Nutcracker tournament in Moscow: Veterans vs. Juniors

by André Schulz
3/7/2020 – At the traditional Nutcracker battle of generations tournament 2020 in Moscow, four veterans compete against four young chess players. After three rounds the "oldies" lead 13:11. Perhaps this is thanks to players like Alexei Shirov (pictured) and Boris Gelfand who form part of the senior elites — actually dubbed the Kings Team. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
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Kings vs Princes

The Nutcracker tournament takes place at the Moscow Central Chess Club, where the four "Kings" challenge the upcoming hopeful "Princes" in a battle of generations. The tournament is played from of March 4th till the 12th over 12 rounds. After three rounds, the kings are leading.

Although Shirov, born in 1972 and Gelfand, born in 1968, might look back at their most successful years, their current Elo rating shows that they are still part of the world elite and can challenge anybody. Nonetheless, the young grandmaster Andrey Esipenko leads the individual standings together with Tomashevsky on 2½ out of 3. Esipenko drew against Shirov and won against Gelfand and Evgeny Najer, keeping the Princes team in the game.

The Kings line-up is:

  • Boris Gelfand (51) — Elo 2685, Vice World Champion of 2012
  • Alexey Shirov (47) — Elo 2664, FIDE Vice World Champion of 2000
  • Evgeny Najer (42) — Elo 2661
  • Evgeny Tomashevsky (32) — Elo 2701

The Princes line-up is:

  • Andrey Esipenko (17) — Elo 2672
  • Semyon Lomasov (18) — Elo 2533
  • Alexey Sarana (20) — Elo 2652
  • Daniil Yuffa (23) — Elo 2594

The tournament is played in the Scheveningen System, meaning that every player of one team plays against every player of the other team. A draw is worth 1 point, while a win grants 2 points.

Shirov, Esipenko and Tomashesky are the only three players who could win a game in the first three rounds. Shirov socred one win and two draws, while Esipenko and Tomashevsky both scored two wins and one draw.

Semyon Lomasov, with his French Defense, was taken down a peg by Alexey Shirov as shown below:

 
Shirov-Lomasov

The diagram conveys the right impression that Black is seriously behind in development but conveys the wrong impression that Black's queen and rooks have never moved. However, Black's queen took an exhausting excursion earlier, and his king was already on d8 before returning to its starting square! The rest of the game was no fun for Black either.

Boris Gelfand misplayed the middlegame against Andrey Esipenko.

 
Esipenko-Gelfand

With 25...♞c4+ Black wins the queen but the price he paid for this was too high.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.h3 e5 7.Nde2 b5 8.Ng3!       is currently scoring better than 8.g4. Played by Yi Wei in February 2020. B90: Sicilian Najdorf: Unusual White 6th moves, 6 Be3 Ng4 and 6 Be3 e5. Nbd7       9.a4 Qa5
10.Bd3!?N       White has an edge. New and interesting. Predecessor: 10.Bd2 b4 11.Na2 d5 12.exd5 Bb7 13.Be2 Bxd5 14.0-0 Qb6 15.a5 Qb7 16.Bf3 ½-½ (49) Kluegel,J (2517)-Badolati,S (2520) ICCF email 2019 10...Nc5 11.0-0 11.Bg5!? b4 12.Nce2= 11...b4 12.Nb1       Be7 13.Nd2 d5 Better is 13...Qc7= 14.exd5! Nxd3 15.d6 Nxc1 16.dxe7 Kxe7 17.Qxc1 aiming for Nc4. Be6 18.Nf3 Rhc8 19.Re1 Rc5 20.Ng5 Kf8 20...Qc7= 21.Nxe6+± fxe6 22.Ne4 Nxe4 23.Rxe4 Qc7 24.Qe3 24.Rxb4± Black must now prevent Qe3. Rxc2 25.Qe3 24...Kg8 24...a5! 25.Rxb4 Rxc2 26.Rb6 Rf8
27.Rf1! Don't play 27.Rxa6?! Rfxf2 28.Ra8+
28...Kf7!=       27...a5 28.Rxe6 Rxb2 29.Rxe5 h6 30.Re8 Rb8 31.Rxb8 Qxb8       Endgame KQR-KQR 32.Rd1 Re8 33.Qd4 Qb4 34.Qa1 Re4 35.Qc1 35.f3± Re2 36.Qd4 Qxd4+ 37.Rxd4 35...Kh7 The position is equal. 36.Qc8 Threatening mate with Qf5+. Re1+ 37.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 38.Kh2 Qxf2 39.Qc7 Qd2 40.Qe5 Qb4 41.Qf5+ Accuracy: White = 81%, Black = 75%. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Najer,E2661Sarana,A2656½–½2020B90Nutcracker Classic 20201.1
Shirov,A2672Esipenko,A2654½–½2020C88Nutcracker Classic 20201.2
Yuffa,D2566Tomashevsky,E27050–12020D30Nutcracker Classic 20201.3
Lomasov,S2541Gelfand,B2685½–½2020B31Nutcracker Classic 20201.4
Najer,E2661Yuffa,D2566½–½2020B19Nutcracker Classic 20202.1
Shirov,A2672Lomasov,S25411–02020C02Nutcracker Classic 20202.2
Sarana,A2656Tomashevsky,E2705½–½2020A22Nutcracker Classic 20202.3
Esipenko,A2654Gelfand,B26851–02020A33Nutcracker Classic 20202.4
Esipenko,A2654Najer,E26611–02020A28Nutcracker Classic 20203.1
Yuffa,D2566Shirov,A2672½–½2020D26Nutcracker Classic 20203.2
Tomashevsky,E2705Lomasov,S25411–02020E16Nutcracker Classic 20203.3
Gelfand,B2685Sarana,A2656½–½2020D78Nutcracker Classic 20203.4
Lomasov,S2541Najer,E26611–02020D30Nutcracker Classic 20204.1
Sarana,A2656Shirov,A2672½–½2020D45Nutcracker Classic 20204.2
Tomashevsky,E2705Esipenko,A2654½–½2020C67Nutcracker Classic 20204.3
Gelfand,B2685Yuffa,D2566½–½2020E11Nutcracker Classic 20204.4

On Saturday the fourth round will have both teams' top players facing each other.

Live games and commentary

From 12 Noon UTC (13:00 CET / 7:00 AM EST).

 
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StWhiteEloWBlackEloBResRndid
Richter,M2402Nogly,C22034.92704516
Berger,S2425Foerster,J22664.82704515
Vavulin,M2527Poltorak,S24174.12704505
Ahmadinia,E2396Polzin,R24014.32704507
Ermitsch,M2401Florstedt,J23824.42704509
Matthes,A2253Klenburg,M23384.102704518
Noeldner,J2279Krefenstein,S20134.112704519
Campins Machado,F2171Ivanchuk,V26041.82719576
Buyukasik,D2236Hesse,H22524.22704506
Jahnz,L2192Matviienko,M21584.62704511
Heerde,T1983Yatskar,M21694.72704514
Caglar,E1836Verbitsky,J20654.142704523
Murzin,V2658Schenderowitsch,M21841.32719569
Puranik,A2636Mannion,S21801.52719571
Lu,S2618Sabirov,R21741.72719575
Albornoz Cabrera,C2561Shearsby,J21521.132719583
Niehaus,F2126Torosyan,B21454.152704524
Buttkus,A1992Boettcher,P20514.172704526
CEASERJULIUS2229Watchel166012730414
Nihal Sarin2687Fernandez Garcia,G21871.12719565
Kozak,A2598Joel Paul Ganta21701.92719578
Kuandykuly,D2169Zeng,C25741.102719579
Pranesh M2572Girsh,D21661.112719581
Vogel,R2557Deusa Ballesteros,L21431.142719584
Matviishen,V2550Conon,C21371.162719586
Sethuraman,S2548Agim,A21351.182719588
Dragnev,V2538Maldonado Mena,G21311.202719590
Raja Rithvik R2538Dicen,E21291.222719604
Ahmad_BMW2037Nidhinkn148912730417
DLGlider1489FRITZBOT Tal205012730416
FRITZBOT Emma1206Rubinsteinov181712730415
Acklaus2017-Gl_m-12730413
Asaka,S2187Shankland,S26701.22719566
Gomez Sanjuan,H2184Karthikeyan,M26511.42719570
Milat,M2179Pranav Vijay22521.62719573
Mendez Machado,A2157Jacobson,B25701.122719582
Rodriguez Garcia,C2141Adhiban,B25541.152719585
Chinchilla,A2135Vetokhin,S25491.172719587
Kalogridis,T2133Nogerbek,K25441.192719589
Atienza Alvarez,J2130Pranav Anand25381.212719603
Lauer,M2129Makhnev,D25371.232719605
Woodward,A2536Zhou,G21271.242719607
Adell Corts,F2127Fier,A25341.252719609
Pattnayak Nilsu2146Ibarra Jerez,J25591.262719610
Cuenca Jimenez,J2487Camps Abadia,A21031.272719611
Oro,F2423Sureda Gonzalez,C20491.282719613
Cubas Pons,J2123Macias Pino,D25101.292719614
Petkidis,A2471Boder,J23139.42631185
Juhasz,A2402Garrigue,J22669.292631309
Melia,S2293Dronavalli,H24888.12687928
Kashlinskaya,A2496Koneru,H25288.42687933
Abrahamyan,T2310Lee,A23863.21279479
Munguntuul,B2361Shuvalova,P25008.22687929
Zhu,J2525Divya Deshmukh24608.32687932
Salimova,N2402Vaishali,R24848.52687934
Pererva,V2017Brustkern,J20934.122704521
Jahnz,F2242Kreutz,J21074.132704522
Czernek,T2374Rose,D20224.52704510
Collin,M2303Peyrer,K24515.12694412
Manko,M2254Mattenberger,M22795.22694413
Krastev,A2419Schlegel,I22905.32694414
Vlachos,A2436Hryzlova,S22765.42694415
Boyer,M2528Fecker,N23455.52694417
Chanda,S2485Padmini,R23543.12675840
Schekachikhin,M2370Ayush Sharma24853.22675842
Aakash Sharadchandra,D2366Savchenko,B24593.32675843
Nitish Belurkar2441Dzhumaev,M23523.42675844
Venkatesh,M2355Harsh Suresh23893.52675845
Arnav Agrawal2194Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh23703.62675847
Pantsulaia,L2532Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy22973.72675848
Daaevik Wadhawan2311Gupta,A25763.82675849
Arnav Maheshwari2305Petrosyan,M25443.92675850
Neelash Saha2460Jai Sankar Subramanian23153.102675841
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Commentary by GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko

More information is available from the website of the Russian Chess Federation.

Translation from German and additional reporting: Arne Kaehler

André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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