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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.
The ninth round brought a number of decisive games but no final decision about the title. Evgeny Tomashevsky won a fine game against Ivan Bukavshin, confirming his lead.
Evgeny Tomashevsky
However, Sergey Karjakin kept close to Tomashevsky by winning against Peter Svidler.
Sergey Karjakin
Nikita Vitiugov fared less well. After his draw against Daniil Dubov he was one point behind Tomashevsky and half-a-point behind Karjakin.
The two other decisive games of round nine were played by Vladislav Artemiev who won against Dmitry Jakovenko, and Denis Khismatullin who defeated Ildar Khairullin.
Vladislav Artemiev
In round ten Khismatullin continued where he had stopped in round nine by beating Artemiev.
Denis Khismatullin
Meanwhile, in round ten Tomashevsky made a big step towards the title by keeping Karjakin to a draw. In the eleventh and last round Tomashevsky has to play with White against Peter Svidler and thus has good chances to become Russian Champion 2015.
Evgeny Tomashevsky
The ninth round also proved to be crucial in the women's tournament because Aleksandra Goryachkina, who was leading the field, played against Alexandra Kosteniuk, who was trailing half-a-point behind Goryachkina. With a win against her rival Kosteniuk would have had good chances for the title. But Goryachkina kept her nerve, drew the game, and defended her lead.
Aleksandra Goryachkina
But there were a number of decisive games in round nine. Olga Girya, who had been unlucky in a number of games in this year's Superfinal, won against Kateryna Lagno.
Olga Girya
The most uncompromising player in the women's tournament is Valentina Gunina. Only one of her ten games ended in a draw. However, in round nine she suffered a defeat against Evgenija Ovod.
Valentina Gunina
A highlight of the ninth round was Anastasia Bodnaruk's fine attacking game against Alina Kashlinskaya's French Defence.
Anastasia Bodnaruk
Inspired by this win Bodnaruk continued in a similar vein in round ten - and won another attacking game, though with some help from her opponent Anastasia Savina.
At the very top there were no changes. Goryachkina drew against Natalija Pogonina and Kosteniuk drew against Kateryna Lagno. Before the final round Goryachkina leads the field with 7.5/10, Kosteniuk follows half-a-point behind with 7.0/10.
Photos: Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili
LinksThe 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. |
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