Inarkiev wins and Shomoev shines

The Higher League of the 66th Russian Championship and 63rd Russian Women Championship was held from June 19-30 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The event qualifies the top five finishers into the Russian Championship, the strongest national championship in the world, later this year. It brings a prize fund of $75,500 for the men’s event, and $15,000 for the women’s and is a nine-round swiss tournament played at 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30-second increment as of move one.  

Although there is no question the prizefund is a serious incentive to play, since in the men’s event, with only fifty players, one’s chances for a piece of that pie were not insignificant, the real draw was one of the five qualifying spots for the final Russian Championship. Nevertheless, with six of the participants in the 2700-club and fourteen in the world Top 100 players, it made everyone else’s possibility seem more like a shot at the lottery than a fighting chance.

Chief Arbiter Mikhail Krukov was questioned about the Sofia Rules, "First, the threefold
repetition has not been canceled, and secondly, you can call a referee and tell them
you have exhausted all ways to continue the struggle!"

Perhaps the biggest news and surprise was when Ilya Levitov, president of the Russian Chess Federation, announced that the winner of the Higher League would also earn a spot in next year’s Tal Memorial. If ever there was a reason to play for the win until the bitter end, this was it.

Ilya Levitov's announcement that the winner would earn a spot to next year's Tal
Memorial caused quite a bit of excitement.

Yekaterinburg is often called the Capital of Contemporary Dance for a number of
famous dance companies residing in the city.

The tournament saw a few surprises early on with the most notable being Ian Nepomniatchi’s loss to Anton Demchenko in round two. This not only put a handbreak on his event from the get-go, but seriously compromised his chances to vie for the top spots. Perhaps as a sign of things to come, Ernesto Inarkiev defeated Demchenko in the following round to become one of three players with 3.0/3. The others were Denis Khismatullin (2658) and dark horse Aleksey Goganov (2562)

As the tournament progressed, Inarkiev maintained his lead, sharing it at times, and keeping it to himself at others. By round six, he was the sole leader with 5.0/6 and a 2847 performance, followed by Boris Grachev (2683) and two surprise guests: Aleksey Goganov (2562), still going strong, and Anton Shomoev (2565). As to the 2700 players, they were struggling to shine. Evgeny Tomashevsky (2709) was the best placed at 6th with 4.0/6, while Nepomniachtchi, the 2010 Russian Champion, was in 11th place.

In round seven, a key game was leader Ernesto Inarkiev and Anton Shomoev

An important turning point came in round seven when Inarkiev was paired against Shomoev. The leader and experienced grandmaster came out of the middlegame with three connected pawns for a piece, a situation that is not only volatile but quite scary for the player facing the pawns. A situation came up where Inarkiev spurned the chance for a repetition, seeking a win, except it turned out that his opponent was an expert in this particular situation and everything went wrong.

"To be honest, I do not understand why Anton Shomoev (above), with his encyclopedic
knowledge and excellent calculation of variations isn't already 2650." - Pavel Maletin

Here is the game with comments by Anton Shomoev:

Ian Nepomniachtchi punctuated his comeback with a masterpiece against Grachev

In the same round, another turning point was seen by Ian Nepomniachtchi’s fantastic win over Boris Grachev.

Spellbound spectators watched the great battles

Here is the game with comments by Ian Nepomniachtchi:

As a result of this dramatic round, the leaderboard was quite surprising: at the top was Anton Shomoev with 5.5/7, and positioned to be the event’s greatest surprise if he could hold it, followed by Motylev, Inarkiev, Goganov, and Nepomniachtchi, who was fast on the comeback trail.

It all came down to the final round, with Inarkiev and Shomoev tied for first with 6.0/8. Ernesto was paired against Motylev with whom he drew fairly quickly, while Shomoev was black against Nepomniachtchi. The game started fine as both players went for a sharp Sicilian, but nerves got the better of Shomoev as he failed to keep pace with his higher-rated opponent, and Nepomniachtchi scored an impressive final victory to share the podium, losing to Inarkiev only on tiebreak.

Ian Nepomniachtchi tweets about his great comeback

For Ernesto Inarkiev, it was more than just a first place, it also made him the first player to ever win the Higher League twice, adding to which he earned a spot in the Russian Final and next year’s Tal Memorial.

Ernesto Inarkiev receives his award with the other prizewinners

Final standings of men's event

The Women tournament was also hard fought but was not contended quite as closely or dramatically as the men’s event. At the top of the Elo ladder was Anastasia Bodnaruk with 2440 Elo, followed by Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (2407) and teen prodigy Aleksandra Goryachkina (2401).

Aleksandra Goryachkina and her father

Goryachkina has been in the spotlight for some time in Russia’s female chess, and was certainly hoping to add yet another feather to her cap, but it was not to be. Bodnaruk set an incredible pace with five straight wins, and although she faltered in round six allowing Goryachkina to catch up with her with 5.0/6, the top-seed showed it was but a minor lapse as she finished with 7.5/9 a full point ahead of her rivals. In second was Alina Kashlinskaya with 6.5/9 and in third Aleksandra Goryachkina, also with 6.5/9.

Anastasia Bodnaruk was unstoppable, and outclassed her rivals

Second-place finisher Alina Kashlinskaya with her mother

The prize ceremony as the women receive theirs

A video report of the final round and closing ceremony (in Russian)

Final standings of women's event

Gallery

The city of Yekaterinburg had a lovely idea of decorating itself with statues all over, depicting mythical figures, comical, historical, and contemporary. Here are a few:

As relaxed a greeting as they come

Nepomniachtchi against Shomoev in the last round

Bet you didn't expect to see a bronze statue of Michael Jackson, did you?

The inventor of the bicycle gives a young admirer a ride

The atom

This one is understandably very popular with the kids

This spot with the barefoot lovers is a favorite for couples

He was made an offer he could not refuse (you either get it or you don't)

Photos by Dmitry Kryakvin

Links Official tournament site All men's games in PGN All women's games in PGN The 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.