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Journalism of Courage
LAS VEGAS, AUG 6: Former World Championship challenger Victor Korchnoi stormed into the third round of the World Chess Championship.
The 68-year-old Russian-turned-Swiss defeated his former teammate Sergei Dolmatov in an awe-inspiring tie-breaker 3-1 here to win right to meet top-seeded Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in the third round.
Russlan Ponomariev — the youngest participant in the tourney — crashed out after losing to fancied Bulgarian GM Vaselin Topolov 1-3.
Second-seeded Alexy Shirov scraped through the tie-breakers by winning 1.5-0.5 against Ivan Sokolov of Bosnia.
Russian GM Alexander Khalifman once again proved his might with white pieces to shock former World Championship challenger Gata Kamsky 1.5-0.5 in tie-breaks. Playing after a gap of three years, Kamsky looked rusty in the fast-paced tie-breakers of 25 minutes each. Khalifman outplayed him with white pieces and then played solidly from the black pieces in Russian defence to pocket the match.
Pairings For The 3rd Round
Kramnik (Rus)-Korchnoi (Swis), Topalov (Bul)-Psakhis (Isr), Adams (Eng)-Almasi (Hun), Rublevsky (Rus)-Dreev (Rus), Federov (Bul)-Timman (Netherlands), Leko (Hun)-Movsesian (Cze), Svidler (Rus)-Akopian (Arm), Magem (Spain)-Polgar (Hun), Zvjaginsev (Rus)-Krasenkow (Pol), Lautier (Fra)-Gelfand (Isr), Asrian (Arm)-Khalifman (Rus), Leitao (Bra)-Nisipeanu (Rum), Shipov (Rus)-Ivanchuk (Ukr), Beliavsky (Slo)-Short (Eng) and Milos (Bra)-Shirov (Spain)
