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The Russian Cup Final has finally concluded with two winners after twelve months of competition and a final phase to determine the grand prize winners. Jakovenko took the gold medal in that event and you can see the report here.
The day after the classical time control ended the Russian Rapid Cup started. This tournament was also a knockout event and against it was Jakovenko that took top honors, though his path there was not easy at all.
The opening moves were made by the mayor of Khanty-Mansiysk and Ugra Chess Federation president Vasily Filipenko (right). Here he is with Stanislav Januszewski (chief arbiter) and Galina Kovaleva.
Pavel Maletin was one of the strong contenders to the title. In rapid chess anything is possible!
The Mayor opened the game between Maletin and Ubiennykh, in which the grandmaster had no trouble advancing 2-0
Zhamsaran Tsydypov was the local hopeful, but he was quickly eliminated by Smirnov
The weather didn't improve much in the last couple of days from the Russian Cup. The -25 celsius cold didn't allow for the tournament to be held out in the open.
Elena Orshonova, pictured with her coach, had the tough task of facing Jakovenko in round one
The first round did not produce any surprises. Jakovenko dispatched Orshonova without difficulties, Kovalenko beat Shaydullina the same way as did Bocharov with Evdokimov and Smirnov with Tsydypovu.
However Onischuk (Vladimir, not Alex) and Mikhail Panarin had to decide their match in an Armageddon.
Onischuk took the game with white and advanced to the quarter finals
The quarterfinals were certainly much closer. Kovalenko took care of Galkin with a beautiful attack:
This guy played the following masterpiece with black:
[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.12.20"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Galkin, Alexander"] [Black "Kovalenko, Igor"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2595"] [BlackElo "2653"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2rkr3/7p/p1n1q1p1/3pp3/8/BP2P3/PQ1PK1RP/5R2 w - - 0 24"] [PlyCount "12"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] [EventType "k.o."] 24. Rgf2 $2 {The position seems to be about event. Both kings are not safe, material is equal and there doesn't seem to be anything immediate troubling either side. But Kovalenko finds a tactical nuisance.} (24. Bc5 {would have kept the game interesting. White is certainly not worse.}) 24... Nd4+ $1 25. Ke1 (25. exd4 Qg4+ $1 26. Rf3 (26. Ke1 {is no longer a possibility because} exd4+ {is mate next move!}) 26... e4 {with a crushing attack.}) 25... Nc2+ 26. Kd1 Qg4+ 27. Re2 d4 {White is tied down and cannot defend against the simple d3 threat.} 28. h3 Qxh3 {Black takes the pawn and will renew all his threats on the next move. A sudden turn of events!} 29. Rg1 d3 0-1
Rapid chess is always prone to mistakes. In the following game Pavel Maletin had to win to keep his chances alive, but he underestimated his opponent's possibilities:
[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.12.20"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Maletin, Pavel"] [Black "Bocharov, Dmitry"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2638"] [BlackElo "2610"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/1p5k/p1p5/2P2qrp/PP1Q3R/6P1/5PNK/5r2 w - - 0 48"] [PlyCount "2"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] [EventType "k.o."] {White has to play for a win, and he can quietly improve his position with 48. Nf4 and keep the game alive. Instead he goes for a counterattack.} 48. Rf4 $4 Qh3+ {an unexpected backrank checkmate!} 0-1
Jakovenko survived the Armageddon against Pridorozhni to advanced to the semifinals, while Smirnov also in Armageddon took out Onischuk.
Savchenko (right) was eliminated early on by Galkin, but he stayed to give Smirnov some advice
Jakovenko took advantage of a blunder by Smirnov to get ahead in the match
[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.12.21"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Jakovenko, Dmitry"] [Black "Smirnov, Pavel"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2662"] [BlackElo "2634"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "4r3/1p3p2/3R1Pkp/1P2p3/6PK/8/P7/5B1b w - - 0 40"] [PlyCount "26"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] [EventType "k.o."] 40. Kg3 {White's weak pawn stucture, specially the weakness on f6, gives Black the advantage. A simple move like 40...Be4 or 40...Rc8 would keep the edge.} Re6 $4 {A miscalculation.} 41. Rxe6 fxe6 42. Bg2 Bxg2 43. Kxg2 {Black is up apawn in the endgame, but the quality of the pawns is most important. Here the outside passer on the queenside makes the endgame a trivial win for White.} Kxf6 44. a4 Ke7 45. a5 Kd6 46. a6 bxa6 47. bxa6 Kc6 48. Kf3 Kb6 49. Ke4 Kxa6 { Black is up temporarily two pawns, but White will takte all of the remaining ones and queen his last remaining foot soldier.} 50. Kxe5 Kb5 51. Kxe6 Kc6 52. Kf6 Kd5 1-0
Smirnov was unable to strike back in the second game and actually lost 2-0 to Jakovenko. Kovalenko meanwhile dispatched Bocharov 1.5-0.5, making the finals...
A match between Jakovenko and Kovalenko. After a lucky draw for Jakovenko in game one Kovalenko sacrificed a two pieces for a rook and two pawns, but one of his pawns was quickly taken and White's minor pieces dominated the board. With this victory Jakovenko wins two golds in Khanty-Mansyisk!
The winner giving a small speech
Director Galina Kovaleva gave congratulatory words on behalf of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Khanty-Mnasiysk Autonomous region
The winners, from left to right: Kovalenko, Jakovenko and tied for 3rd-4th Smirnov and Bocharov
A little dance for the closing ceremony
And the festivities in Khanty-Mansiysk come to an end for now
Pictures by Eteri Kublashvili
LinksThe games are being 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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