boris Gelfand of Israel in spectacular fashion and won to take the two games mini-match to the tie-breaker.

The remaining Russian in the fray, Sergei Rublevsky was ousted after he lost to second seed Etienne Bacrot of France [Images] in the return game of the quarter-finals. In the fight for the 9-16 places teenage sensation Magnus Carlsen once again proved his potential after carving out a fine victory over Joel Lautier of France.

Carlsen, who is looking for a place in the top ten to be able to find himself in the next World championship match tournament cycle, was simply exemplary in beating the famous Frenchman who holds the distinction of winning the World Junior title while he was still under 17 years of age. That apart, there were no major surprises in the fight for 9-16 places as Russian turned American Gata Kamsky ensured himself another chance to be amongst the Chess elite of the world after drawing his return game with Konstantin Sakaev of Russia.

Also advancing to the next stage was Vladimir Malakhov, who held on to his own to beat compatriot, higher-ranked and highly regarded Russian, Alexey Dreev by a 1.5-0.5 margin after the return game ended in a draw.

The other match of this section was stretched to the tie-breaker as well after Dutchman Loek Van Wely decided against pressing hard against Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain and settled for the second draw on the trot.

The event that started off with 128 participants is now fought between 16 players who held themselves in good stead after the third round. The 16 players fought out a two-game match followed by the tiebreaker to find the eight best contestants in the event and those eight are now assured of a berth in the next World championship match tournament cycle.

Complicated as it might sound, FIDE, the apex chess body had decided to take ten best players from this event to the next cycle along with top five rated players of the world and Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, the 2004 FIDE champion, for the next world championship match tournament tentatively scheduled in 2007.

Out of these players, four will be selected to join reigning world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Viswanathan Anand [Images] and Russian duo of Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich in the next world championship match tournament along the lines of the one held recently at San Luis in Argentina.

Complete results quarter-finals: (final results at the end): 1,5-0,5 

Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr) beat Evgeny Bareev (Rus) 1.5-0.5; Etienne Bacrot (Fra) beat Sergei Rublevsky (Rus) 1.5-0.5; Mikhail Gurevich (Bel) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm) 0.5-1.5; Alexander Grischuk (Rus) beat Boris Gelfand (Isr) 1-1, goes to tiebreak.

9-16 place: Joel Lautier (Fra) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 0.5-1.5; Konstantin Sakaev (Rus) drew with Gata Kamsky (USA) 0.5-1.5; Alexey Dreev (Rus) drew with Vladimir Malakhov (Rus) 0.5-1.5; Loek Van Wely (Ned) drew with Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp) 1-1, goes to tie-break.

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