Super Final R7: Kasparov, Svidler win

57th Russian Championship Super Final November 14th – December 1st 2004

The Super Final of the 57th Russian is being held in the Festive Hall of the Hotel Rossija (“Rociya”), directly adjacent to the Red Square. The prize sum is US $125,000, to be paid out in rouble equivalent. The winner takes $50,000. The participants of this round robin tournament are Garry Kasparov, Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Alexey Dreev, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Alexander Motylev, Vladimir Epishin, Artem Timofeev and Alexey Korotylev. Originally Vladimir Kramnik and Anatoly Karpov were included, but both withdrew at the last moment.

Round seven – Monday, November 22, 2004

We start with the drawn games. Timofeev-Bareev was one of those why-should-we-waste-our-strength 17-move draws, while Morozevich-Grischuk ended after 26 moves in a mutual-respect repetition. Dreev-Motylev, a Petrosian in the Queen's Indian, was a tough fight, with chances for both sides. In the end it was Dreev who was pressing, but the game ended after 78 moves in an unwinnable R+P vs R.

Now the decided encounters. Peter Svidler was relentless against Alexey Korotylev's Sicilian Rauzer, gaining a very clear advantage in the middle game and raking in the full point, even if it took 62 moves. Garry Kasparov, playing against Vitaly Tseshkovsky – the two oldest players in the field tally 101 years on the age scale – and seemed to be in a lot of trouble in the Scheveningen he had chosen after Tseshkovsky played 1.e4.

Tseshkovsky,V (2577) - Kasparov,G (2813) [B84]
57th ch-RUS Moscow RUS (7), 22.11.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a4 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bg1 Bd7 13.Nb3 b6 14.Bf3 Rab8 15.Qe2 Nb4 16.e5 Nfd5 17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.Be4 b5 19.Nd4 g6 20.f5 exf5 21.Bxd5 dxe5 22.Nxf5 Bxf5

Here the 60-year-old Tseshkovsky sacrificed an exchange for a dangerous attack: 23.Rxf5 gxf5 24.Qh5 Bf8 25.Qxf5 Bg7 26.Ra3 e4 27.Rh3 h6.

Here 28.Qg6 e3 29.Rg3 Qe5 30.Bxf7+ Kh8 31.Rxe3 looked dead lost for Black, but 31...Qxe3 32.Bxe3 Rxe3 leaves the position unclear. Misha Savinov reports that Kasparov had seen 28.Qg6 before playing 27...h6, but nevertheless decided to allow it. "First of all, it is a hard move to find at the board after three hours of tense play," Kasparov said. "Yes, I had 27...Re5 28.Qxh7+ Kf8 29.Rg3 Rxd5 30.Rxg7, and maybe White does not achieve anything, but it all looks too scary. 28.Qg6 with idea of 29.Rg3 forces me to reply with 28...e3 29.Rg3 Qe5 30.Bxf7+ Kh8 31.Rxe3 Qxe3 32.Bxe3 Rxe3, and this ending is probably winning for White." There is more analysis at the Chess Cafe, but this page may disappear into the archives after a while and be replaced by a different one.

Anyway Tseshkovsky chose another path: 28.Rg3 Qe5 29.Bxf7+ Kh8 30.Qg6 Rf8 (looks dangerous, but Black has everything under control – in fact he is clearly better) 31.axb5 axb5 32.Bd5 Rf1 33.c3 Rbf8 34.h3 Qf6 35.Bxe4 Qxg6 36.Rxg6 Re8 37.Bd3 Rd1 38.Rd6 Bf8 39.Bg6 Bxd6 0-1.

While watching this game on Playchess.com there was speculation that Kasparov is intentionally allowing himself to get worse positions in order to provoke the fight he will otherwise not get. "Normally he is faced with some grandmaster with 20 years of experience playing the 'immovable object' game," said one wag. "Instead of pounding away he has opened up weakness to provoke the opponent into throwing punches." And that is when he can strike back. It is just a theory – maybe he just got into trouble and found a fortuitous way to turn the game around. Whatever the reason, Kasparov is now in the sole lead in this event, even standing to pick up a rating point or two in the process.

Current standings

Tomorrow is a free day – round eight will be played on Wednesday

All Results

• All games in zipped PGN
• All reports so far