Russian Team Championship - Shak carries his team

Russian Team Championship Premier League

Report and analysis by Alex Yermolinksy / photos by Eugeny Atarov (click for high-res)

One look at the lineup of Siberia-Sirius makes me think some kind of rating restriction rule has to be established for club competitions. Kramnik, Mamedyarov, Giri, Nepo, Grischuk, Andreikin, are you kidding me? Korobov and Khismatullin as .... alternates? Seriously?

Khismatullin as an alternate, and players such as Grischuk, Giri and more make for a ridiculously overpowered team

Anish Giri is one of the big guns at the Russian Team Championship

Vladimir Kramnik is the top rating in the competition. However, he is not the only former world champion there.

Anatoly Karpov, the 12th World Champion, is also playing, and faced Peter Svidler in round four. They drew.

There wasn't much room for suspense. Siberia won all of their matches against their closest competitors, and for the rest of the tournament will be facing much weaker opposition. Another title is in the bag, no surprises there. The real test will come in the fall at the Euro Club Championship.

Let's see how them stars fare individually. Kramnik and Giri made three draws each. Nepo did even worse, he's on 1.0/3. Not much better is Andreikin who has also lost a game. The points and winning margins came courtesy of three players: Korobov, Grischuk and Mamedyarov.

Ian Nepomniachtchi was another big name, but ran into an in-form Sergei Rublevsky who beat him in round two

Anton Korobov is a warrior who travels from one tournament to another. He may do better or worse here and there, but his overall level of 2700 guarantees he'd make a plus score on lower boards.

Lysyj vs Korobov

We haven't seen Alexander Grischuk in action for some time, so it's good to see him back and playing well

Grischuk vs Rodshtein

I will concentrate on Shakhriyar's games, because currently he's the hottest player on the circuit, having just won the Gashimov Memorial.

Mamedyarov is in sizzling form, having not only won the Gashimov Memorial, but right after started the Russian Team Championship with three wins, all against strong opposition

It started in round two when he beat Riazantsev with black. The game was somehow reminiscent of Kramnik-Mamedyarov in the way it unfolded.

Riazantsev vs Mamedyarov (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

In round three, Shakriyar showed what a valuable team player he was as he fought til the bitter end. The fate of the match was riding on this game, as the score was 2.5-2.5. Throughout the whole game Vitiugov had defended accurately, but Mamedyarov was not ready to give up yet.

Mamedyarov vs Vitiugov (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

Kramnik might be the top board, but Mamedyarov has been the biggest bread winner for the team with 3.0/3

In round four, Mamedyarov again won with black, this time against Eugeny Najer. It should be noted that the Russian was very much in form, having played magnificently at the Karpov-Poikovsky event where he turned in a 2900 performance!

Najer vs Mamedyarov (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

Perhaps, the most sensational piece of news is connected with a player who did not make it to Sochi. The Bronze Horseman team of St. Peterburg is missing his regular legionnaire Lenier Dominguez, who according to some Russian chess internet source has applied for political asylum in the United States, and therefore cannot travel until his case is reviewed. Without being privy to personal circumstances of Lenier's decision it is hard to speculate why a well-traveled pro chess player would suddenly “choose freedom” after sixteen years of being Cuba's #1. Perhaps, the allure of filling up Board Four on the US Olympic Team is too hard to resist.

Starring for the short-handed Horsemen is Vladimir Fedoseev. With his 3.5/4 he's knocking on the door of the 2700 club. In fact, in the Live Ratings list, he is already there, but he has yet to secure a permanent berth in next month's FIDE ratings list.

22-year-old Vladimir Fedoseev has scored a fantastic 3.5/4 and broken into the 2700 club

Kovalenko vs Fedoseev

Igor Kovalenko

Alexei Shirov has scored three draws, the first of which was against Vladimir Kramnik in round one

When not playing chess, the players and visitors can enjoy some of the sights

Links

• Official tournament site
• All Men's games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)
• All Women's games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)
• All Major games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.