Things heat up in the Russian Superfinals

by Eteri Kublashvili
8/10/2015 – After a quiet first round things heated up in the Russian Superfinals. In round one Karjakin was the only player to win a game, in round two three games were decided, and now four players lead with 1.5/2. The players in the women's tournament were fiercer. In the first round three games were decided, in the second round four. Goryachkina and Girya lead with 2.0/2.
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Russian Chess Championship Superfinal Rounds 1 and 2

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.

Round 1 - Results (Men)
A. Motylev ½-½ P. Svidler
D. Khairullin ½-½ D. Dubov
V. Artemiev ½-½ N. Vitiugov
I. Bukavshin ½-½ I. Lysyj
S. Karjakin 1-0 D. Khismatullin
E. Tomashevsky ½-½ D. Jakovenko
Round 2 - Results (Men)
N .Vitiugov 1-0 I .Bukavshin
A. Motylev 0-1 D. Khairullin
D. Dubov ½-½ V. Artemiev
I. Lysyj ½-½ S. Karjakin
P. Svidler ½-½ D. Jakovenko
D. Khismatullin 0-1 E. Tomashevsky

Round 2 (10. August 2015)     Khismatullin, Denis - Tomashevsky, Evgeny 0-1

The Governor of the Zabaykalsky Krai, President of the regional chess federation Konstantin Ilkovsky made the symbolical first move in the game between the 12th Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (Moscow) and Grandmaster Anastasia Bodnaruk (St. Petersburg).

The first move of the first round

The Men's Tournament

Taking it easy: Peter Svidler (left), Alexander Motylev (opposite Svidler) and Mark Gluhovsky (standing).

The only winner in the men's tournament was Sergey Karjakin, who defeated Denis Khismatullin in a hard-fought battle.

 
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The only decisive game of the first round reached a very interesting position after 49 moves. White is two pawns up but the b3 pawn is very strong. Khismatullin has excellent chances of a draw. He starts off with the correct move but soon goes astray. 49...Bc5 Attacking the f2 pawn. 50.Nd3 50.Rf3 Rxf2+! 51.Rxf2 Bxf2 52.Nd3 Bd4= 50...Rb1+ 50...Rd2!? 51.Nxc5 b2 52.Rb3 Rd1+ 53.Kg2 b1Q 54.Rxb1 Rxb1 And we reach a similar position to the one that could have been reached a few moves later. We will try to analyze it at that point. 51.Kg2 b2 52.Nxc5 52.Rg8+!? Bf8 53.Kh3± was a better way to continue the struggle for White. 52...Rg1+? Khismatullin makes a poor move which gives Black a winning endgame with a rook+ knight + three pawns vs a queen. Just too much material. 52...Rc1! or Ra1 or Rd1 or Re1, is definitely the critical move. 53.Rb3 b1Q 53...Rxc5 54.Rxb2 Rxe5 And even this position is not so clear because of the 'f' and 'h' pawns. 55.Rb7 Although no one would like to defend this position with his king cut off on the last rank. 54.Rxb1 Rxb1 How should we assess this position. I would say that Black is closer to a draw than White is to a win. 55.f4 55.Kf3 Kf7 56.Ke4 Rh1 57.f4 Rxh2= And as is well proved in many manuals, rook vs any minor piece and two pawns in a theoretical draw. 55...Kf7 56.Kg3 56.f5? Rb5! 57.Nd3 Rd5= e5 pawn falls. 56...Kg6 57.Ne4 Kf5 58.Nd6+ Ke6 59.h4 Rg1+ 60.Kf3 Rf1+ 61.Kg4 Rg1+ 62.Kh5 Rf1 63.Kg5 Rg1+= And it seems impossible that White can make any progress. 53.Kxg1 b1Q+ 54.Kg2+- All that White has to do is consolidate and slowly push his army forward. A task which was not at all difficult to Karjakin. He won in a few moves. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karjakin,S2753Khismatullin,D26421–02015A1368th ch-RUS 20151

Sergey Karjakin shows his win at the press conference.

The second round saw more action. Three games were drawn, two were won by Black, and in one game White had the better of it. Sagar Shah annotates the three decided games.

Nikita Vitiugov scored a fine win in a theoretically interesting game.

 
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 The triangle system is gaining in quite some popularity these days. 4.e3 Vitiugov avoids the complicated Marshall Gambit and Noteboom Variations and instead goes for the quiet variation with e3. Is it an invitation to enter the Meran? Nf6 Bukavshin doesn't mind the Meran. 4...f5 is another interesting move going into the stonewall. 5.b3!? Though pretty logical, this is the sixth most popular move in the position. Vitiugov has a strange strategy of delaying Nf3 for quite some time in this game. Bd6 5...Bb4 6.Bb2 Ne4 7.Qc2 Qa5 8.Nge2 6.Bb2 0-0 7.Bd3!? Vitiugov continues his strategy of delaying the development of his knight with Nf3. Black makes a logical move of breaking in the center with e5. 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Takes us into one of the important positions of the Anti-Meran. 7...e5! 8.dxe5 8.cxd5?! exd4! 9.exd4 Nxd5 8...Bxe5 9.Nf3 If Black has to retreat or give up his bishop on c3 then White would be better. But Black has a developing move at his disposal which maintains the balance. Bg4 9...dxc4 10.Bxc4 Qxd1+ 11.Rxd1 10.Qc2 Bxf3 11.gxf3 d4!? This is a very natural move trying to take advantage of the white king still being in the centre of the board. But it is inaccurate. Better would have been 11...Na6 12.a3 12.f4? Nb4 12...Qe7 12.Ne2! Qa5+ Bukavshin had definitely prepared this move which defends the e5 bishop and threatens dxe3 on the next move but maybe he underestimated Vitiugov's reply. 12...c5 might have limited the damage. 13.f4 Bd6 14.exd4 cxd4 15.0-0-0 13.b4! 13.Kf1 dxe3 14.b4 Qc7 13.Qd2? Qxd2+ 14.Kxd2 dxe3+ 13...Qxb4+ 14.Kf1 c5 15.f4 15.Rb1!? Qa5 16.exd4 cxd4 17.f4 Bd6 18.Bxd4 Nbd7 19.Rxb7± 15...Bd6 16.exd4 16.e4 looks strong as the threat is e5 but you have to take into account that the bishop on b2 is completely shut in. Nc6! 17.e5 Bxe5 18.fxe5 Nxe5 Black has an excellent position. 16...Nbd7 16...cxd4 17.Bxd4 Nbd7 18.Rb1± 17.Rg1 17.d5 looked extremely logical, creating a passed pawn and also opening up the bishop, but Vitiugov keeps the tension in the position. 17...g6 18.Rb1 The interesting part about this position is that all of White's forces are scattered in conventional terms while Black has excellent co-ordination. Yet, it is White who has a clear advantage as his pieces are functioning much better than Black's army. Qa5 19.f5 A sacrifice on g6 is imminent now and that explains Bukavshin's next move. g5 This is as good as resignation now. 19...Qc7 20.fxg6 fxg6 21.Bxg6 Kh8± gives Black better chances of defence yet he should lose in the long run. 20.Qc1! Kh8 20...h6 21.h4!+- 21.dxc5 opening up the bishop and threatening Qxg5. 21.Qxg5 Rg8 is not very convincing from White's point of view. 21...Be7 21...Qxc5 22.Qxg5 Rg8 23.Bxf6++- 22.Bd4! Defending the c5 pawn and threatening the one on b7. Qc7 23.Be4! The knight on f6 is pinned, so the bishop improves itself and attacks the b7 pawn. Rab8 24.Nc3 24.Rxb7‼ is an excellent tactical shot which can be found only if you are immensely alert. Qxg5 is always met with Rg8. However, if the rook on b8 is deflected then Rg8 would not be possible and hence's this was the fastest way to win. Rxb7 25.Qxg5!+- 24...h6 24...Qxh2 25.Rh1 25.Nd5 Bxc5 reduces White's advantage. 25...Qf4 26.Qxf4 gxf4 27.Nd5+- 25.Nd5 Qd8 26.h4 Bxc5 27.hxg5 Bxd4 28.gxf6 The queen will land on h6 and end the game. A very original and powerful game by Nikita Vitiugov. 1–0
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Vitiugov,N2719Bukavshin,I26551–02015D3168th ch-RUS 20152

Nikita Vitiugov shows the finer points of his strategy. Evgenij Miroshnichenko listens.

After his loss against Karjakin in round one Denis Khismatullin had White in round two and was too ambitious - against Evgeny Tomashevsky, who is famous for his solid style, this backfired.

 
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An Open Spanish that resulted in some quite unorthodox play led to this position. Thanks to the safer king, Motylev has a clear advantage here. I wonder what happened to him as he just blundered an entire piece with his next move. 25.Na2?? Nxc2! The only explanation that I can find for Motylev playing Na2 is that he calculated only Nxa2 and figured the Qxa6 would give him good play but he must have forgotten about this capture followed by Rxb2. 25...Nxa2 26.Qxa6+ Kd7 27.Rxd5+ Ke7 28.Rf5!?∞ Maybe variations like these are what seduced Alexander into 25.Na2?? 26.Qxa6+ 26.Qxc2 Rxb2-+ 26...Kd7-+ Black is just a piece up and won easily. 0–1
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Motylev,A2658Khairullin,I26620–12015C8068th ch-RUS 20152

Evgeny Tomashevsky at the press conference

Alexander Motylev blundered in a better position against Ildar Khairullin.

 
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An Open Spanish that resulted in some quite unorthodox play led to this position. Thanks to the safer king, Motylev has a clear advantage here. I wonder what happened to him as he just blundered an entire piece with his next move. 25.Na2?? Nxc2! The only explanation that I can find for Motylev playing Na2 is that he calculated only Nxa2 and figured the Qxa6 would give him good play but he must have forgotten about this capture followed by Rxb2. 25...Nxa2 26.Qxa6+ Kd7 27.Rxd5+ Ke7 28.Rf5!?∞ Maybe variations like these are what seduced Alexander into 25.Na2?? 26.Qxa6+ 26.Qxc2 Rxb2-+ 26...Kd7-+ Black is just a piece up and won easily. 0–1
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Motylev,A2658Khairullin,I26620–12015C8068th ch-RUS 20152

Alexander Motylev (left) tries to explain what went wrong.

Standings after two rounds

Women

Round 1 - Results (Women)
A. Kosteniuk ½-½ A. Bodnaruk
K. Lagno ½-½ E. Kovalevskaya
A. Savina ½-½ M. Guseva
O. Girya 1-0 E. Ovod
V. Gunina 0-1 A. Goryachkina
A. Kashlinskaya 0-1 N. Pogonina
Round 2 - Results (Women)
A. Goryachkina 1-0 E. Kovalevskaya
A. Bodnaruk ½-½ K. Lagno
V. Gunina 1-0 A. Kashlinskaya
N. Pogonina 0-1 A. Savina
M. Guseva 0-1 O. Girya
E. Ovod ½-½ A. Kosteniuk

In the women's tournament, the history of the 2014 Superfinal's first round repeated itself: Russian Champion Valentina Gunina lost as White to Alexandra Goriachkina.

 
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The defending champion Valentina Gunina had a bad start to her campaign as she lost against Goryachkina in the first round. However, in the position that we have on the board, she had a completely winning position. 28.Bxe4?! 28.fxg7! Bxg7 28...Be7 29.Nc3 Nxc3 30.Bxc3+- and with Bf5 coming up, White is just winning. 29.Bxe4 Bxe4 30.Qh4!+- A move that is quite possible to miss. The e4 bishop and the rook on d8 are hanging and White emerges with an extra piece. 28...Bxe4 29.Qh4? 29.fxg7 Be7 and it is no longer as clear as the previous variation. 29...Bc2! 30.Rd2 30.fxg7 Be7-+ 30...Bxb3 White is now two pawns down and has absolutely no compensation! How fortunes change! 31.Nb6 Rb8 32.Nd5 Rxc4-+ 0–1
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Gunina,V2531Goryachkina,A24740–12015A3065th Superfinal RUS-ch Women1

Valentina Gunina before her first round game

Aleksandra Goryachkina before her game against Gunina

The women's tournament

Alexandra Kosteniuk started with two draws

In the second round four games were decided. Olga Girya and Aleksandra Goryachkina both won for the second time in a row and now lead the field. Sagar Shah has two highlights.

Anastasia Savina profited from an inaccuracy by Natalija Pogonina in a well-known position of the King's Indian with h3, allowing her to demonstrate the power of the King's Indian bishop on g7.

 
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The following position was reached from the h3 King's Indian. We are still in theory as many games have reached this position. However, both the players were taking lot of time for their moves and hence it would be safe to assume that they were out of their preparation. 10.Be2 Played after 23 minutes of thought. 10.g3 keeping the knight out of f4 would have given Black easy play with f5! 10.Nb3 has been seen in the high level game between Wang Yue and Ding Liren. f5 11.c5 f4 12.Bd2 Nxc5 13.Nxc5 dxc5 14.b4!? cxb4 15.Nb5 f3! 16.gxf3 Qd8 17.Bxb4 a6 Black has a fine position. 10...Nf4 11.Bxf4? A very bad positional decision. It opens up the strong g7 bishop, weakens the dark squares in white's camp and gives up the e5 square. 11.0-0 It would have been much better to give up the e2 bishop (not that Black is forced to capture it) than what happened in the game. 11...exf4 From here on it was easy sailing for Savina as she converted her positional plus in a nice technical game. 0–1
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Pogonina,N2460Savina,A24290–12015E7165th Superfinal RUS-ch Women2

The game between Marina Guseva and Olga Girya was a tense affair, in which Girya finally had the better of it.

 
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In this very complicated position that was reached between Guseva and Girya, Black had a pretty winning shot in the position. 44...Rd2?! 44...Nf3‼ The threat is to pick up the bishop and if it moves, then Rd1+ is terminal. Hence the knight has to be taken. 45.gxf3 Qxf5 46.Kh2 Rxf3-+ With a winning position. 45.Qg3 Rd3 46.Re3 Rd1+ 47.Kh2? 47.Re1!= and Whie doesn't have much to worry about. 47...Qd4! 48.Bc2 Rc1 49.Bh7 c3 50.Re1? And now the game ends with the same move that was missed in the initial position. Nf3+! 51.Qxf3 51.gxf3 Qd2+-+ 51...Rxe1 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Guseva,M2431Girya,O24870–12015E3265th Superfinal RUS-ch Women2

Olga Girya

Standings after two rounds

Photos: Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili

Links

The 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Eteri Kublashvili is a chessplayer and reports and photographs from all official tournaments for the Russian Chess Federation.

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brabo_hf brabo_hf 8/12/2015 12:34
I don't understand why the annotator doesn't use the nalimov tablebases or the final gen tool to get an absolute verdict of the endgames in the annotated games. These tools are after all for free and would drastically improve the quality.
e4a6d4b5 e4a6d4b5 8/11/2015 06:57
this is the hall of shame.
1
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