Russian Championship Super Finals

The tournament is hosted by the Russian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Charity Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko , with the support of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod region. The Super Final will be a continuation of the program "chess in the museums", started by the match for the world title in 2012 at the Retyakov Gallery in Moscow on the initiative of businessmen Andrei Filatov and Gennady Timchenko. The venue for the prestigious tournament in Nizhny Novgorod will be the State Historical and Architectural Museum Manor Rukavishnikov. The Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum will also take part in the organization of the tournament. The tournament is a ound robin with ten players over nine rounds. Sofia-Rules. If first place is shared than the champion will be decided through a tiebreaker match. Time Control: 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds/move starting with the 1st move.

Part of the technical team that brings live coverage and analysis of the games

Round 7: Men's

Karjakin tried, but he couldn't break Nepos' Gruenfeld

Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Karjakin always had a very slight advantage against Nepo in this typical Gruenfeld. However thanks to a temporary pawn sacrifice Black was able to keep White's advantage always below any dangerous threshold. Eventually, after pieces were traded, it was clear that White was not going to win the endgame.

Vitiugov, Nikita ½-½ Kramnik, Vladimir
Vitiugov forced his opponent to play actively. His superior pawn structure and natural piece placement was harmonious whereas Kramnik's pawn structure had an isolated pawn and an awkward f6 pawn blocking his g7 bishop. But Kramnik was up to the task and he forced his isolated pawn forward, creating counterplay. The game became double-edged as Kramnik took on a2, trapping his own bishop but gaining a pawn in the process. The game finished with a wild tactical flurry that's worth analyzing, but eventually too many pieces were traded and material balance was regained.

The game ended peacefully, but it was anything but calm

Inarkiev, Ernesto ½-½ Svidler, Peter
Inarkiev might not have gotten anything out of the opening, but he was able to obtain a double edged position and he quickly was able to gain a pawn that Svidler sacrificed for counterplay. However Inarkiev might have been able to consolidate it had he found a way to re-route his awkward b2 knight. He instead played the clumsy 25.Rfc1?! and his advantage slipped away.

Motylev, Alexander ½-½ Andreikin, Dmitri
Andreikin's Ba7 type of Paulsen leaves the d6 pawn very weak, but on the other hand he doesn't have to worry about having a weak bishop and he has more space for the rest of his pieces. Motylev didn't find an appropriate plan to continue the game and the players repeated in a normal position.

Andreikin finally had a draw in this event!

Goganov, Aleksey 1-0 Shomoev, Anton
Goganov, who just became a grandmaster this week by having his title officially approved in the Tallinn FIDE Congress, had a very strange game today. He obtained a slight edge from the opening by controlling the very important c-file and having superior development, and he decided to transpose into an endgame in which he had a pawn majority on the queenside. But immediately upon entering this endgame he blundered a pawn and suddenly only Black could play for a win. However Shomoev played aimlessly for many, many moves until eventually and somehow Goganov was the one that was winning since he broke through on the kingside and the queenside simultaneously.

Round 7: Women's

Kostenuk, Alexandra 1-0 Charochkina, Daria
Kosteniuk was able to dismantle Charochkina's Caro-Kan. The Black player used an unusual idea that Ivanchuk and Seirawan had played previously, but she underestimated how powerful White's crushing and sacrificial attack on the kingside was. Kosteniuk sacrificed a rook and then a piece to crash through, and after recovering some of her material it was clear that Black was not going to survive.

Kosteniuk certainly played the game of the day

Kovanova, Baira 0-1 Kosintseva, Tatiana
Black's Sveshnikov comprehension was simply better than her opponent's. With Black's powerful 26...f4! White was already in trouble, and being in time pressure Kovanova simply miscalculated and allowed Kosintseva to take her first full point of the tournament.

Pogonina hard at work when everyone else has finished

Pogonina, Natalia 0-1 Gunina, Valentina
A very interesting game. Pogonina quickly marched her king to g3 to keep it safe behind her powerful and strong central pawn structure, so Gunina decided to smash this structure by sacrificing a piece. With perfect defense it is possible that White was event better, but from a practical point of view it is not always so easy to stop Black's initiative as Black's plan is definitely more natural. Pogonina did an excellent job though, combining threats on the queenside and advances on the kingside while keeping her own king just safe enough! Unfortunately for her she became too eager to exchange pieces and did it at the worst time possible, a very surprising but powerful attack came out of Black's bishop and queen placement and Pogonina had no way to stop it. A wild, wild game.

Bodnaruk was able to pull a victory from a hopeless position

Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 0-1 Bodnaruk, Anastasia
Kovalevskaya simply destroyed Bodnaruk in this game. She powerfully sacrificed an exchange to obtain superior pieces and a great passed e-pawn, not to mention a dominating pair of bishops. But when complications occurred she had two choices, move her king to h2 and lose or move her king to f1 and win. Unfortunately for her she chose the former and Bodnaruk pulled off a miracle.

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Goryachkina scores her first win and moves to 50%

Goryachkina, Aleksandra 1-0 Kashlinskaya, Alina
White chose to go for a quick endgame in which her knight was clearly superior to the opponent's light-squared bishop, but that was not sufficient for a clear advantage. The true tragedy for Black came with the awful move 27...g5? simply missing her opponent's reply, which because of the threat of a fork on f6 and the g5 being undefended she was able to win a pawn and then convert it without problems.

Kashlinskaya has lost four games and won one this event

The packed analysis room where the spectators can see all the action unfolding

Standings

pictures and information by Etery Kublashvili

Replay Men's Round 7 games

Replay Women's round 7 games

Schedule

Links Official tournament site All men games in PGN All women games in PGN The games will be 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.