By IANS
Moscow : Russian Gata Kamsky capped one of the most remarkable comebacks in world chess by winning the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk here Sunday.
It catapulted the 34-year-old Russian to the game’s elite level after he drew his fourth and final game to complete a 2.5-1.5 win over Latvian-Born Spaniard Alexei Shirov.
Kamsky, who is now an American citizen won $120,000 and also earned the right to challenge Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria for the World Chess Championships in 2009.
Kamsky twice took sabbatical from chess. He went into retirement after losing to Anatoly Karpov in the World Chess Championship 20-match clash in Elista, Kalmykia,in 1996.
In 1999,he graduated from Brooklyn College and then enrolled himself for a medical degree. But he gave up after a year and then graduated in law.
He returned to chess in 1999 to play in the Knockout World Championship event in Las Vegas where he lost to Alexander Khalifman in rapid games after winning one and losing another game in classical format.
Kamsky was then not seen in a public performance till June 2004 when he finished in a tie for first place in the New York Masters. A string of successes in 2006 and 2007 have now marked him out as a challenger for the very top in world chess hierarchy.
In 2005, Kamsky played in the FIDE World Cup Tournament, and qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007 in May-June 2007. He beat Etienne Bacrot but lost to Boris Gelfand in second round.
But his latest triumph in chess World Cup has brought him back into the frame.
Kamsky did not lose a single game in his march to the title. In the first three rounds, Kamsky beat Ahmed Adly, Boris Avrukh and Kiril Georgiev, all with the score 1.5-0.5. Then he drew his mini-match against Peter Svidler, to beat the Russian 1.5-0.5 in the rapids. In the quarterfinals Ponomariov was Kamsky’s victim, and in the semi-finals it was the end for Magnus Carlsen, both losing 1.5-0.5.
Shirov went down 1.5 – 2.5 in the four-game final, which meant Kamsky did not lose once in his sixteen regular and two rapid games. After drawing the first game, Kamsky won the second and drew the third. In the fourth, Kamsky avoided Shirov’s Sveshnikov and instead chose a solid variation of the Rossolimo. They drew in 34 moves.