Artemiev edges Harutyunian to win Nezhmetdinov Memorial

by Klaus Besenthal
9/23/2018 – Rashid Nezhmetdinov (1912-1974) was one of the most famous chess players in the world during his lifetime — a few decades ago, it was almost impossible not to find his name while studying or following chess. In the early sixties, the International Master even worked as a coach of World Champion Mikhail Tal. The city of Kazan, Nezhmetdinov's hometown, hosts a memorial tournament in his honour every year. The 40th edition of the event finished Friday with a narrow victory by Russian Grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev. | Photos: Official website
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Youngsters finish ahead in Kazan

The city of Kazan is located about 800 km east of Moscow, at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers — thus, still in the European side of Russia. Rashid Neszhmetdinov lived and died in the "Third Capital of Russia", although he was born in Aktiubinsk (currently in Kazakhstan). The eminent chess writer also played checkers and was one of the most important personalities in Soviet chess for many years. It is no wonder that a memorial tournament is played in his honour, and one that has taken place already forty times!

Kazan has previously hosted high-profile events like the Women's World Championship and the Russian Championship

The 20-year-old Russian grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev arrived in Kazan as the rating favourite by a margin of over a hundred Elo points. In the end, he lived up to his role as first seed and won the tournament with 7/9 points. Armenian IM Tigran Harutyunian also amassed seven points, but ended up second on tiebreaks criteria. The direct clash between the two players in round seven, however, clearly favoured Artemiev:

 
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1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.b3 b6 5.Bb2 Bb7 6.Nc3 a6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.d4 Bd6 9.g3 0-0 10.Bg2 Nbd7 11.0-0 Re8 12.Rc1 Qe7 13.Ne2 Rac8 14.Nf4 Ne4 15.Re1 a5 16.Re2 Ra8 17.a4 Rac8 18.Rec2 Nb8 19.Bf1
After a tenacious fight, neither player could take advantage in the opening phase. 19...g5?! This thrust is not completely outlandish, considering that Black has more space on the kingside, while White cannot do anything for now on the other flank. However, White reacts correctly by threatening to lock himself on the strong central square e5 with a knight, which would neutralise Black's action. Black can prevent this only with another pawn move - in the long run, the weakening of his own king's position will cost him dearly. 20.Nd3! f6 21.Bh3! Rcd8 22.Nfe1 White prepares to threaten the e4-knight with f2-f3. c5?! Within a few moves Black set the whole board on fire, but the conditions were not really there for him to do so. Playing against a super grandmaster like Artemiev, this is not a good strategy. 23.f3 Nxg3 Now the knight must be sacrificed. 24.hxg3 Qxe3+ 25.Nf2 Bxg3 26.Ng2 Qxb3 27.Ng4
Black got four pawns for the knight, which would normally be more than enough. His pieces, however, are pretty scattered, so the open position of his king is now a huge problem. 27...Kf7 28.Nh6+ Also possible was 28.f4! This move would have opened the d1-h5 diagonal for the white queen and possibly also the f-line for one of the rooks. 28...Kg6 29.Nf5 Bc8 30.Bc3! It's hard to say if this would have been a win against Black's best play, but the idea is brilliant: besides the obvious possibility of Qd3 (which Black immediately stops), the black queen's connection to the kingside is cut off. Black suffers from the "Bad Queen Syndrome". 30.Nxg3 Bxh3 was probably best here. It would have been met with 31.Bc3 winning. 30...c4 30...Bxf5 31.Bxf5+ Kxf5 32.f4 The computers rate this move significantly better than the one played, but in a practical game Black's position is still hard to hold. 31.Nxg3 Bxh3 32.f4 g4 33.f5+ Kf7 34.Qd2 Nd7 35.Qh6 Ke7 36.Nf4 Kd6 37.Ngh5 Qxa4 38.Nxf6
By now it is obvious that White will win this game. 38...Nxf6 39.Qxf6+ Kd7 40.Qxb6 Rb8 41.Qa7+ Kc8 42.Qc5+ Kb7 43.Nxd5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Artemiev,V2703Harutyunian,T25041–0201840th Nezhmetdinov Memorial 20187

Vladislav Artemiev met his opponent's attack with a cool head | Photo: Official site

Final standings

Rg. Snr   Name Land Elo Pkt.  Wtg1   Wtg2   Wtg3 
1 1 GM Artemiev, Vladislav RUS 2703 7,0 55,5 50,0 5
2 18 IM Harutyunian, Tigran K. ARM 2504 7,0 49,5 45,5 6
3 2 GM Kokarev, Dmitry RUS 2595 6,5 54,0 49,5 4
4 10 GM Korneev, Oleg ESP 2547 6,5 53,0 49,0 4
5 3 GM Chigaev, Maksim RUS 2593 6,5 50,5 46,0 5
6 9 GM Volkov, Sergey RUS 2547 6,5 50,0 45,5 4
7 13 GM Yudin, Sergei RUS 2525 6,5 48,5 45,0 4
8 15 GM Levin, Evgeny A. RUS 2516 6,5 47,5 43,5 5
9 23 IM Drygalov, Andrey RUS 2465 6,5 47,0 43,0 5
10 17 IM Khanin, Semen RUS 2507 6,5 47,0 42,5 5

...108 participants

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Translation from German: Antonio Pereira

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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