Top seed Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria marched into the semi-finals of the World Chess Championship beating Andrei Kharlov of Russia 2-0.
Second seeded Grandmaster Michael Adams of England also made it to the last four following a hard-earned draw in the second game with 1999 finalist GM Vladimir Akopian of Armenia to advance with a 1.5-0.5 score.
GM Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan defeated GM Lenier Dominiguez of Cuba and Russian Alexander Grishchuk respectively in the other quarter-finals after slugging it out in the tie-breakers.
Topalov registered his ninth victory in 10 games, by far the highest score by a semi-finalist in all World Championships under the knock-out format. The Bulgarian has touched peak form here and looks the favourite to lift the title.
Kharlov got a feel of Topalov's form as he was handed a double blow in contrasting fashion. While the first one was an elegant positional win, Kharlov, playing white, was outclassed in the second with some wild tactics arising out of a Bishop opening.
"I was worse in the opening, had to sacrifice one pawn and later a full rook for three pawns. It was a good game with some mistakes probably," said Topalov, rating the win as his career-best performance.
"A lot of games still remain to be played," added the Bulgarian when asked about how he viewed his chances.
Kharlov's king was eventually trapped in the middle of the board and he called it a day when faced with irresistible threats after 53 moves. Topalov's queen and bishop combination had by then devastated the second last Russian left in the fray.
For Adams, it is glory in reckoning, as he not only equalled his previous best record in World Championships but also avenged his semi-final defeat to Akopian in the 1999 edition of the World championship at Las Vegas.
It was a Petroff defence with some drama. Just when Adams thought he had equalised he also had this hallucination that the position had repeated thrice which is a draw as per rules.
However, upon checking it was established that Adams made a wrong claim and he was penalised by deducting three minutes from his clock.
However, the Englishman was undeterred and went on to force a draw with timely tactical exchanges in a heavy pieces endgame. Akopian agreed to sign peace on move 47 that also meant his ouster.
There was much excitement in the remaining two quarter-finals, especially after both Grishchuk and Radjabov, sporting dark sunglasses, pulled off wins in the second game to draw level in the normal time control games.
Grishchuk, however, failed to make most of his chances once again against Kasimdzhanov and lost both the rapid games after squandering away a winning position in the second.
Kasimdzhanov, formerly a 2700 ELO rated player, will now play Adams in the semifinal that starts tomorrow.
Radjabov's strategy of prolonging the battle worked once more as Lenier Dominiguez, who has left lasting impressions here, cracked in the final sudden death game.
Radjabov went on signing the peace treaty till the decider that gave six minutes to white and five to black with must win for white.
Having drawn four in a row, Dominiguez realised he had the wrong colour in white as he was forced to win to proceed to the next round.
The game was eventually drawn giving Radjabov a berth in the semis against Topalov.
Results: quarterfinals (final scores):
Andrei Kharlov (Russia) lost to Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 0-2; Vladimir Akopian (Armenia) lost to Michael Adams (England) 0.5-1.5; Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) beat Lenier Dominiguez (Cuba) 1-1, Radjabov wins tiebreak; Rustam Kasmidzhanov (Uzbekistan) beat Alexander Grishchuk (Russia) 1-1, 2-0.
Semifinal line-up:
V Topalov vs T Radjabov
M Adams vs R Kasimdzhanov.