Korobov and Buksa are the 2018 Ukrainian champions

A close fight 

The Ukrainian Championships are the best organised tournament in the country, and this year's events were no exception, even if a number of the country's top players were not participating, especially in the women's championship. The main section, nonetheless, boasted a 2603 rating average with six out of ten participants above the 2600 Elo barrier. 

The most remarkable game of the open championship was played in round one: it was a somewhat surprising but extremely nice victory by Alexander Kovchan over the tournament's rating favourite Anton Korobov.

Flank Attacks

Which wing should I be playing on? When do I need to watch for counterplay? Flank attacks are an important theme in every game. FM Lilov will teach you how to employ a range of techniques to perfection!

Ukrainian champion Anton Korobov

Eventually this turned out to be Kovchan's only win in the championship. While Korobov, despite losing one more game in round four, became sole winner and the Ukrainian Champion for the third time in his career. It must be said that luck was on his side at times. He achieved his most clear and convincing win against former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov.

Besides this unfortunate game, Ponomariov had a good tournament and got an interesting victory against Stanislav Bogdanovich.

How to combat rare lines as Black

A complete repertoire for Black is set out to be used against moves such as 1.Nf3, 1.f4, 1.g3, 1.Nc3, 1.b3, 1.b4 and 1.g4. The author uses content from his own notebooks to provide a full explanation of how to proceed.

Ruslan Ponomariov finished on 5/9

The championship was very hard-fought, as the difference between first and last place was a mere two points. Despite eventually finishing last, Bogdanovich scored two wins, including this good game from the penultimate round.

The last round in Kiev

Final standings - Open section

All games - Open section

Fortune favours the brave

In the women's championship, where both Muzychuk sisters, Anna Ushenina and Nataliya Zhukova were absent, the fight was comparatively more unbalanced, but also quite tense — no one scored less than 3 points out of 9.

On the whole, the Elo favourites dominated. IM Nataliya Buksa, who recently married Azerbaijani grandmaster Rauf Mamedov, won her first Ukrainian Championship title. After looking at Buksa's decisive victory in the final round, one can say that 2018 was indeed a lucky year for her.

Buksa's final round win over Babiy secured her first place

The experienced fighter Inna Gaponenko arrived as first seed but finished in second place. She achieved a nice win over WIM Anastasiya Rakhmangulova in round seven.

Last year's champion Iulija Osmak was not in her best form. The following curious but chaotic game, which she won, rather confirms this observation.

Fascinated by the French Winawer

The Winawer Variation in just 60 minutes - that can only work by reducing it to a clear repertoire for Black and, where possible, general recommendations rather than variations. Alexei Shirov was surprised at how quickly he managed to make of the French Winawer an opening he himself could play. And now he will let you share in his conclusions.

Iulija Osmak defeated Nadiia Shpanko with the white pieces

Final standings - Women's section

All games - Women's section

Additional reporting by Antonio Pereira

Links

• Official site