Associated Press
October 14

World Championship finalist Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was knocked out of the World Chess Cup 2002 on Monday after losing to Russia's Vladimir Malakhov in the last round of preliminaries.

Defending Champion Viswanathan Anand made it to the quarterfinals, but Krishnan Sasikiran of India crashed out, after losing to China's Xu Jun.

Playing white, top seed Anand faced the Caro Kann defense from Hichem Hamdouchi of Morocco and failed to get on top. He settled for a draw after both players entered the endgame with Queen and minor pieces equally matched.

"My plan just did not click on this day," said Anand, who had lost to compatriot Sasikiran in an earlier round.

On Monday, Sasikiran played a lackluster game against Xu, who had so far managed only one draw in the preliminaries. With the advantage of opening, Xu ripped apart Sasikiran's king side and finished the game in just 29 moves.

Besides Anand, Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan qualified from group 'C' to make it to the quarterfinals.

Ye Jiangchuan of China entered the quarterfinals from group 'A,' defeating Saidali Yuldashev of Uzbekistan.

Quarterfinal qualifiers:

Men:

Group A: Vladimir Malakhov (Russia); Ye Jiangchuan (China)

Group B: Alexey Dreev (Russia), Sergei Rublevski (Russia)

Group C: Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan); Viswanathan Anand (India)

Results: Final round of preliminaries:

Men:

Group A: Vladimir Malakhov (Russia, 3.5) beat Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukarine, 2.0); Giovanni Vescovi (Brazil, 3.0) drew Bartilomiej Macieja (Poland, 3.0); Yuldashev Saidali (Uzbekistan, 0.5) lost to Ye Jiangchuan (China, 3.0)

Group C: Xu Jun (China, 1.5) beat Krishnan Sasikiran (India, 2.5); Viswanathan Anand (India, 3.0) drew Hichem Hamdouchi (Morocco, 2.5); Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan, 3.5) beat Mohammed Al Modiahki (Qatar, 2.0)

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