The Moscow Open is a giant chess festival with quite a long tradition that takes place at the end of January / beginning of February and essentially opens the Moscow tournament season which continues this month with the Aeroflot Open. The venue is the State University of Social Sciences, and this year over 1,500 players were in attendance! The main A-Open is a nine-round Swiss, with a first prize of 500,000 roubles (around EUR €6,700).
The RSSU is located in the north of Moscow in the Ostankinsky District

Arkady Dvorkovich visited the opening ceremony | Photo: open.moscowchess.org
The Moscow Open offers a number of tournaments for different skill levels and age groups. There are also tournaments for disabled chess players and also a problem-solving tournament.
The A-Open attracted about 170 players, with two dozen Grandmasters among them — significant turnout but not outstanding by Russian standards. The top seed was Sanan Sjugirov.
After nine rounds Boris Savchenko was the only player with 7½ points and thus took clear first. The second and third places went to Pavel Ponkratov and Sjugirov as the best of a group of six players with 7 points.

Boris Savchenko
In the last round, Savchenko's opponent, GM Igor Lysyj, passed up any attempt to play for joint first by allowing a forced draw in the opening from the white side of a Gruenfeld.
Black has happily forced a draw after 10...♛xc3+ in more than a dozen GM games. 11.♗d2 ♛b2 12.♗c1 ♛c3+. The game was over in minutes.
But remarkably this was not the first game to finish. That distinction goes to the board two game, where Sjugirov with 6½ points could have ostensibly played for first place with a win. His opponent Artyom Timofeev had a half point less, but opted for a well-trodden drawing path in the Queen's Gambit Accepted when the opportunity presented itself on move 7:
Garry Kasparov took to the Queen’s Gambit at a relatively late stage of his chess career, but then had the best training anyone could imagine: in his first match for the world championship against Anatoly Karpov, this opening appeared on the board no less than 19 times. Now he shares his knowledge with you.
Sjugirov thought for mere seconds before playing 7...♝g4 which allows the forced draw 8.♘g5 ♝xd1 9.♗xf7+ ♚d7 10.♗e6+ which has been seen in hundreds of games.
Savchenko laid the foundation for his win in the penultimate round when he defeated IM Semen Khanin.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Nge2 e6 8.Ng3 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 h5 11.Be2 h4 12.Nf1 Nh7 13.Ne3 Nd7 14.0-0 f5 14...Re8 15.Kh1 Nhf6 16.Qe1 Nh5 17.f4 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rxe4 19.Bf3 Re8 20.Bxh5 gxh5 21.c4 Qf6 22.Ra2 Nb6 23.Re2 Bd7 24.Bb2 Qg6 25.Qxh4 Re4 26.g4 Bxg4 27.Rg2 f5 28.Nxg4 hxg4 29.a5 Nc8 30.h3 Kf7 31.hxg4 Ne7 32.gxf5 Nxf5 33.Rxg6 Nxh4 34.Rg7+ Kf8 35.Rfg1 Rae8 36.Rg8+ Ke7 37.R1g7+ 15.exf5 gxf5 16.f4 16.Nc4 Ne5 17.Bf4 Re8 18.Qd2 Nxc4 19.Bxc4 Qf6 20.Ra3 Nf8 21.Kh1 Ng6 22.Bh6 Qd4 23.Bd3 Bd7 24.Rd1 Kh7 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.a5 Re7 27.Bf1 Qxd2 28.Rxd2 Re1 29.Kg1 Bb5 30.Rd1 Rae8 31.Rxe1 Rxe1 32.Nxb5 axb5 33.a6 bxa6 34.Rxa6 Rb1 35.Rxd6 Rxb2 36.Rb6 b4 37.Rb5 Rd2 38.d6 Kf6 39.Bc4 Ne5 40.Rxc5 Nxc4 41.Rb5 Ne3 42.g4 fxg4 43.fxg4 h3 44.d7 Nxg4 45.Kf1 Nxh2+ 46.Ke1 Nf3+ 47.Kf1 h2 16...Ndf6 17.Bd3 Ne8 18.Bd2 Rb8 19.Kh1± b5?! 20.axb5 axb5 21.Nxb5 Bd7 22.Na7! Bxb2 23.Nc6 Bxc6 24.dxc6 Bxa1 24...Bg7 25.Ra7 Nc7 26.Ba5+- 25.Bc4+ Kg7 26.Qxa1+ Kg6 27.g4! Nhf6 28.gxf5+ Kh7 29.Qe1 d5 30.Qxh4+ Kg8 31.Qg3+ Ng7 32.Nxd5 Nxd5 33.c7 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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Savchenko,B | 2562 | Khanin,S | 2514 | 1–0 | 2019 | | Moscow Open RSSU Cup 2019 | 8 |
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The topic of this 60 minute video clip is the major idea of the 8.h3 0-0 9.Bd3 line. It has not won much love among defenders of the Benoni - White players are coming dangerously close to realising the dream of squeezing the opponent.

The winners of the A-Open
Final standings (Open - Top 20)
1 |
10 |
GM |
Savchenko Boris |
|
2562 |
Москва |
7,5 |
43,0 |
2 |
3 |
GM |
Ponkratov Pavel |
|
2630 |
Челябинская область |
7,0 |
54,5 |
3 |
1 |
GM |
Sjugirov Sanan |
|
2663 |
Самарская область |
7,0 |
51,0 |
4 |
9 |
GM |
Pridorozhni Aleksei |
|
2568 |
ХМАО-Югра |
7,0 |
50,0 |
5 |
2 |
GM |
Lysyj Igor |
|
2633 |
Челябинская область |
7,0 |
46,5 |
6 |
8 |
GM |
Kryakvin Dmitry |
|
2588 |
Ростовская область |
7,0 |
45,0 |
7 |
43 |
IM |
Ivanov Oleg V |
|
2429 |
Украина |
7,0 |
43,0 |
8 |
17 |
IM |
Khanin Semen |
|
2514 |
Новосибирская область |
6,5 |
52,0 |
9 |
27 |
IM |
Zakhartsov Vladimir |
|
2483 |
Ростовская область |
6,5 |
52,0 |
10 |
12 |
GM |
Mozharov Mikhail |
|
2549 |
Москва |
6,5 |
50,5 |
11 |
13 |
IM |
Tsydypov Zhamsaran |
|
2545 |
Республика Бурятия |
6,5 |
50,0 |
12 |
20 |
FM |
Afanasiev Nikita |
|
2508 |
Москва |
6,5 |
49,0 |
13 |
14 |
GM |
Korneev Oleg |
|
2545 |
Испания, Тенерифе |
6,5 |
48,5 |
14 |
4 |
GM |
Grachev Boris |
|
2626 |
Москва |
6,5 |
48,0 |
15 |
7 |
GM |
Timofeev Artyom |
|
2592 |
Республика Татарстан |
6,5 |
48,0 |
16 |
87 |
FM |
Radzhabov Rodion |
|
2329 |
Челябинская область |
6,5 |
47,5 |
17 |
28 |
IM |
Golubov Saveliy |
|
2482 |
Московская область |
6,5 |
43,5 |
18 |
41 |
GM |
Hayrapetyan Hovik |
|
2434 |
Армения, Степанокерт |
6,5 |
43,0 |
19 |
32 |
IM |
Tutisani Noe |
|
2468 |
Грузия |
6,5 |
42,0 |
20 |
29 |
FM |
Fakhrutdinov Timur |
|
2481 |
Свердловская область |
6,0 |
49,0 |
...170 Players
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Women's Open
The women's tournament was also very popular with more than 100 participants. Anastasia Bodnaruk won ahead of Ekaterina Goltseva and 14-year-old Bibisara Assubayeva in joint second.

The winners of the Women's tournament
Final standings (Women - top 20)
1 |
2 |
IM |
Bodnaruk Anastasia |
|
2413 |
Санкт-Петербург |
8,0 |
54,5 |
2 |
31 |
WFM |
Goltseva Ekaterina |
|
2141 |
Нижегородская область |
8,0 |
51,5 |
3 |
5 |
FM |
Assaubayeva Bibisara |
|
2372 |
Москва |
7,0 |
53,0 |
4 |
1 |
IM |
Guseva Marina |
|
2419 |
Московская область |
7,0 |
45,0 |
5 |
4 |
WFM |
Gritsayeva Oksana |
|
2378 |
Республика Крым |
6,5 |
53,0 |
6 |
23 |
FM |
Stetsko Lanita |
|
2189 |
Беларусь, Минск |
6,5 |
51,0 |
7 |
24 |
WFM |
Getman Tatyana |
|
2186 |
Санкт-Петербург |
6,5 |
49,0 |
8 |
13 |
WFM |
Afonasieva Anna |
|
2265 |
Калужская область |
6,5 |
45,5 |
9 |
15 |
|
Borisova Ekaterina |
|
2244 |
Москва |
6,0 |
50,5 |
10 |
26 |
WFM |
Smirnova Ekaterina |
|
2165 |
Москва |
6,0 |
50,0 |
11 |
16 |
WGM |
Maltsevskaya Aleksandra |
|
2243 |
Москва |
6,0 |
49,0 |
12 |
7 |
IM |
Charochkina Daria |
|
2344 |
Москва |
6,0 |
48,0 |
13 |
11 |
WFM |
Potapova Margarita |
|
2274 |
Краснодарский край |
6,0 |
48,0 |
14 |
62 |
|
Nur-Mukhametova Alisa |
|
1972 |
Москва |
6,0 |
47,5 |
15 |
21 |
WFM |
Lysenko Margarita |
|
2190 |
Московская область |
6,0 |
47,0 |
16 |
61 |
|
Kirchei Viktoriia |
|
1972 |
Москва |
6,0 |
46,5 |
17 |
3 |
WIM |
Badelka Olga |
|
2387 |
Беларусь, Могилев |
6,0 |
46,0 |
18 |
19 |
WIM |
Makarenko Alexandra |
|
2226 |
Удмуртская Республика |
6,0 |
44,5 |
19 |
49 |
WFM |
Zotova Anastasia |
|
2054 |
Москва |
6,0 |
44,0 |
20 |
27 |
WFM |
Nurgali Nazerke |
|
2159 |
Казахстан, Кызылорда |
6,0 |
41,0 |
...106 Players
Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson
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