 |
57th Russian Championship
Super Final
November 14th – December 1st 2004 |
The Super Final of the 57th Russian is being held in the Festive Hall of the
Hotel Rossija (“Rociya”), directly adjacent to the Red Square. The prize sum
is US $125,000, to be paid out in rouble equivalent. The winner takes $50,000.
The participants of this round robin tournament are Garry Kasparov, Alexander
Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Alexey Dreev,
Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Alexander Motylev, Vladimir Epishin, Artem Timofeev and
Alexey Korotylev. Originally Vladimir Kramnik and Anatoly Karpov were included,
but both withdrew at the last moment.
Round seven – Monday, November 22, 2004
We start with the drawn games. Timofeev-Bareev was one of those why-should-we-waste-our-strength
17-move draws, while Morozevich-Grischuk ended after 26 moves in a mutual-respect
repetition. Dreev-Motylev, a Petrosian in the Queen's Indian, was a tough fight,
with chances for both sides. In the end it was Dreev who was pressing, but
the game ended after 78 moves in an unwinnable R+P vs R.
Now the decided encounters. Peter Svidler was relentless against Alexey Korotylev's
Sicilian Rauzer, gaining a very clear advantage in the middle game and raking
in the full point, even if it took 62 moves. Garry Kasparov, playing against
Vitaly Tseshkovsky – the two oldest players in the field tally 101 years on
the age scale – and seemed to be in a lot of trouble in the Scheveningen he
had chosen after Tseshkovsky played 1.e4.
Tseshkovsky,V (2577) - Kasparov,G (2813) [B84]
57th ch-RUS Moscow RUS (7), 22.11.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a4
Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bg1 Bd7 13.Nb3 b6 14.Bf3 Rab8 15.Qe2
Nb4 16.e5 Nfd5 17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.Be4 b5 19.Nd4 g6 20.f5 exf5 21.Bxd5 dxe5 22.Nxf5
Bxf5
Here the 60-year-old Tseshkovsky sacrificed an exchange for a dangerous attack:
23.Rxf5 gxf5 24.Qh5 Bf8 25.Qxf5 Bg7 26.Ra3 e4 27.Rh3 h6.
Here 28.Qg6 e3 29.Rg3 Qe5 30.Bxf7+ Kh8 31.Rxe3 looked dead lost for Black,
but 31...Qxe3 32.Bxe3 Rxe3 leaves the position unclear. Misha Savinov reports
that Kasparov had seen 28.Qg6 before playing 27...h6, but nevertheless decided
to allow it. "First of all, it is a hard move to find at the board after
three hours of tense play," Kasparov said. "Yes, I had 27...Re5 28.Qxh7+
Kf8 29.Rg3 Rxd5 30.Rxg7, and maybe White does not achieve anything, but it
all looks too scary. 28.Qg6 with idea of 29.Rg3 forces me to reply with 28...e3
29.Rg3 Qe5 30.Bxf7+ Kh8 31.Rxe3 Qxe3 32.Bxe3 Rxe3, and this ending is probably
winning for White." There is more analysis at the Chess
Cafe, but this page may disappear into the archives after a while and be
replaced by a different one.
Anyway Tseshkovsky chose another path: 28.Rg3 Qe5 29.Bxf7+ Kh8 30.Qg6
Rf8 (looks dangerous, but Black has everything under control – in
fact he is clearly better) 31.axb5 axb5 32.Bd5 Rf1 33.c3 Rbf8 34.h3
Qf6 35.Bxe4 Qxg6 36.Rxg6 Re8 37.Bd3 Rd1 38.Rd6 Bf8 39.Bg6 Bxd6 0-1.
While watching this game on Playchess.com there was speculation that Kasparov
is intentionally allowing himself to get worse positions in order to provoke
the fight he will otherwise not get. "Normally he is faced with some grandmaster
with 20 years of experience playing the 'immovable object' game," said one
wag. "Instead of pounding away he has opened up weakness to provoke the opponent
into throwing punches." And that is when he can strike back. It is just a theory
– maybe he just got into trouble and found a fortuitous way to turn the game
around. Whatever the reason, Kasparov is now in the sole lead in this event,
even standing to pick up a rating point or two in the process.
Round seven – 22.11.2004 |
Svidler, Peter |
1-0 |
Korotylev, Alexey |
Dreev, Alexey |
1/2 |
Motylev, Alexander |
Timofeev, Artyom |
1/2 |
Bareev, Evgeny |
Morozevich, Alexander |
1/2 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
0-1 |
Kasparov, Garry |
Epishin, Vladimir free |
Games for replay and download
Current standings
|
Kasparov |
+3 |
Grischuk |
+2 |
Timofeev |
+1 |
Dreev |
+1 |
Svidler |
+1 |
|
|
|
|
Korotylev |
–1 |
Epishin |
–1 |
Motylev |
–1 |
Morozevich |
–2 |
Tseshkovsky |
–3 |
|
Tomorrow is a free day – round eight will be played on Wednesday
All Results
Round one – 15.11.2004 |
Dreev, Alexey |
1/2 |
Timofeev, Artyom |
Epishin, Vladimir |
1/2 |
Morozevich, Alexander |
Kasparov, Garry |
1-0 |
Bareev, Evgeny |
Motylev, Alexander |
0-1 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
0-1 |
Svidler, Peter |
Korotylev, Alexey free |
|
|
Round two – 16.11.2004 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
1/2 |
Epishin, Vladimir |
Timofeev, Artyom |
1/2 |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
Korotylev, Alexey |
1/2 |
Kasparov, Garry |
Morozevich, Alexander |
0-1 |
Dreev, Alexey |
Bareev, Evgeny |
1/2 |
Motylev, Alexander |
Svidler, Peter free |
|
Round three – 17.11.2004 |
Svidler, Peter |
0-1 |
Timofeev, Artyom |
Dreev, Alexey |
1/2 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
Epishin, Vladimir |
1/2 |
Bareev, Evgeny |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
1-0 |
Morozevich, Alexander |
Motylev, Alexander |
0-1 |
Korotylev, Alexey |
Kasparov, Garry free |
|
|
Round four – 18.11.2004 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
1-0 |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
Kasparov, Garry |
1/2 |
Motylev, Alexander |
Morozevich, Alexander |
1/2 |
Svidler, Peter |
Korotylev, Alexey |
1/2 |
Epishin, Vladimir |
Bareev, Evgeny |
1/2 |
Dreev, Alexey |
Timofeev, Artyom free |
|
Round five – 20.11.2004 |
Svidler, Peter |
1/2 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
Dreev, Alexey |
1-0 |
Korotylev, Alexey |
Timofeev, Artyom |
1/2 |
Morozevich, Alexander |
Epishin, Vladimir |
1/2 |
Kasparov, Garry |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
0-1 |
Bareev, Evgeny |
Motylev, Alexander free |
|
|
Round six – 21.11.2004 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
1/2 |
Timofeev, Artyom |
Kasparov, Garry |
1-0 |
Dreev, Alexey |
Korotylev, Alexey |
1/2 |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
Bareev, Evgeny |
1/2 |
Svidler, Peter |
Motylev, Alexander |
1-0 |
Epishin, Vladimir |
Morozevich, Alexander free |
|
Round seven – 22.11.2004 |
Svidler, Peter |
1-0 |
Korotylev, Alexey |
Dreev, Alexey |
1/2 |
Motylev, Alexander |
Timofeev, Artyom |
1/2 |
Bareev, Evgeny |
Morozevich, Alexander |
1/2 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
0-1 |
Kasparov, Garry |
Epishin, Vladimir free |
|
|
Round eight
– 24.11.2004 |
Kasparov, Garry |
|
Svidler, Peter |
Epishin, Vladimir |
|
Dreev, Alexey |
Korotylev, Alexey |
|
Timofeev, Artyom |
Bareev, Evgeny |
|
Morozevich, Alexander |
Motylev, Alexander |
|
Tseshkovsky, Vitaly |
Grischuk, Alexander free |
|