Russian Superfinals: Six players can still win the Open

No favourites with one round to go

Three players are still undefeated in the open section of the Superfinals — besides co-leaders Evgeny Tomashevsky and Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov has not lost thus far in the event. Furthermore, Matlakov is one of four players half a point behind the leaders, and all of them have a chance to reach at least a rapid play-off for first place after Thursday's decisive round. So, if we do the math, half the participants could take home a Renault Arkana and be crowned 2019 Russian champion.

Two games of the final round will have no effect in who gets first place — Fedoseev vs Jakovenko and Artemiev vs Motylev. The rest of the encounters will decide the winner(s):

Meanwhile, in the women's section, Aleksandra Goryachkina (6½ points) only has an outside chance of tying for first place, as she would need both Olga Girya (7½) and Natalija Pogonina (7) to falter in round eleven to catch up. While Pogonina will be playing tail-ender Zarina Shafigullina (2) with Black, sole leader Girya will have to face Margarita Potapova (5½), who comes from beating Anastasia Bodnaruk and Alina Kashlinskaya in consecutive rounds. 

Everything is set up for a thrilling final day of action! 

 Alexander Mortylev versus Maxim Matlakov, round ten | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Open: Artemiev beats Inarkiev

It is evident that winning games in this year's Superfinal is a tough endeavour. Thus, it must be distinctly painful to lose a game right after getting a win in the previous round — this is what happened to Ernesto Inarkiev, who got the shared lead on Tuesday only to give it up the very next day. He had the white pieces against rating favourite Vladislav Artemiev and faced the youngster's Sicilian Defence. By move 27, the queens had left the board, but nonetheless both kings were in some danger:

How to play the Sicilian Defence!

The continuous stream of new ideas in the Sicilian makes 1..c5 the most popular answer to 1.e4. On this DVD I do give an introduction to the most important Sicilian systems.

Inarkiev went for 38.g6+, giving up a pawn in order to open up a diagonal for his bishop. Artemiev did not hesitate before capturing with 38...♜xg6 and went on to activate his pieces. When the bishops left the board, White had the weaker king and a more vulnerable structure:

After 36.♔d2 ♜xf4 37.♖xg1 ♜f2+ White had to choose between giving up his b2-pawn or going for a passive defence with 38.♔c1 — Inarkiev opted for 38.♔d3, but his position was all but lost after 38...♜xb2. White continued fighting, but ended up resigning when it was clear Black's passed pawns on the kingside would inevitably promote.

Vladislav Artemiev is back on 50% | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Meanwhile, Alexandr Predke won his third game of the tournament, against Vladimir Fedoseev. The latter played an adventurous variant of the Grünfeld Defence and was duly outplayed in 43 moves.

Co-leaders Evgeny Tomashevsky and Nikita Vitiugov drew with the black pieces in round ten, but they reached that result through markedly different paths. While Tomashevsky had no issues holding Dmitry Jakovenko in 37 moves, Vitiugov defended a queen endgame a pawn down against Kirill Alekseenko until move 66.

Evgeny Tomashevsky | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Standings after Round 10

All games

Women's: Pogonina in the hunt

At last year's Women's Superfinal, Natalija Pogonina and Olga Girya tied for first place with 7½ out of 11, and Pogonina won the tournament via a play-off. In this edition, Girya seemed to be on a mission to show she has what it takes to become the national champion 'in regulation', as she achieved an outstanding 7/8 score before losing against Aleksandra Goryachkina on Tuesday. 

Nonetheless, she has kept the sole lead...except that Pogonina is now half a point behind her with one round to go. Girya has already collected 7½ points (last year's winning score), but it still remains to be seen whether finishing on 8/11 will be enough to win the championship without the need of a play-off.

Will this be Olga Girya's year? | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Pogonina improved her chances to get a second consecutive title with a white win over Valentina Gunina. As usual, Gunina went for active alternatives when given the chance in an otherwise tranquil position. This led to White getting a clear positional edge:

The Catalan: A complete repertoire for White!

The Catalan is one of the most solid openings for White. It forms part of the large and strong fianchetto family in which White builds his strategy mainly around the bishop on g2. Grandmaster Victor Bologan covers all of Black’s replies to the Catalan, some of which can even transpose to other openings such as the Tarrasch System and the Queen’s Indian. Suffice it to say that the Catalan rules!

White has her rooks doubled on the d-file, the chance to gain central control with e4 and is currently attacking the b7-pawn — naturally, Gunina rejected defending passively with 22...♜ab8 and went for 22...♜ac8. Pogonina grabbed the pawn and started looking for ways to convert her slight material advantage.

The bishops left the board on move 34, and White was left with the difficult task of looking for a win in an endgame with rooks and knights — the knights are a tricky piece in these situations and the defending side can always threaten to give up her piece for a pawn, as the pure rook and knight versus rook endgame is a draw. Gunina fought on, but things came to a head on move 56:

After 56.♖xc7, Black cannot capture the knight due to the fork on b5. Gunina opted for 56...♜xa6, but after 57.♘b5 there were no realistic hopes of holding the draw. Resignation came seventeen moves later.

Natalija Pogonina started with 1.d4 against Valentina Gunina | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Standings after Round 10

All games

Commentary webcast

The Löwenthal Variation in the Sicilian Defence

In this 60 minutes video GM Nadezhda Kosintseva offers White a repertoire to counter the Löwenthal Variation.

Commentary by GM Daniil Yuffa

Links

• Rounds 1-2: Leaders on plus one
• Rounds 3-4: Girya sole leader in the Women's
• Rounds 5-7: Tomashevsky and Girya on top
• Rounds 8-9: Three leaders in the Open, Goryachkina beats Girya
• The Russian Championship 'Superfinals' begin
• Russian Chess Federation