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One tournament lost in the shuffle of super strong June action, the 23rd Alekhine Memorial finished with the top board players fighting tooth and nail to stay ahead of the rest of the field. IM Sergey Pavlov (UKR), Arseniy Nesterov (RUS) and Azamaty Utegaliyev (KAZ) were clear leaders after five rounds with a 4½/5, but 16-year-old, untitled Arseniy Nesterov (RUS) won everyone’s hearts. His fabulous, solid performance on the top table enabled him to maintain a half point lead after round 6 over the rest of the players. At the end of the eighth round, while Arseniy was at leading with 6½/8, there were 8 players trailing the 16-year-old by only half a point at 6.0/8. The ninth round presented many twists and turns and ended up with both Visakh and Savchenko tying for first place with 7.0/9. But due to a better tiebreak Savchenko clinched the title.
GM Visakh NR vs Arseniy Nesterov | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Ultimately it came down to the last round, as GM Visakh NR showed his edge against youngster Arseniy Nesterov when he scored a crucial win on board one, moving closer to a top three finish.
GM Nikita Maiorov took an early draw against GM Dmitry Kryakvin on board number 2, and ended up with 6½/9.
Aftermath of a non-game with a move repetition beginning on move 7 | Photo: Rupali Mullick
In contrast, Savchenko, who was in a must win situation for a top three finish, scored a brilliant win on board three against IM Sergey Pavlov, who had been among the leaders all through the tournament!
Savchenko (black) against Pavlov | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Untitled and very talented Azamat Utegaliyev from Kazakhstan conceded to a draw against GM Nikita Meshkovs on board four and missed out on a top five finish, but took home a GM norm with a performance rating of 2612!
Azamat Utegaliyev vs Nikita Meshkovs | Photo: Rupali Mullick
GM Abhimanyu Puranik of India had to settle for an early draw by repetition against Belarusian GM Alexei Fedorov, thus finishing with 6.0/9. He was given a special prize of 3rd Best Foreigner.
Abhimanyu Puranik receives his prize | Photo: Rupali Mullick
IM Joshua Daniel Ruiz Castillo from Colombia crossed the 2500 Elo rating mark and got his GM title after defeating GM Abhimanyu Puranik in Rd 7, he also won the special prize of 2nd Best Foreigner. Check out this very interesting game and video where Joshua shows his win over GM Abhimanyu Puranik:
Tactic Toolbox Ruy Lopez / Spanish Opening
Starting with Black's alternatives on move 3 and working through until the main lines of the Closed Lopez and the Marshall and Anti-Marshall, the viewer will find his knowledge of the opening developing in tandem with an improvement in his tactical ability.
Ruiz Castillo on his win over Puranik
IM Sergey Pavlov was 'Best Foreigner' but narrowly missed his final GM norm | Photo: Rupali Mullick
GM Visakh N R finished joint first, but had to settle for second place due to a worse tiebreak at 7.0/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Power Play 24: A repertoire for black against the Catalan
On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black against the Catalan, based around maintaining the rock of a pawn on d5. Keeping central control ultimately gives Black good chances to launch an attack against the enemy king.
Interview with GM Visakh NR after the tournament
The winner of the tournament, Russian GM Boris Savchenko with 7.0/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | |
| 1 | GM | Savchenko Boris | 2567 | 7,0 | 49,0 |
| 2 | GM | Visakh N R | 2518 | 7,0 | 47,0 |
| 3 | GM | Maiorov Nikita | 2527 | 6,5 | 51,0 |
| 4 | GM | Rozum Ivan | 2572 | 6,5 | 51,0 |
| 5 | Nesterov Arseniy | 2423 | 6,5 | 50,0 | |
| 6 | Utegaliyev Azamat | 2495 | 6,5 | 50,0 | |
| 7 | GM | Shaposhnikov Evgeny | 2572 | 6,5 | 48,5 |
| 8 | GM | Meshkovs Nikita | 2550 | 6,5 | 48,0 |
| 9 | GM | Kryakvin Dmitry | 2586 | 6,5 | 46,5 |
| 10 | IM | Pavlov Sergey | 2473 | 6,0 | 52,5 |
| 11 | IM | Rios Cristhian Camilo | 2513 | 6,0 | 52,0 |
| 12 | IM | Ruiz Castillo Joshua Daniel | 2472 | 6,0 | 51,5 |
| 13 | GM | Svetushkin Dmitry | 2532 | 6,0 | 50,0 |
| 14 | GM | Goganov Aleksey | 2559 | 6,0 | 48,0 |
| 15 | GM | Fedorov Alexei | 2553 | 6,0 | 47,5 |
| 16 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2548 | 6,0 | 47,0 |
| IM | Golubov Saveliy | 2460 | 6,0 | 47,0 | |
| 18 | GM | Potapov Pavel | 2479 | 6,0 | 45,0 |
| 19 | GM | Moiseenko Vadim | 2525 | 6,0 | 45,0 |
| 20 | GM | Harutjunyan Gevorg | 2446 | 6,0 | 42,5 |
After the tournament ended, GM Boris Savchenko sat down with me for a detailed interview. He gave some fine advice as to what youngsters ought to be doing in order to become stronger chess players. His suggestion is to study the classics. He also goes on to show a brilliant attacking game that he played against Rudik Makarian in round five.
Try to train your attacking play with Savchenko and then later go on to check the analysis and the video below.
Learn from Boris Savchenko!
The Indian youngsters fought hard against the strong Russians and learnt tremendously from them! You may not have the best tournament but when you still go home smiling, it shows the grit and determination of these youngsters!
Savitha Shri, Raahil Mullick, Rakshitta Ravi and her mother Sai Meera Ravi | Photo: Rupali Mullick
While the players fight it out inside the playing hall, Chess mom and WIM Sai Meera uses her time outside to ‘talk Chess’ with a local Voronezh player (almost every day!), even though they don’t speak the same language! | Photo: Rupali Mullick
A cute little chess dog named Pat, meaning ‘Stalemate’, all dressed up in his chess jumpsuit, entertained people outside the playing hall! | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Interview with the tournament director Alexander Raetsky
