Top seed Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria made his exit from the World Chess Championship after a second straight defeat against GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan in the semi-final tie-breaker in Tripoli, Libya, on Tuesday.
In the final round, Kasimdzhanov will meet GM Michael Adams of England, who had ousted another Uzbek, GM Teimour Radjabov in the other semi-final.
Topalov came up with a memorable performance in the tournament, producing as many as nine victories besides five draws in the games played under normal time control.
However, not playing a single tie-break up to the semi-finals apparently proved to be disastrous as the Bulgarian was simply not up to it against Kasimdzhanov in 25 minutes each game with a 10-second addition after every move.
For Kasimdzhanov this event has been an exceptional one with victories over top seeds, including No. 3 Alexander Grishchuk of Russia and No. 4 Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine.
Only five players with 2700+ Elo rating participated in this World championship and three of them were knocked down by the Uzbek star. Adams is the only one remaining from the club while fifth player Nigel Short of England shown the exit door as early as in the second round by Michal Krasenkow of Poland.
Adams starts as a huge favourite for the match but given the luck factor, there could be one last surprise left in the knockout championship.
Topalov tried whatever he could but Kasimdzhanov simply did not budge in the second tiebreaker game.
Up against a side variation against Sicilian, the Bulgarian got the complexities in the middle game he was hoping for but allowed white to get a vice-like grip on the position after opting for an erroneous plan.
Kasimdzhanov finished the game in style, knocking down as many as three pawns before Topalov extended his congratulatory hand on the 42nd move.
In the first game, Topalov was outwitted in the endgame trying to work a way to continue from a level position in the first game, which was his first loss in the competition.
The moves:
Game 1
Veselin Topalov v/s R Kasimdzhanov
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. d5 Bb4 8. O-O Na6 9. Nd4 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Nc5 11. Nb3 Nce4 12. f3 Nxc3 13. Qc2 Na4 14. e4 d6 15. Nd4 Nc5 16. Bb2 Qd7 17. Bh3 Rfe8 18. a4 a5 19. Rfe1 Qe7 20. e5 dxe5 21. Rxe5 Ncd7 22. Re3 Qc5 23. Rae1 e5 24. Nb3 Qd6 25. Bxd7 Nxd7 26. f4 f6 27. Nd2 Qf8 28. fxe5 Nxe5 29. Bxe5 Rxe5 30. Rxe5 fxe5 31. Rxe5 Qc5+ 32. Kg2 Rf8 33. Nf3 h6 34. Qd3 Ba6 35. Re4 Qb4 36. Ne5 Qxa4 37. h4 Qa2+ 38. Re2 Qa1 39. Kh2 Qf1 40. Qe3 Bc8 41. g4 Re8 42. Kg3 h5 43. Re1 Qf6 44. gxh5 Qf5 45. Kh2 Qxh5 46. Qg3 a4 47. Ng4 Bxg4 48. Rxe8+ Qxe8 49. Qxg4 Qe5+ 50. Kg2 a3 51. Qc8+ Kh7 52. Qa6 Qb2+ 53. Kf3 a2 white resigned.
Game 2:
R Kasimdzhanov v/s V Topalov
1. e c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb7 6. Bd3 Bc5 7. Be3 Qf6 8. c3 Nc6 9. Bc2 Nxd4 10. cxd4 Bb4+ 11. Kf1 Rc8 12. a3 Be7 13. h4 e5 14. dxe5 Qxe5 15. Bd4 Qc7 16. Nc3 Nf6 17. Rh3 O-O 18. e5 Nd5 19. Qg4 g6 20. h5 f5 21. Bxf5 Nf4 22. Rg3 Rxf5 23. hxg6 h5 24. Qxf5 Rf8 25. Qc2 Ba6+ 26. Ke1 h4 27. g7 Rc8 28. Qe4 hxg3 29. Qxf4 Qc6 30. Qxg3 Qh6 31. Qh3 Qg6 32. Qxd7 Rxc3 33. Qd5+ Kxg7 34. Bxc3 Qc2 35. Qd2 Qh7 36. e6+ Kg8 37. Qe3 Qh1+ 38. Kd2 Qh4 39. Qg3+ Bg5+ 40. Kd1 Qh5+ 41. f3 Qg6 42. Qb8+ Black resigned.