Ivanchuk, Gelfand into semifinals

JAKARTA (JP): Ukrainian top seed Vassily Ivanchuk and defending champion Boris Gelfand of Belarus set up a rematch in the semifinals of the Intercontinental Rapid Chess tournament in Cap d'Agde, France, on Thursday.

World number five Ivanchuk swept home-crowd favorite Iossif Dorfman 2-0 in the quarterfinals, while Gelfand edged out African hopeful Hichem Hamdouchi 1.5-0.5.

It will be the second meeting between the two East European chess wizards after a draw in their first-round group match on Tuesday.

The other semifinal pits Russian world champion Anatoly Karpov -- who needed extra games to beat Indonesia's Utut Adianto in the quarterfinals -- against French young gun Etienne Bacrot, a quarterfinal winner over Ian Rogers of Australia. (amd)