World Chess Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov beat a spanish top player Alexei Shirov 3:1 in the first semifinal of the 18th Ciudad de Leon which started Friday. This tournament is being played under rapid 20/5 time control.
Shirov was white in the first game and he started with his usual 1.e4. Kasimdzhanov made a novelty (23...Qe5) in Naidorf sicilian variation. Game was very sharp but black finally pulled a win on move 41.
Second game started with solid Petroff defence. Kasimdzhanov was pawn up but his great efforts couldnt break Shirov`s excellent defence - draw on move 43.
Third game gave us sicilian defence again, but even with white pieces, Shirov got into early trouble. Kasimdzhanov`s attack was unstoppable and finally on the 43rd move Shirov decided to accept defeat.
At that time Kasimdzhanov had accumulated 2.5 points against Shirov's 0.5 points and qualified for the final. The fourth game also ended in a draw to give final score of 3-1 in Rustam favour.
Now he will meet in final the winner of Anand-Carlsen match.
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