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The tournament is hosted by the Russian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Charity Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko , with the support of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod region. The Super Final will be a continuation of the program "chess in the museums", started by the match for the world title in 2012 at the Retyakov Gallery in Moscow on the initiative of businessmen Andrei Filatov and Gennady Timchenko. The venue for the prestigious tournament in Nizhny Novgorod will be the State Historical and Architectural Museum Manor Rukavishnikov. The Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum will also take part in the organization of the tournament. The tournament is a ound robin with ten players over nine rounds. Sofia-Rules. If first place is shared than the champion will be decided through a tiebreaker match. Time Control: 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds/move starting with the 1st move.
Nizhny Novgorod, also known as just Nizhny, is the fifth largest city in Russia with a population of 1,250,615. It was known as Gorky during the Soviet era after the writer Maxim Gorky, who was born there.
The Molitovsky Bridge, which spans the Oka river
The beautiful Church of the Nativity of Our Lady
The Rukavishnikov Manor, the playing site
Before the opening ceremony a small press conference took place. It was atteneded by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, the sponsor of the tournament Gennady Timchenko, the chairman of the board of the Russian Chess Federation Ilya Levitov and Deputy Governor of the Nizhny region Dmitry Svatkovsky, who was an Olympic Champion in 2000 in pentathlon!
Vladimir Kramnik during the press conference
The opening ceremony also served to determine the pairing numbers of the players.
In the back participants of the men's Super-Final, in the front row ex-World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in green
Tatiana Kosintseva. Her sister, Nedezhda, is unable to participate this year. Nedezhda is currently attending the University of Texas at Dallas and she and her husband, Leonid Kritz, are expecting a child
Vladimir Kramnik chose number one!
The players could choose a piece of artwork and in the back was their pairing number.
Some players, like Kosteniuk, took their time to examine which one they liked the best,
while other players rushed their decision
Karjakin holding his fate: more blacks than whites
Natalia Pogonina (on the right) is one of the higher rated players in the women's tournament
Pianist Nikolai Lugansky gave a wonderful performance
And to wrap things up, a chorus
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Men's
The pace of the tournament has hopefully been set. With five decisive games and very strong fighting spirits in all of them, we are glad to see the Super-Final shape up as one of the most interesting events of the year.
A spectacular game: Kramnik sacrificed all his pieces and his opponent couldn't handle the pressure
Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 Shomoev, Anton
[Event "66th ch-RUS 2013"] [Site "Nizhny Novgorod RUS"] [Date "2013.10.05"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Shomoev, Anton"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2796"] [BlackElo "2579"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2013.10.05"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O e6 5. d3 {A somewhat sedate way to open the game. Of course, the simple 5.d4 would transpose into Queen's Indian waters as White would have little choice but to follow this move up with c4 eventually, leading back to the QID. However Kramnik doesn't want to deal with this at the moment. d3 has the slight positional threat of e4, how much of an issue this is is debatable, but Shomoev decides to put a stop to it immediately.} d5 6. Nbd2 g6 $5 {More natural was to play the B to e7, but by double fianchettoing and delaying his development Shomoev hopes to get better piece placement by paying the price of some tempi.} 7. c4 (7. b3 Bg7 8. Bb2 c5 9. e3 {ended a few moves later in a draw in Jakovenko-Riazantsev from earlier this year.}) 7... Bg7 8. b4 $5 {And the game is on! White is aggressively expanding on the queenside, but this move opens up the diagonal for the g7 bishop on a dangerous way. Black could choose to ignore it.} Ne4 (8... O-O 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. b5 $5 {might be a little more pleasant for White, also possible is to develop simply with 10.Rc1}) 9. cxd5 $5 exd5 (9... Bxa1 10. Nxe4 {and the threat of Bg5 is too strong, White is already winning.}) 10. Nb3 $5 {White sacrifices a full exchange but obtains a lead in development and dangerous activity against Black's dark squares.} Bxa1 {Retreating the knight from e4 is certainly not an option.} 11. Nxa1 Nd6 12. Bg5 f6 13. Bf4 a5 $1 {Immediately counterattacking and allowing Black some breathing room.} 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Qc2 c5 16. Nb3 Ra7 17. Nxc5 $5 {I am not sure how good this move exactly is, but the pressure is on! Black will be up a rook for two pawns, but his position is uncomfortable to play.} bxc5 18. Qxc5 Ra6 {Forced, every other move already leaves white better.} (18... Nc8 19. Bxb8 $16) 19. Rb1 Nd7 (19... Ba8 {would have really put White's idea to the test.} 20. Nd4 Nd7 21. Qb4 Qe7 {and Black starts consolidating.}) 20. Qe3+ Kf7 $2 {Finally a big mistake.} (20... Qe7 21. Bxd6 Qxe3 22. fxe3 Ba8 23. Bb4 Rxa2 24. Bh3 {leaves Black with still more material but definitely not enough to have an advatange; if anything it is White that would have the better chances in this position.}) 21. Bxd6 Ba8 ( 21... Rxd6 22. Rxb7 {and the initiative starts to pile up.}) 22. Qf4 Re8 23. Nd4 {With material balance restored it is obvious that White's position is preferable, but Black is not yet out of it.} Rxa2 $2 (23... Kg8 $1 {was a key defensive move that kept Shomoev alive.}) 24. Bh3 $1 {Now Black's position collapses.} Raxe2 (24... f5 25. Rc1 {would have lastest a few more moves but with White's rook penetrating to the 7th rank it is unlikely that Black can hold on for too long.}) 25. Nxe2 Rxe2 26. Qh6 (26. Qh6 Nf8 27. Bg4 $1 Re8 28. Bxf8 $18) 1-0
A tactical back and forth game favored White when Nepomniachtchi made a mistake in time trouble
Svidler, Peter 1-0 Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Svidler came out with an interesting and aggressive reversed Sicilian type of position in which he launched a quick h4-h5 attack. The game was chaotic and wild, and it seems that despite obtaining an edge from the opening it was the young player with Black that outplayed his more experienced opponent. The fateful mistake came on move 32. Black had just sacrificed an exchange for activity and a strong pawn and he had to maintain it alive with 32...Ne3! instead of this Svidler was able to consolidate his exchange and eventually win the game.
Andreikin, Dmitry 1-0 Karjakin, Sergey(above)
Andreikin also pushed a quick h4-h5 against Karjakin's kingside fianchetto. White obtained a very comfortable advantage from the opening with a powerful bishop on d5 and a complete domination of Black's lame bishop on f6. When on top of that Black dropped his e5 pawn, it was basically lights out for Karjakin.
Andreikin played an aggressive game and overpowered Karjakin through the entire game
Goganov, Aleksey 0-1 Vitiugov, Nikita
Vitiugov obtained an advantage from the opening, and eventually won a pawn, but Goganov was resilient and he took the game into what was a difficult to win rook endgame. Goganov, who is not even 2600 yet, was close to holding a draw but he zugzwanged himself with the move 48.h7?? when the waiting move 48.Kd2 would have held the draw. A very instructive endgame that is worthy of being analyzed.
Goganov was close to a draw but he missed a subtle zugzwang at the end
Motylev, Alexander 0-1 Inarkiev, Ernesto
White obtained nothing from this Spanish opening and Black's solid position even gave him a little edge as it was more comfortable for him to maneuver his pieces to good positions. Inarkiev won a pawn but had some positional troubles and it seemed as if it would be difficult to convert it since all the pawns were on the same side, but a grave mistake by Motylev allowed the second player to penetrate decisively on his back rank and create a swift mating attack.
Women's
Charochkina held an interesting draw against the highest rated player in the tournament
Charochkina, Daria ½-½ Tatiana, Kosintseva
An interesting and fighting reversed Sicilian, but neither side was able to get an advantage over the other and the game ended in a drawn rook endgame after all possibilities had been exhausted.
Gunina always held an edge, but just when it seemed like it had dissipated Goryachkina handed her the game back
Gunina, Valentina 1-0 Goryachkina, Aleksandra
The newly crowned World Women's Junior Champion was about to make a draw with Gunina, but she for some reason traded bishops in a position where her king was still somewhat exposed. Keeping the bishops would've guaranteed the king's safety and a likely draw. This allowed Gunina to transpose into a winning pawn endgame that she botched up, but Goryachkina returned the favor by handing over the opposition.
Kovanova, Baira 1-0 Kosteniuk, Alexandra
Kovanova put her pieces in very aggressive places against Kosteniuk's Classical Sicilian. A blunder in move 23 by the ex-World Champion allowed her opponent to win a decisive amount of material, and as much as Kosteniuk struggled her fate was sealed.
Kovanova demolished the ex-World Champion: no one is safe in this tournament!
Bodnaruk, Anastasia 0-1 Kashlinskaya, Alina
Black doesn't win often in the Petroff, but that doesn't mean it never happens. Bondaruk put too much faith in her passed pawn on d6, but Kashlinskaya proved that in the resulting endgame her active bishop and her outside potential passed pawn on the queenside was worth much, much more.
Pogonina, Natalia ½-½ Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina
Kovalevskaya's isolated pawn allowed her a great deal of activity that put Pogonina against the ropes. However she missed a killing blow with 27...Qe6! which would have increased her pressure against White's kingside to an unbearable level. The simplification on d3 was too sudden and Pogonina was able to hold the draw from there.
Replay Men's Round 1 games
Replay Women's round 1 games
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Women
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LinksThe games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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