Kamsky in the World Cup final

Gata Kamsky of New York has reached the final round of the World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Kamsky has won six consecutive two-game matches in the 128-player knockout tournament and now faces grandmaster Alexey Shirov of Spain in a four-game final.

The nerveracking format seems to favor younger players, but Kamsky, 33, and Shirov, 35, have bucked the trend. Both defeated 17-year-old prodigies in the semifinals. Kamsky eliminated Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Shirov bounced Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine.

Earlier, Kamsky beat Peter Svidler, the Russian GM ranked 12th in the world, and Ruslan Ponomariov, the Ukraine star who won a similar tournament in 2001.

Kamsky’s success should boost his rating of 2714, 16th in the world, to the top-10 level he reached in the mid-1990s. His unique career path includes a victory in the 1991 U.S. Championship, an eight-year layoff to earn a law degree and a bumpy start in his 2004 comeback. And he is still improving.

Local news

The ninth Ileto Memorial attracted 67 players last weekend in Monterey Park. The tournament honors Joseph Ileto, a tournament player who was killed in 1999 while delivering mail.

Eduardo Ortiz and IM Tim Taylor shared first place at 4 1/2 - 1/2 . Each defeated a master in the final round. Next at 4-1 were master Julian Landaw and experts Carlos Garcia, Vadim Kudryavtsev, Takashi Kurosaki and Danyul Lawrence.

Joe Paige and Terrence Sun tied for best in Class B, Ron Morris led Class C and Alvin Huang was top under-1400. Sunil Deolalikar, who defeated an expert, won the trophy for best scholastic player. Randy Hough directed for the Southern California Chess Federation.

The Ventura County Chess Club will have a Christmas party Tuesday evening as its last meeting of the year. The club will resume Jan. 15. See www.vcchess.com or call Jimmy Sweet at (805) 659-0356 for details.

A new club meets on the fifth floor of the Casa de la Cultura de El Salvador, at 1605 Olympic Blvd. in Los Angeles. The club’s weekly blitz tournament at 7 p.m. Tuesdays has already attracted some of the city’s best players. Free instruction is available Monday nights. For information, call Henry Castro at (323) 791-3201.

Another new club meets on the first Sunday of each month in Cloud 9 Coffee Co., 25395 Madison Ave. in Murietta. Call the restaurant at (951) 698-4386 for hours.

Today’s games

GM Alexander Onischuk (USA)-GM Alexey Shirov (Spain), World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk 2007: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c6 The Semi-Slav Defense to the Queen’s Gambit. 4 Nf3 dxc4 5 e3 b5 6 a4 Bb4 7 Bd2 a5 The very complicated Noteboom-Abrahams variation. 8 axb5 Bxc3 9 Bxc3 cxb5 10 b3 Bb7 11 bxc4 b4 What a pawn structure! Black will win on the Queenside unless White breaks through in the center. 12 Bb2 Nf6 13 Bd3 0-0 14 0-0 Nbd7 15 Re1 Ne4 Seizing e4. The alternate plan 15 … Qc7 16 e4 e5 invites 17 c5 Ba6 18 Rc1 exd4 19 c6, increasing the tension. 16 Qc2 f5 17 c5 If 17 Rec1 Qc7 18 Ne1, Black can try 18 … a4!?, anticipating 19 Rxa4 b3! 20 Qxb3 Ndc5. Qc7 18 Bb5 Bd5 19 Qe2 Ndf6 Firmly controlling d5 and e4. White must arrange f2-f3. 20 h3? Black will pounce on this weakening. Maybe Onischuk disliked 20 Ne5! Ng4!, but 21 f3 Nxe5 22 fxe4 Ng4 23 e5 isn’t too bad. g5! 21 Ne5 g4! 22 hxg4 After 22 h4 g3 23 f3 Nf2, Black’s Queen invades via g7, h6 and h4. fxg4 23 Nd3? Also inadequate is 23 Nxg4? Qg7, as Black threatens both f2 and g2. White had to risk 23 f3 gxf3 24 gxf3 Qg7+ 25 Qg2 Ng5 26 e4.