Superfinals: Tomashevsky and Goryachkina win

by Johannes Fischer
8/21/2015 – The final round of the Russian Superfinals brought no upsets: Evgeny Tomashevsky drew comfortably with White against Peter Svidler and became Russian Champion 2015 when his closest rival, Sergey Karjakin, could not win against Dmitry Jakovenko. Aleksandra Goryachkina followed a similar policy: she drew with Kateryna Lagno and that was enough to win the tournament.
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The 68th Men's Russian Chess Championship and the 65th Women's Russian Chess Championship is played in Chita from 9. to 21. August. The competition is held by the Russian Chess Federation, the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation and the Zabaykalsky Krai Chess Federation, with support from the government of the Zabaykalsky Krai. The competition partners are Norilsk Nickel and the Baikalsk Mining Company.

Evgeny Tomashevsky is new Russian Champion.

Evgeny Tomashevsky at the start of final round

Evgeny Tomashevsky - after winning the tournament number 13 in the live-rating-list played a fine tournament and won convincingly. After three rounds he took the lead and basically kept it till the end. He finished the tournament with 7.5/11 (four wins, seven draws, and no loss), half-a-point ahead of Sergey Karjakin, who finished with 7.0/11 (three wins, eight draws, and no loss).

Five of the six games of the final round were drawn, only Igor Lysyj won against Vladislav Artemiev. After ten rounds Tomashevsky was leading the field by half-a-point which he had to defend with White against Peter Svidler. He had no troubles doing so. In his beloved Grünfeld Svidler tried an exchange sacrifice and obtained a passed pawn and counterplay - but never had serious chances to win.

 
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Tomashevsky had a half point lead but faced a formidable opponent in the form of Peter Svidler in the last round. Any slip would allow Karjakin to come level with him. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 Of course, Grunfeld and Svidler are like Siamese twins. 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 c5 5...0-0 6.Rc1 c5 7.dxc5 Be6 is the other important line here. 6.dxc5 Qa5 7.Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 0-0 9.Nge2 Nc6 9...Qxc5 is the main move. 10.Qb3 Nc6 11.Nb5 Qh5 12.Ng3 Qh4 13.Nc7 e5 14.Bg5!? Qxg5 15.h4! Qg4 16.Nxa8 is the main line where White has scored pretty well. 10.0-0 Qxc5 11.Nb5 Be6 12.Bd3 Qb4 13.Nc7N Till here the players were following the game Lysyj-Svidler from November 2014. Lysyj had played a3 but Tomashevsky played Nc7. Both of them were making their moves quickly which meant that they were well prepared. Bxa2 14.Nxa8 Rxa8 15.Ra1 Be6 White has his pieces well developed and Black has only a pawn for the exchange. Don't you think White should be better here? Well the crux of the matter is that the pawn on b2 is pretty weak and the bishop on g7 has its hawk eyes on it. 16.Qa4 Nd5 17.Bb5 17.Qxb4 Ncxb4 18.Be4 a5 17...Nxf4 18.Nxf4 Bb3 19.Qxb4 Nxb4 20.Rac1 Once again Black's deficit in material is compensated by the weak b2 pawn and queenside majority. Svidler plays this pretty well. a5! 21.Rc7 a4 22.Rxb7 Bxb2 23.Be2 Na2 24.Bf3 Tomashevsky plays with great accuracy. The a-pawn is quite venomous and his position is not without dangers. Rd8 25.Nd5 e6 25...Bxd5 26.Rxb2± 26.Rb1 a3 27.Rxb3 exd5 28.R3xb2 Tomshevsky didn't want any more anxious moments trying to defend against the a-pawn. He sacrifices his exchange back but the game now peters out to a draw. axb2 29.Rxb2 Nc3 30.Rc2 Ne4 31.Rb2 Nc3 32.Rc2 Ne4 33.Rb2 With this Tomashevsky become the Champion of the 68th Russian Championships. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Tomashevsky,E2747Svidler,P2739½–½2015D8268th Superfinal RUS-ch Men11

Tomashevsky's draw gave Sergey Karjakin the chance to catch up to the leader - if he managed to win in the final round against Dmitry Jakovenko with Black. Karjakin tried hard but finally had to content himself with a draw and second place.

 
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At the start of the final round Karjakin was in a difficult situation. He had the black pieces against Jakovenko and most probably had to play for a win in order to fight for the top honours. 1.e4 c5 When in a must win situation Sicilian is the right choice! 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 This was one of Kasparov's favourite lines in the Najdorf. Black needs to actively and precisely because he has pushed his kingside pawns. At the same time it has helped him to get good control over the dark squares. 10.Be2 h5 11.Bxg4 hxg4 11...Bxg4 12.f3 Bd7 13.Bf2 is another story. 12.Nd5 Theoretically this might be the most challenging move in the position. 12.0-0 Nc6 13.Nf5 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qa5 15.Qxg4 f6 Has been seen at the top level namely Shirov- Kasparov and Adams-Anand. Black seems to be doing fine. 12...Nc6 12...e6 13.Ne3 13.Nf5 Bxf5 Karjakin keeps up his pace. He is well prepared. 14.exf5 Bxb2 15.Rb1 Qa5+ 15...Be5 16.0-0± With the white king safely tucked in and the g4 and b7 pawns hanging, this is a highly favourable position for White. 16.Qd2 16.Kf1 The king doesn't fit well with the position and after Bd4 Black has the advantage. 16...Bf6 Even though this same move has been played twice by Vachier Lagrave and once by Gelfand, Karjakin took 25 minutes to play this move. He must have forgotten his preparation. 17.Rxb7 0-0 18.Qxa5 18.Nxe7+!? Kg7! was seen in Ganguly-MVL. 18...Bxe7? 19.Qxa5 Nxa5 20.Rxe7 19.Nxc6 Rfe8+ 20.Kd1 Qxa2 21.Nb4 Qa1+ 22.Qc1 Qd4+ 23.Qd2 23.Nd3 Qe4 The position becomes a little scary for White. 23...Qa1+ and the players agreed for a draw. 18...Nxa5 19.Rb4 Jakovenko was still following the game Kamsky-MVL. Rfb8 And this is the first new move and an excellent one by Karjakin. MVL had preferred to play the other rook to b8 but it was less accurate. 19...Rab8 20.Bxd6! Kamsky had not found this move. But it seems to be very strong. exd6 21.Nxf6+ Kg7 22.Rxb8 Rxb8 23.Nh5+ Kh6 24.Ng3 Defending the h1 rook. Rb2 25.Kd2 Rxa2 26.Rb1± White has all the winning chances. 20.Bxd6 Jakovenko had to put on his thinking hat and after ten minute he played the same move which he would have come prepared for 19...Rab8. Rd8! Karjakin was in top form. He played all the accurate moves to defuse White's initiative. 21.Nxf6+ exf6 22.Bg3 Rac8 Black's pawn structure on the kingside is weird and he is also a pawn down. But his activity gives him excellent chances of equalizing the game. 23.Rxg4 Rxc2 24.0-0 Rd5! Extremely accurate. 24...Rxa2?! 25.h4± 25.h4 Rxf5 26.Ra4 Kg7 27.Rd1 Nc6 28.Rxa6 gxh4 29.Bxh4 Rc4 29...Nb4?! 30.Ra4 Nxa2? 31.Rg4+ Kf8 32.Rd8+ Ke7 33.Rgg8+- is game over. 30.f3 30.Bg3 Nd4! threatening a check on e2 which is very hard to meet. 31.Re1 31.Kf1 Rh5! 31...Rh5 Threatening Ne2 followed by Rc1+. 32.Bf4 32.f3 Rc2 32...Rc2= As you can see from the variations the two rooks and the knight co-ordinate perfectly to create lots of threats and maintain the balance. 30...Nb4 31.Ra4 Rxh4 32.Rb1 Rb5 33.g4 33.a3? Nc2-+ 33...Nxa2! 34.Rxb5 Nc3 35.Raa5 Nxb5 36.Rxb5 And it's a draw. Rh8 37.Kg2 Ra8 38.Kg3 Rh8 39.Ra5 Re8 40.g5 fxg5 41.Rxg5+ Of course Karjakin would not have been the happiest person in the world because of the draw as he couldn't become the Russian Champion but the accuracy with which he played in the game was just mind boggling. Maybe with this game he has ended the discussion for White's advantage in this line of the Najdorf. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Jakovenko,D2759Karjakin,S2753½–½2015B9068th Superfinal RUS-ch Men11

Sergey Karjakin discussing previous games with Jakovenko.

Third place went to Nikita Vitiugov.

Nikita Vitiugov

Final standings

Women

Aleksandra Goryachkina

Aleksandra Goryachkina convincingly won the women's championship with 8.0/11 (six wins, one loss, four draws). A draw against Kateryna Lagno in the final round sufficed for the title because her rival Alexandra Kosteniuk lost track in a rook endgame against Ekaterina Kovalevskaya.

 
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1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Bg4 4.Qb3 Bxf3!? Goryachkina employs a very risky strategy in the crucial round. She gives up her light squared bishop and sets up the pawns on light squares. 4...Qb6 5.Qxb6 axb6 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Bg2 e6 was a safer choice for Black. 5.Qxf3 e6 5...dxc4 6.Na3 b5? 7.Nxb5± 6.Qb3 Qd7 7.d4 Bd6 8.Bg2 f5 Usually in the stonewall, it's the c8 bishop which gives Black the most headaches. Here Goryachkina has exchanged the light squared bishop and sets up her pawns on the light squares. But as you can see Lagno takes advantage of his setup quite easily. 9.Nd2 Nf6 10.c5 Be7 11.Nf3 With Bf4 coming up white will have excellent control on the dark squares. 0-0 12.Bf4 a5? Black's main problem is that she lacks space. She needs to fight back. And the best way to do that was 12...b6! 13.cxb6 axb6 14.Qxb6 Bd8! 15.Qb3 Ba5+ 16.Bd2 Ne4 17.Bxa5 Rxa5 With interesting practical play for the pawn. 13.0-0 Na6 14.Qc2 Nh5 15.e3 Rfe8 16.b3 Nxf4 17.exf4 The e-file has opened up and the e6 pawn is a weakness. The e5 square is a perfect home for the f3 knight. The knight on a6 is not so ideally placed. All this leads to a clear advantage for White. b6 18.cxb6 Qb7 19.Rfe1 Bf6 20.Ne5 20.Re3!? Qxb6 21.Rae1 Kf7 22.a3± is a very nice positional advantage. The rook plans to swing over to c3 in order to attack c6 in some cases. 20...Rac8 21.Qd2 Bxe5 22.Rxe5 Qxb6 23.Rae1 Nc7 24.Rc1 Na6 25.Rce1 25.Bf1! Nb8 25...Kf7 26.Bxa6! A very strong positional decision. Qxa6 27.Rc5± With all these weaknesses and rooks in dominant positions, White is close to winning. 26.Qe2!? Kf7 27.Re1! c5 28.Qh5+! Kg8 29.Rxf5+- 25...Kf7 26.g4!? The right idea. White cannot just sit and wait for his opponent to collapse. She has to open another front. Nc7 26...fxg4 27.f5 exf5 28.Qf4 Rxe5 29.Qxe5 Qd8 30.Qxf5+ Kg8 31.Qxg4± The bishop on g2 has now good scope to participate in the game. 27.gxf5 exf5 28.Rxf5+ Kg8 29.Rfe5 Rf8 30.f5 30.Re7! It was extremely important to pin down the knight on c7. Rce8 31.R1e5± 30...Nb5! The d4 pawn is attacked and White has to lose her co-ordination to some extent. 31.Rd1 Rf7 32.Qe3 Rcf8 33.Bh3 Nd6 34.Rc1 Ne4 35.Re6 Rf6 36.f3 Nd6 37.Qe5 Nf7 38.Qe3 Nd6 39.Qe5 Nf7 40.Qf4 Nd8 41.Rxf6 Rxf6 Black is still under quite some pressure but with the exchange of a pair of rooks her defensive task has eased to some extent. 42.Qe3 Qb4 43.Bg4 Rf7 44.Re1 Rf8 45.Kf2 Qd6 46.Qe5 Qh6 47.Kg3 Qd2 48.Re2 Qc1 49.Kg2 Qc3 50.Qe3 Qb4 51.Rc2 Rf7 52.Rc5 Kf8 53.Qf4 53.Qc3 Qxc3 54.Rxc3 Rb7 55.Rc5 a4 56.bxa4 Rb4 would lead to a draw 53...Rf6 54.Qe3 Rf7 55.Rc2 Kg8 56.Qc3 Re7 57.Kf1 Qb5+ 58.Kg2 Qa6 59.Qd2 Qb5 60.Kf2 Qb8 61.Kg1 Qb6 62.Qf4 Qb4 63.Kg2 63.f6 Qe1+ 64.Kg2 Re2+ 65.Rxe2 Qxe2+ 66.Kh3 gxf6 67.Qxf6 Qf1+= Gives black sufficient play for a draw. 63...Rf7 64.Re2 Rf8 65.h4 a4 66.bxa4 Qxa4 67.f6! With the perfect set up in place White is finally able to break in. gxf6 68.Bf5 Qd1 69.Rd2 69.Qe3!+- with the idea of Qe7 and Kh2 followed by Rg2 is just game over. 69...Qe1 70.Kh2 Kh8 71.Rg2 Rg8! Goryachkina exchanges another rook and this makes White's task even more difficult. 72.Rxg8+ Kxg8 73.Qg4+ Kf8 74.Bxh7 Qf2+ 75.Kh3 Nf7 76.a4 Qe1 77.Qg2 Qa1 78.Qd2 Qxa4 79.Bg6 Qa3 80.Qf4 Qd6 81.Kg3 Qe7 82.Bxf7 Kxf7= Now the game is just drawn. 83.Kf2 c5 84.Qf5 Qd6 85.Qh7+ Kf8 86.dxc5 Qxc5+ 87.Kg2 Qd4 88.Qf5 Qxh4 89.Qxd5 Qe1 90.Qd6+ Kf7 91.Qd7+ Kg6 92.Qg4+ Kf7 93.Qc4+ Kf8 94.Kh3 Qe5 95.Qg4 A miraculous escape for Goryachkina who showed nerves of steel to defend such an inferior position for almost the entire game. At the end even if she would have lost, it would have been fine for her to become the Russian Women's champion as her nearest compeititor Kosteniuk also lost her game. She is surely the deserving champion and we will hear more about her in the years to come. ½–½
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Lagno,K2530Goryachkina,A2474½–½2015A1165th Superfinal RUS-ch Women11

Alexandra Kosteniuk before the crucial game

 
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Kosteniuk had a theoretical chance to fight for the title as she was only half a point behind Goryachkina. It was natural that she came with aggressive intentions to win the game. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 Bb4!? The second most popular move and Kosteniuk hopes that her opponent must not be as thoroughly prepared in this line as the main one with exd4. 4...exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 Takes us to the absolute main line of the four knights. 5.Nxe5 Kosteniuk's little tricked worked as Kovalevskaya took 14 minutes to make her move. 0-0!? 6.Bd3 6.Qd3 is the more ambitious approach. Re8 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.f3 d5 9.e5 c5 with interesting play. 6...Nxd4 7.Be3 Ne6 8.0-0 d6 9.Nc4 Bxc3 10.bxc3 This is just the kind of position Kosteniuk must be looking for at the start of the game. She has equalised and there are also some imbalances on the board. Nc5 10...b6 With the idea of Bb7 and Nc5 was much more solid. 11.e5 Ng4? 11...Nfe4 was relativelt better. 12.Bxc5! The knight on g4 is stranded now. dxc5 13.h3 Nh6 14.Qh5 White has a clear advantage. It is surprising how in a matter of four moves a completely equal position turned into a very bad one for Alexandra. Qe8 Preparing the typical defensive idea with f5. 15.Qg5 15.f4 f5 16.Qf3± was also good. the bishop on c8 cannot develop because of the pressure on b7. 15...Be6 16.Nd2 Qd8 17.Qh5 Bf5 18.Ne4?! 18.Bxf5!? Qxd2 18...Nxf5 19.Ne4!± 19.Be4 Qxc3 20.Bxb7± 18...Bg6 18...c4? 19.Nf6+! gxf6 20.Bxf5± 19.Qf3 Qe7 20.Qf4 Rfe8 Thanks to some inaccuracies by White, Black is back into the game. 21.Rae1 Rad8 21...Qxe5 22.Qxe5 Rxe5 23.f4 Re6 24.Nxc5 Rc6 25.Nxb7 Bxd3 26.cxd3 Rxc3= 22.Nf6+!? gxf6 23.Qxh6 Qf8 23...fxe5 24.f4 c4! 24...e4? 25.f5+- 25.Rxe5 Qd6 26.Bxg6 26.Bxc4? Rxe5 27.fxe5 Qc5+-+ 26...hxg6 27.Rg5 The position looks dangerous for Black but he can equalise with the accurate Qd2! 28.Rxg6+ 28.f5? Re1! 28...Re2 29.Qh4+- 28...fxg6 29.Qxg6+= 24.Qxf8+ Kxf8 25.exf6 Re6? 25...Rd6! was the right way to equalise. 26.Rxe8+ Kxe8 27.Re1+ Kd8 28.Bxg6 hxg6= The endgame is round about equal. 26.Rxe6 fxe6 27.Bxg6 hxg6 28.g4! Of course the f6 pawn has to be defended. Rd2 29.g5 Rxc2 30.Rd1 Ke8 31.Re1 31.h4! would have ensured a quick finish. Rxc3 32.h5! Rc4 33.hxg6 Rd4 34.Re1 Rd6 35.Re4+- 31...Kf7 32.Rd1 Ke8 32...Rxc3 33.Rd7+ Ke8 34.Re7+ Kf8 35.Kg2!+- 35.h4?! Rc4! 33.h4! Kovalevskaya finds the right plan and finishes off the game. Rxc3 34.h5 c4 35.hxg6 Rd3 36.Re1 c3 37.g7 Kf7 38.g6+ Kg8 39.Rxe6 Rd8 40.Re8+ This loss proved to be costly for Kosteniuk as she had to settle for the third spot. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kovalevskaya,E2453Kosteniuk,A25261–02015C4765th Superfinal RUS-ch Women11

The 16-year old Goryachkina - she will turn 17 in September - from Orsk is the great hope of the Russian Chess Federation. In the Superfinals in Cheita she left all the players from Russia's national women's team behind her. By losing the final round Kosteniuk dropped to third place. She had the same number of points as Anastasia Bodnaruk and more Sonneborn-Berger points but the number of games with Black decided the tie-break - and thus Anastasia Bodnaruk was declared second.

Anastasia Bodnaruk

Final standings

More or less happy winners: (from left to right)
Evgeny Tomashevsky, Sergey Karjakin, Nikita Vitiugov

The winner's of the women's tournament: (from left to right)
Alexandra Kosteniuk, Anastasia Bodnaruk, Aleksandra Goryachkina

Photos: Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili

Links

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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kayatoast kayatoast 8/22/2015 06:31
Or at least say chess !
ChessHulk ChessHulk 8/21/2015 04:06
Somebody say cheese! lol
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