Ukrainian grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov became the second finalist of the FIDE Chess World Cup, which is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk. On Wednesday, Ponomariov won an additional mini-match in rapid chess (time control - 25 minutes per game for each participant) against Russia's Alexander Grischuk with a score of 2:0. On the sum of the two games and the tie-break, Ponomariov won 3:1.
The previous two games between the opponents with the standard time control ended in a draw.
On Thursday, in the first game of the final duel, Ruslan Ponomariov will meet Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian.