The Higher League of the Russian Championship
By Misha Savinov
Since 1899, when first Russian chess championship was organized (winner –
Mikhail Chigorin), this event has experienced many ups and downs. Sometimes
it was arguably stronger than any of world candidates tournaments, like in
1973. Occasionally most top players ignored it, like in 1984. The formula varied
from complicated multi-stage qualification system to liberal Swiss. The most
classic, however, was all-play-all system, with equal participation of invited
(or pre-qualified) and qualified players.
The Russian championship of modern days also had difficult times, in early
90s. The turning point was probably Elista – 1994, won by raising star
Peter Svidler in competition with Mikhail Ulibin and Sergey Rublevsky. In following
years nearly all top Russian players took part in the event – Svidler
(now four-time champion), Khalifman, Bareev, Morozevich, Dreev, Sakaev –
except for world champions Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik. The Swiss system was
not convenient for the elite players, not to mention relatively low (for them)
prize fund and other reasons each of them had.
Only in 2004, after many years of Swiss cruelty and brief flirtation with
knock-out lottery, the organizers of Russian championship decided to return
to round-robin system, which allows to attract the strongest possible field,
therefore generate attention in media, therefore attract sponsors, therefore
invite the players etc...
On top of the championship ladder there is a Superfinal, which is going to
have a large enough prize fund (there were talks about $300,000), with Kasparov,
Kramnik, Karpov, Svidler, Grischuk, Bareev and Morozevich personally invited,
and six more players qualified. It will take place "in autumn". The
venue and date are yet to be announced.
One step down, there are two Higher Leagues, one in Tomsk, and another –
in St. Petersburg. It would be wrong to call that "qualifier". By
the prestige of playing in it, the participants' strength and (last but not
least) the prize fund, each tournament is not merely a qualifier, but independent
Higher League of 57th Russian championship. The actual qualifiers for the Higher
League participation took place earlier.
St. Petersburg, former capital of Russian Empire, a five-million city that
celebrates its 301st anniversary on the 27th of May, previously hosted the
Russian chess championship in 1998. It was one of the strongest Swiss system
tournaments, and Alexander Morozevich won it on tie-break. This time Alexey
Dreev is the rating favorite (2689), followed by Alexander Khalifman (2668)
and Konstantin Sakaev (2665). The prize fund of the event is $50,000, with
$10,000 first prize. The chief sponsor of St. Petersburg tournament is Viking
Bank.
The players live and play in "St. Petersburg" hotel, which is placed
on a bank of Neva river. Here is the playing hall. Note the gorgeous view on
Neva.
Round 1
Alexey Ustaev, President of St. Petersburg Chess Federation and Viking Bank,
made the first move of the tournament. Alexey Dreev looked quite satisfied
with president's choice – last time he tried something else than 1.d4
was 1.e4 in 5-move draw with Peng Xiaomin in 1999.
Dreev won his first game against Moscow GM Alexander Riazantsev in convincing
manner, demonstrating superior positional understanding and professional endgame
technique. More importantly, it became clear that Alexey is fully armed not
only with chess knowledge – his physical form is excellent, too. Unlike
his younger opponent, he didn't look tired at all after 53-move struggle. Among
other favorites, only Sergey Volkov and Vladimir Epishin won their encounters.
Although both players had Black pieces, they faced relatively weaker opposition.
Pavel Tregubov, first European champion, could also join the leaders, but he
blundered a piece in won position against GM Vladimir Belov, and made a draw.
The youngest participant of the tournament, 13-year-old IM Ian Nepomniashchy
– the one who've beaten Magnus Carlsen and won the title at European
U12 in 2002 – held a draw against GM Yevseev in latter's favorite Caro-Kann.
Ian is very confident and optimistic in chess, and in order to qualify to the
Higher League he won Russian U18 championship!
The meeting between Moscow champion 2003 and St. Petersburg champion 2004,
Najer–Loginov, ended up as win for White. However, Loginov could well
blame the misfortune on that occasion.
Najer was very aggressive in the middlegame, creating attacking chances at
cost of his b-pawn. Loginov defended stubbornly after he lost the extra material
and one more pawn, gave up his knight and created serious technical difficulties
for the opponent. However, in critical moment of the endgame he was distracted
twice by annoying beep of electronic clock at the table next to him. After
the second beep Loginov exclaimed something like "Stop it after all!",
and made a final mistake, missing last chance to force a draw.
Round 2
Unfortunate Valery Loginov lost second drawn game in a row. Valery is strong
grandmaster, respected by his colleagues and chess public, but from time to
time he is prone to the most terrible blunders one could imagine. During this
year's St. Petersburg championship Loginov accepted a draw after the opponent
sacrificed his last rook "forcing" the stalemate. However, the rook
could be taken as the opponent's king still had one free square, which both
players didn't see.
A similar episode happened in Loginov's encounter with GM Vladimir Burmakin
(left in the above picture). In a theoretically drawn endgame Loginov gave
up his passed pawn striving for stalemate.
Burmakin,V (2571) - Loginov,V (2516) [E62]
57th ch-RUS Qualifier St Petersburg RUS (2), 22.05.2004
Position after 63.Qf7-f5
Loginov played 63...b1Q, expecting that 64.Qxb1
was not possible because the black king would be stalemated. Unfortunately
the king has a move: 64...Kxa4, after which White can mate in six.
Alexey Dreev won his second game. GM Alexey Kuzmin, who played white, did
not find the way to equalize against the Meran, and Dreev launched quick attack
on white king, winning on move 43.
GM Alexey Kuzmin after losing to Dreev in round two
Alexander Khalifman's opponent, St. Petersburg GM Sergey Ivanov (who is not
a professional player, he works full-time as an engineer), is a renowned specialist
in the French defense for Black. Khalifman tried hard for four hours, but was
unable to breach the defensive wall.
Alexander Khalifman against French Defence specialist Sergey Ivanov
Two players took the lead after the second round. Vladimir Epishin has also
won his game against Evgeny Romanov, a young FM from Kaliningrad (former Koenigsberg).
Sergey Volkov had good chances of beating Evgeny Shaposhnikov, but missed several
good opportunities in opponent's time trouble, and Shaposhnikov forced the
perpetual.
Of course, a chess tournament is not only about blood and struggle. It is
also a good opportunity to meet friends you wouldn't see on other occasion.
Konstantin Landa, who lives in Germany, with Muscovite Sergey Dolmatov.
Round 3
The symbol of the Soviet Revolution in 1917, "Aurora the revolutionary
cruiser" (picture above), perhaps inspired the players to press harder
in round three. Ten decisive games out of 17, the highest percentage of wins
so far.
Cool-blooded Alexey Dreev patiently waited for his opponent Vladimir Epishin
to play an impulsive move, and reacted swiftly and effectively after that.
Epishin could have resisted more stubbornly, but he was forced to give up material
anyhow, and Dreev's technique is well known. 3/3, a fairly decent start for
rating favorite!
Two players took the challenger's banner from Epishin's hands. 59-year-old
Vitaly Tseshkovsky won with black his game with Evgeny Shaposhnikov in good
energetic style. Sergey Volkov, also with black, defeated Evgeny Najer in quite
a double-edged contest.
Alexander Khalifman registered his first win. Moscow IM Oleg Nikolenko is
experienced player, and even more experienced speed player, but he is not in
a league of El Khalif in classical chess.
After just a couple of opening moves Nikolenko faced serious problems (picture
above), and Khalifman didn't give him a chance to restore the equilibrium.
One of the most original chess players, Vadim Zvjaginsev (picture above),
also won his first in this round, defeating IM Vladimir Dobrov. Zvjaginsev
had edge after the opening, lost it in the middlegame, and outplayed the opponent
in the complex endgame.
The internet coverage is done by "Shahcom"
(picture above). Although a couple of clocks turned out to be vulnerable to
some bug, and were replaced after the fourth round, the relaying of moves remains
exceptionally stable.
Round 4
A bird's eye view of the leading group in round four
A key game, Volkov – Dreev, was the longest one in the round. Volkov
played actively in the opening, but possible overextended a bit, and Dreev
utilized it to his favor. On 30th move Volkov lost one of his Q-side pawns,
and had to struggle for a draw for the rest of the game.
However, Dreev (picture above) played carefully and patiently, and forced
the opponent's resignation on move 73. By the way, Alexey Dreev is one of the
few players, who came with a coach or second. Others are Ian Nepomniashchy
(GM Sergey Janovsky) and Evgeny Romanov (GM Yuri Balashov).
Dreev with his second IM Alexander Filipenko
Vitaly Tseshkovsky is two-time USSR champion, but few if any specialists expected
him to join the race for Russian championship Superfinal. Similarly, no-one
could anticipate his "+2" at the Russian championship 2003 in Krasnoyarsk,
with performance exceeding 2700! In this round Tseshkovsky met Konstantin Sakaev,
rating favorite No 3. Sakaev definitely played for a win, but his piece sacrifice
did not seem to impress Tseshkovsky. The veteran won his third game in this
tournament, and took clear second place.
Konstantin Sakaev (right) has just played 19...Nh5xf4, sacrificing a piece
against Vitaly Tseshkovsky
Alexander Khalifman defeated Evgeny Alekseev, and established himself as one
of the main contenders in this event. Khalifman often loses interest in the
game if he starts in a slow pace, but with 3/4 he might want to fight at least
for top three. Vladimir Epishin also returned to "+2", beating Sergey
Ivanov. The latter has already met 3 Grandmasters from St. Petersburg during
this tournament, and all games were decisive!
FM Evgeny Romanov (above left with his coach GM Yuri Balashov) won a 19-move
miniature with black against GM Valery Popov. It was an opening disaster for
Popov, and I sense a hand of one excellent trainer...
Round 5
Finally somebody managed to stop Dreev! Not that I don't wish Alexey to win
the tournament, but winning one game after another could easily kill any intrigue
in the event. And, curiously, the man to break Dreev's lucky strike was Vitaly
Tseshkovsky. The veteran drew with black pieces after surprising his opponent
with Volga Gambit!
Tournament leader Dreev surprised by Vitaly Tseshkovsky's Volga Gambit
Among the participants of this tournament there are several teenagers –
still-to-become GM. It is common practice to write that more experienced and
skilled chess professors are examining them, and youngsters should use such
a golden opportunity to learn, etc.
Well, it doesn't seem like three youngest players, Andreikin (14), Romanov
(16) and Nepomniashchy (13) came to St. Petersburg trembling in fear before
their distinguished opponents! Andreikin easily held as Black against Shaposhnikov,
remaining at "+1" before the day-off, as well as Romanov, who was
surprised by Zvjaginsev early in the opening, reacted strong enough to keep
the balance against the former Chess Olympiad champion. Only Ian Nepomniashchy
lost his first game after four straight draws with grandmasters. Pavel Tregubov
defeated a schoolboy from Bryansk, who probably did not choose the right opening
lane.
Pavel Tregubov (right), the first GM who managed to beat 13-year-old IM
Ian Nepomniashchy
A head-spinning game was played between Vladimir Dobrov and Valery Popov.
Popov responded on 1.e4 with 1...e5, which is quite unusual for him, and soon
both players started to play creatively on their own. Popov sacrificed, attacked,
but did not use all his chances, and Dobrov managed to defend and kept extra
material. The game came to unusual finish – White had Q, N and one pawn,
and Black was left with Q and four pawns. White played for a win, however,
made several mistakes, missed exchange of queens, and then Black started to
play for win. Probably White had a draw, but the resulting endgame demanded
too much calculation to defend under the sunlight after seven hours of tense
struggle. Yes, bright sunlight.
Valery Popov (left) vs Vladimir Dobrov in round five
St. Petersburg is proud of its "white nights", and direct rays of
sun enter the tournament hall every day starting at around 9 pm. The picture
above is shot at 10 pm. Petersburg resident Popov was prepared, and had sunglasses.
Therefore, he managed to gain the upper hand. Well, seriously – during
this tournament Popov already squeezed a couple of half points during the last
time control, which tells a lot about his fighting spirit and physical condition,
too!
The media showed little interest in the event, in my opinion, however, there
were crews from two TV national channels, and several correspondents from local
newspapers. Also, there are not too many spectators, as it could, probably
due to small advertisement of the tournament! However, those who come by do
enjoy high level fighting chess as well as professional commentary by GM Evgeny
Solozhenkin and WIM Irina Sudakova.
Standings after five rounds
1. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2689 – 4.5
2. Tseshkovsky, Vitaly g RUS 2564 – 4.0
3-4. Epishin, Vladimir g RUS 2610; Khalifman, Alexander g
RUS 2668 – 3.5
5-15. Landa, Konstantin g RUS 2550; 6. Volkov, Sergey1 g
RUS 2629; 7. Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2654; 8. Romanov, Evgeny f RUS 2392; 9.
Tregubov, Pavel V g RUS 2636; 10. Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2665; 11. Andreikin,
Dmitry m RUS 2418; 12. Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2606; 13. Yakovich, Yuri g RUS
2596; 14. Shaposhnikov, Evgeny g RUS 2559; 15. Yevseev, Denis g RUS 2580 –
3.0
16-21. Ivanov, Sergey g RUS 2546; 17. Belov, Vladimir g RUS
2543; 18. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2616; 19. Popov, Valerij g RUS 2547; 20. Riazantsev,
Alexander g RUS 2556; 21. Danin, Alexandre f RUS 2332 – 2.5
22-26. Nepomniachtchi, Ian f RUS 2445; 23. Kuzmin, Alexey
g RUS 2567; 24. Dolmatov, Sergey g RUS 2573; 25. Ionov, Sergey g RUS 2538;
26. Burmakin, Vladimir g RUS 2571; 27. Solovjov, Sergey I m RUS 2458; 28. Kurnosov,
Igor g RUS 2543; 29. Nikolenko, Oleg m RUS 2520 – 2.0
30-32. Dobrov, Vladimir m RUS 2477; 31. Loginov, Valery A
g RUS 2516; 32. Gleizerov, Evgeny g RUS 2592 –1.5
33. Silivanov, Sergej f RUS 2291 – 1.0
34. Shapovalenko,Maksim RUS 0 – 0.0
Misha Savinov is a ChessCafe columnist, journalist,
and currently doing a Ph.D. in ecology
