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.

Round 5: Men's

With a little help of his opponent Andreikin gets his third win of the tournament

Andreikin, Dmitri 1-0 Shomoev, Anton
A tense game arising from the Petrosian variation of the Queen's Indian Defense. Shomoev played very accurately and Andreikin found himself close to being worse, so instead of accepting a passive position with few prospects he decided to sacrifice a pawn with 19.e6!? This led to tactical complications sand the opening of the position for his bishops, but Shomoev had it all still well under control. He kept his pawn through a series of exchanges and a tactical flurry, but White's rook became active and it gave Andreikin compensation. The tables turned when Shomoev underestimated his opponent's pawn advances, and with the excellent 38.a5! it was suddenly Black that was in trouble. The passed a and b pawns won the game for Andreikin. Shomoev's last hope was probably 38...d3 which seems sufficient to draw, although the endgame is still complicated.

Shomoev has not been outclassed this tournament, but he needs to finish off his games appropriately

Today, Motylev was simply no match for Kramnik

Motylev, Alexander 0-1 Kramnik, Vladimir
Kramnik feared no man today. Motylev played a delayed exchange Spanish and in a normal position he started pushing his kingside pawns forward to storm the enemy king. Kramnik retaliated by simply using his queen to take his opponent's queenside! In a beautiful combination of defense and attack, Kramnik stalled Motylev's advances while taking the b and a pawns with impunity. When Motylev's attack was fully repealed it was clear that Kramnik had won the game.

Again in striking distance! Spectators get their autographs while they can

Inarkiev, Ernesto 0-1 Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Inarkiev was simply outplayed today in this Benoni. Nepo understood better where his pieces belonged and despite some apparent weakness with his king he was able to consolidate his kingside while pushing his powerful c-pawn forward. With a subsequent series of piece trades Black was left with devastatingly powerful passed pawns on the d and c file, and White simply had to resign.

Nepo has been playing fighting chess this entire tournament, and his game against Svidler could have gone either way, had he won that one, he would be in the lead.

Vitiugov, Nikita ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Not the most interesting game. White got very little from the opening and Karjakin defended solidly after which the players repeated the position around the 21 move mark.

Still in the lead, but not as comfortable as yesterday

Goganov, Aleksey ½-½ Svidler, Peter
Simply put, Goganov didn't have the opening necessary to cause Svidler any problems, and with a commanding lead in the tournament the higher rated player did not want to risk anything with Black, so he held an easy draw.

Round 5: Women's

Kosteniuk, Alexandra ½-½ Goryachkina, Alexandra
White sacrificed a pawn for some initiative, but Goryachkina decided to give it right back for the pair of bishops, though White retained some pressure due to the weakness on e7. Eventually Kosteniuk won this weak pawn, but the remaining activity of Black's pieces allowed the young player to equalize the game and obtain a draw.

Hardly an 'experience vs. youth' match as Kosteniuk isn't even 30, but Goryachkina was after all born fourteen years after the ex-World Champion...

Kovanova, Baira ½-½ Bodnaruk, Anastasia
White's reversed hedgehog gave her no hope for an advantage, but she was never really worse either as her powerful knight on e4 held her position nicely. After a series of tactics the players arrived at a drawn and lifeless endgame.

Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina ½-½ Kashlinskaya, Alina
Black's blockade against White's passed pawn should have only been good enough for equality, but due to some mistakes by White, Kashlinskaya was able to wtin a pawn. However with the reduced amount of material and pawns when this happened White was able to keep the draw without any issues.

Pogonina is now at 50%

Pognonina, Natalia 1-0 Charochkina, Daria
Charochkina completely underestimated Pogonina's attacking chances on the kingside. After the careless 20...Qe5? 21.Rg1! it was all over as it was impossible to prevent the incoming sacrifices exposing Black's king.

An important game: the second seed against the top seed

Gunina, Valentina ½-½ Kosintseva, Tatiana
An absolutely bizarre game. Gunina made things interesting by sacrificing a piece early in the game in order to obtain a superb attack against her opponent's king. With good defense, Kosintseva could have held, but the ways she played allowed Gunina to crash through with her initiative. The simple 30.Bxf1 would have finished Black off as she would have been helpless against the threat of 31.Rh4 and subsequent mate. Instead she rushed her rook maneuver and obtained 'only' a winning endgame. An endgame in which move by move she made her position worse and worse , until eventually, after missing a couple of perpetual opportunities, Black's remaining two knights and rook could have easily overpowered the queen. At the end all paths led to Rome, and the easiest one was 98...Ke3 and surely White would have had to resign. Instead Kosintseva aimlessly moved her knights until a draw was agreed in a winning position for Black.

Kosintseva was lost at move 30, winning by move 80, but it ended in a draw after 111

Standings

pictures and information by Etery Kublashvili

Replay Men's Round 5 games

Replay Women's round 5 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.