2017 Russian Higher League: Volkov and Romanov lead midway

Photos by Dmitry Kryakvin

There aren’t many countries in the world in which a grandmaster’s dream might be to just participate in the national championship. While achieving the grandmaster title has become easier and the title itself has been a bit devalued (a subject of much debate, no doubt), it is still fairly safe to assume that a GM should make it to the final of a national championship if he sets his mind to it. However, this is not the case for a handful of powerhouse countries.

For example, the US championship qualification is determined by the average of Elo and USCF rating which makes it a challenge even for a solid 2625 rated player to ensure a spot. A similar story applies to China, even if the national championship there is almost devoid of the elite 2700s, but by virtue of the quickly growing ranks of grandmasters there, making it into the final is anything but straightforward. Other countries such as Ukraine, Armenia, and more, have similar tales no doubt, but there is one that stands above them all in sheer terms of difficulty, where just saying you played in the final is a point of pride and positive mark on one’s CV. You can guess its name easily enough: Russia.

Right after the collapse of the Soviet Union the title of Russian Champion suffered a blow to its prestige and the tournament was conducted in Swiss-system and knockout events until 2004.  It is perhaps not so surprising that it was the return of Garry Kasparov to its lineup in 2004 that brought back the vibe and prestige this tough event deserved and needed.

Ever since then, it is a series of Herculean qualification events that determine who will earn the right to fight for the coveted title in the subsequent Russian Super-Final. While even the most prestigious national championships can be proud to include one or more 2700 players, here the Russian qualifier alone, known as the Russian Higher League, will include past champions and a number of 2600 and 2700 players.

This is not to mention the pack of 2500-something, ultimately making Russian Higher League an almost all-grandmaster event. With only five spots to fight for, one might expect a lot of decisive results but instead we see a lot of close tactical battles ending in a draws with few decisive results on the top boards. Despite all these draws, there is no shortage of rich games that are full of dramatic, beautiful moments.

The tournament's top seed is none other than Maxim Matlakov who recently won the European championship, with a current rating of 2730 Elo, followed by Evgeny Najer (2706), who was himself European Champion in 2015. Following them are names such as the promising youngster Vladislav Artemiev with 2695, and of course the ever-popular Aleksander Morozevich, former world no. 2.

Maxim Matlakov is the top-seed with 2730, and has been in great form, winning the 2017 European Individual Championship just a month ago

Evgeny Najer, 2706 FIDE, is the second seed in this qualifier for the Russian Super Final

After five rounds however, it is not the Elos that are defining the lead but those coming with their best chess: Evgeny Romanov (2610) and Sergey Volkov (2627), the latter who was himself a former champion back in 2000, lead with 4.0/5. Both Matlakov and Najer stand at 3.5/5 while Morozevich is on a modest +1 after his loss to Romanov in the fourth round. Artemiev seems a bit out of shape as he had a huge “Swiss Gambit” after losing back to back games in rounds two and three, though he appears determined to come back after two wins in a row in rounds four and five.

15-year-old Andrey Esipenko is the youngest participant in the Open section

Here are some interesting moments from rounds four and five:

GM Evgeny Alekseev is a mysterious case of my generation. He had a fast rise to 2700, and then played a number of elite events, but the talented and well-booked Russian seemed to stop working on chess and his rating dramatically dropped more than 100 points. However, it seems that this very strong 1.e4 player is back to his elements, and in this event sits on a respectable +2 after five rounds. Here he dismantled Vladimir Potkin, a very strong theoretician though mostly a coach nowadays.

Alekseev-Potkin (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

In the next game. Sergey Volkov came up with a fantastic piece sacrifice that his opponent never saw coming even after he had taken the piece. What awaited him was a nasty wakeup call.

Rozum - Volkov (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

In an encounter between the leader and the top seed, Maxim Matlakov had everything in control to take down Romanov (once again!) but the resourceful Evgeny Romanov managed to swindle Matlakov and score an important half point.

Matlakov - Romanov (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

Open standings after five rounds

Click for complete standings

In the women's section, things are a bit different. The number of draws is much smaller but most of the leaders are expected figures. However, two players should be noted in here: WIM Polina Shuvalova is leading with 4.5/5 while Bibisara Assubayeva, the sensational figure of the European Open championship, has a formidable 3.5/5 with good chances to clinch a seat in the final!

WGM Olga Girya is the top seed in the Women's event with 2502 FIDE

WIM Polina Shulova, the Russian Girls's under-21 champion, is leading the Women's section in the Russian Higher League with 4.5/5

The ever-photogenic IM Alina Kashlinskaya

13-year-old WFM Bibisara Assaubayeva together with her mother, Liana

Women's standings after five rounds

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Links

• Official tournament site
• All Open games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)
• All Women's games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.