The young Phillipino obtained a good opening in the French Defence and Kamsky's attempts at attacking on the kingside fell short. He may not yet be that well known in the west, but he did become a GM at the age of fourteen which is generally a sign of a bright future in store!
Sakaev also lost with White after trying a speculative combination which led to him obtaining rook and pawn for bishop and knight. Vitiugov's minor pieces however proved to be more than equal for anything White's heavy pieces could drum up.
Very few people come back from a loss with White so Vitiugov and So are now heavy favourites to go further in the competition.
Mamedyarov made it five wins out of five against Wang Hao, and the Azeri is now the only player left on 100%.
Boris Gelfand continued on his untroubled way winning a nice game against Judit Polgar. Judit's (dubious?) opening experiment left her queenside undeveloped and Gelfand was able to exploit this by sacrificing the exchange for strong threats and simplifying to a pawn-up endgame.
Vachier_Lagrave also looks well placed to advance as he methodically ground down Yu Yangyi in a Sveshnikov where Black had his inevitable weakness on d5, but without any compensating activity.
Other winners were Ponomariov and Jakovenko, as well as Czech GM David Navara who managed to overcome Karjakin, a mini-surprise.
The remaining eight games were drawn.
Here is how the World Junior Champion won against the rank outsider.
Maxime Vachier_Lagrave,M (2718) - Yu Yangyi (2527)
Khanty-Mansiysk (World Cup 3.1) 27.11.2009
Sicilian Sveshnikov (B33)
1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.d4 cxd4 5.♘xd4 e5 6.♘db5 d6 7.♗g5 a6 8.♘a3 b5 9.♘d5 ♗e7 10.♗xf6 ♗xf6 11.c4 b4 12.♘c2 0-0 13.♗e2 a5 14.0-0 ♗g5 15.♕d3 ♘e7 16.♘de3 ♗xe3?!
An anti-positional move that soon leads to difficulties for Black.
17.♘xe3 ♘c6 18.♖fd1 ♘d4 19.♘c2 ♘xc2 20.♕xc2 ♕c7
White now presses down the d-file for the rest of the game and Black has absolutely no counterplay.
21.♖d3 ♗e6 22.b3 ♖a6 23.♕d2 ♖c6 24.♖d1 ♖d8 25.h3 f6 26.♗g4 ♗f7 27.h4 ♔f8 28.♗f5 ♔g8 29.h5 h6
Black can't capture the pawn: 29...♗xh5? 30.♖h3 g6 (30...♗g6? 31.♗xg6 hxg6 32.♕d5+ wins; 30...♗xd1? 31.♕d5+ is hopeless for Black) 31.♗e6+ ♔g7 32.f3 and Black 's bishop on h5 is not long for this world.
30.♕e2 ♕e7 31.♖g3 ♔f8 32.♖dd3 ♖c7 33.♔h2 ♖a7 34.♕g4 ♗g8 35.♕d1 ♖c7 36.♖g4!
Threatening ♖dg3 and Black is running out of space.
36...♗e6 37.♗xe6 ♕xe6 38.♖d5 ♖a7 39.♖g3 ♖dd7 40.♕d2 ♔f7 41.♔g1
Why hurry? Black isn't going anywhere!
41...♔e8 42.♖gd3 ♔e7 43.♕e3 ♖a6 44.♕g3 ♔f8 45.♖b5 ♖a8 46.♕g6 ♔g8 47.♖dd5 ♖da7 48.♖b6 ♖d8
49.♖xa5!
Something had to give eventually!
49...♕e7
Or 49...♖xa5 50.♖b7 ♖d7 51.♖b8+ and mates.
50.♖xa7 ♕xa7 51.♖xb4 ♔h8 52.a4 ♕d4 53.♖b7 ♖g8 54.g3 ♕d2 55.♔g2 ♕c3 56.♕f7 ♕d3 57.♕g6 ♕c3 58.♖b5 ♕d2 59.a5 ♕a2 60.♕g4 ♕c2 61.a6 1-0
Finally a photo of the best placed asian player as things stand.
