Superfinals Rd 5: Peaceful men, fighting women

Artemiev on Top in Men's Russian Championship.
Lagno, Kosteniuk, Goriachkina Lead Women's Section

The 68th Men's Russian Chess Championship and the 65th Women's Russian Chess Championship is played in Chita from 9. to 21. August. The competition is held by the Russian Chess Federation, the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation and the Zabaykalsky Krai Chess Federation, with support from the government of the Zabaykalsky Krai. The competition partners are Norilsk Nickel and the Baikalsk Mining Company.

Parallel to the fifth round of the Russian Superfinals, the Health Academy held a master class for 50 young chess players from Chita. For several hours grandmaster Evgenij Miroshnichenko shared secrets of chess excellence.

Young talents who...

...want to get better at chess.

Ivan Bukavshin scored his first victory at the Superfinal, defeating Ildar Khairullin. In a position with hanging pawns, Bukavshin repositioned his pieces successfully and gained the initiative. While looking for counterplay, Black weakened his pawn structure and allowed his opponent to grab an open file on the queenside. In mutual time-trouble both players could not avoid mistakes, but White played more accurate and finished the game with a fine tactical blow.

The game between Jakovenko-Vitiugov was drawn but two moves before the time-control White missed a good chance.

Evgeny Tomashevsky also missed a good chance against Daniil Dubov who might have run into trouble when he came to the end of his preparation.

Evgeney Tomashevsky receives last instructions before the game.
After five rounds Tomashevsky leads together with Vladislav Artemiev.

Vladislav Artemiev waits for his opponent.

Standings after round five

Women

Aleksandra Goryachkina

Anastasia Savina and Alexandra Goryachkina had a duel in a trendy branch of the Improved Tarrasch Defense, where Black sacrifices a pawn for initiative. But Goryachkina’s initiative gradually petered out which eventually led to her first loss in the tournament.

A crucial encounter: Alexandra Kosteniuk played with White against Valentina Gunina

The toughest encounter in the women's tournament was the game Kosteniuk – Gunina. Alexandra demonstrated deep preparation in the Caro-Kann Defense while Gunina failed to sort out the intricacies of the position and finally had to defend a bad endgame a pawn down. And despite Gunina’s stubborn defense Alexandra Kosteniuk finally converted her advantage into a win.

Alexandra Kosteniuk

Kateryna Lagno

Kateryna Lagno, who played with white against Natalia Pogonina, got a good position after the opening and won when Pogonina failed to solve her problems.

Olga Girya lost her second game in a row and again form a promising position. In a game that began with a Nimzo-Indian Girya reached an endgame with an extra pawn. But then things went wrong: her opponent, Alina Kashlinskaya, managed to activate her rook and suddenly had counterplay. Girya was too slow to push her pawns on the queenside and finally missed a trick after which Black’s passed pawn decided the game.

Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, who played with White against Marina Guseva, posed her opponent constant problems in the Caro-Kann. In a difficult position Guseva made a mistake and resigned a few moves later.

White also won in the game between Anastasia Bodnaruk and Evgenija Ovod. Black had a good position after the opening but then started activities in the center that were not quite correct and gave White a strong pawn that decided the endgame.

Standings after round five

Photos: Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili

Links Official tournament site Games in PGN (Men) Games in PGN (Women) 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.