Two Kings, Grischuk and Gelfand will play in the final

Scoreboard Nat. Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 R1 R2 R3 R4 Blitz Tot. Perf Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2785 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0.5 4.5 Alexander Grischuk RUS 2747 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1.5 5.5 Nat. Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 R1 R2 R3 R4 Blitz Tot. Perf Boris Gelfand ISR 2733 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1.5 6.0 Gata Kamsky USA 2732 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0.5 4.0

The two finalists, Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk in the press conference 

after the match (led by press officer Boris Kutin in the middle)

From 3 to 27 May 2011 the FIDE Candidates matches are being held in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, with eight strong GMs competing to qualify as Challenger for the 2012 World Champion match. Time controls in the four regular games are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. In case of a tie there will be four rapid chess games, and if the tie is still not broken then up to five two-game blitz matches 5'+3". Finally there may be a sudden-death final decider. The prize fund of the candidates is 500,000 Euros.

Russian Alexander Grischuk and Israeli Boris Gelfand eliminated Vladimir Kramnik and Gata Kamsky in tie-break.

It was a double tie. At first – in the regular part of the match, at second – in rapid games. In the Russian match all games finished in a draw, and in other just the first two. In the third game with Kamsky, Gelfand was playing white and he already made an incredible mistake in the opening. Literally, it was he himself, who captured his own queen. His opponent did not hesitate to get the strongest opponent's piece for a rook. Gelfand had no any chance to escape from the defeat. It was game 13 in the semi final, after 12 consecutive draws. However, number 13 turned to become lucky for the loser. Gelfand roused from the dead playing very well with black and equalized the score.

In the Russian match, Kramnik playing white had extremely good chances to win both games, but Grischuk defended himself brilliantly.

There was just one horse race in blitz in both matches. Kramnik for the first time faced a problem, playing white and finally blundered in the position with good chances to make a draw. He was a pawn down and placed his rook on the square under the control of the black knight. This was the end of the story. Grischuk in his turn had no problems to make a draw with white pieces.

Kamsky, with one foot already in the final, did not play blitz on his level and lost both games.

The final match of the six games will start on Thursday, 19, May, 2011. The winner will challenge the current World Champion Viswanathan Anand next year.

source: http://kazan2011.fide.com/