THINGS are getting exciting at the ongoing Chelyabinsk Variant A Tournament in Russia after top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov and 13th seed IM Semen Khanin joined the leaderboard at the end of Round 8 on Monday.
While erstwhile joint leaders GM Anton Shomoev and IM Andrey Drygalov had seven-move grandmasters draw, obviously to conserve energy in the final going, Ponkratov and Khanin subdued opponents GM Dmitry Frolyanov and WGM Polina Shuvalova, respectively, to enable them to level up. All four leaders have six points apiece and with two rounds to go, the final outcome remains in the air as all four showed capability to snatch the champion’s belt.
Furthermore, eight players are breathing hard down the quartet’s neck just half-a-point behind them. These are 3rd seed GM Igor Lysyj, 4th seed GM Sergei Azarov, 9th seed GM Alexei Fedorov, GM Arseniy Nesterov, IMs Rudik Makarian, Alisher Suleymenov and Anton Sitnikov, and untitled but 12th seeded Azamat Utegaliyev.
Ponkratov, P (2619)-Frolyanov, D (2542) [E04]
Chelyabinsk (8.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.Ne5 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Qxd4 8.Bxb4 Qxe5 9.Na3 a5 10.Nxc4 Qb5 11.Ba3 Nc6 12.Qd3 Qa6 13.Rd1 Bd7 14.Bxc6 Qxc6 15.0-0 Qa6 16.b3 b5 17.Ne5 b4 18.Nxd7 Qxd3 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 20.Rxd3 bxa3 21.Rc1 Ra7 22.Rd4 Ke7 23.Ra4 Rd8 24.e3 Rd5 25.Rxa3 f5 26.Ra4 Kf6 27.Rc2 c5 28.Kf1 Ke5 29.Ke2 Kd6 30.Rh4 f6 31.Rh6 Rf7 32.Rc4 Kc6 33.h3 Rdd7 34.g4 fxg4 35.hxg4 Rd6 36.Ra4 Kb5 37.Rf4 e5 38.a4+ Kc6 39.Rf5 Rb7 40.Rfxf6 Rxf6 41.Rxf6+ Kd5 42.Rf5 Kd6 43.Rf6+ Kd5 44.Ra6 Rxb3 45.Rxa5 Rb2+ 46.Kf3 e4+ 47.Kg3 Rb7 48.Ra8 Rc7 49.Kf4 Rf7+ 50.Kg3 Rc7 51.Rd8+ Ke5 52.Rd1 Rg7 53.Rh1 c4 54.a5 Kd5 55.Rh5+ Kc6 56.Kf4 Re7 57.Rh1 Kc5 58.Rc1 Kb4 59.a6 c3 60.Rb1+ Kc4 61.Rb7 Re8 62.a7 Ra8 63.Kxe4 c2 64.Rxh7 Kb3 65.Rb7+ Ka2 66.Rc7 Kb1 67.Rb7+ Ka2 68.Rc7 Kb1 69.g5 Rxa7 70.Rxc2 Kxc2 71.g6 Kd2 72.Kf5 Ke2 73.e4 Kxf2 74.e5 Kg3 75.e6 Kh4 76.Kf6 Kh5 77.g7 Ra8 78.Kf7 1-0
Khanin, S (2506)-Shuvalova, P (2476) [C92]
Chelyabinsk (8.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Re8 10.d4 Bb7 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a3 g6 13.Ba2 Bg7 14.b4 a5 15.d5 Ne7 16.Nb3 axb4 17.cxb4 Rc8 18.Na5 Ba8 19.a4 c6 20.dxc6 Nxc6 21.axb5 Nxb4 22.Bxf7+ Kxf7 23.Qb3+ d5 24.Qxb4 Nxe4 25.b6 Qe7 26.Rxe4 dxe4 27.Qb3+ Kf8 28.Ba3 exf3 29.b7 Bxb7 30.Nxb7 e4 31.Rd1 1-0
Azarov, S (2604)-Gutenev, A (2451) [B69]
Chelyabinsk (8.7) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f4 Be7 10.Nf3 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.f5 Qb6 13.Kb1 0-0-0 14.a4 b4 15.Ne2 Kb8 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.Nf4 Na5 18.b3 d5 19.exd5 e5 20.Qe1 Bc8 21.Bd3 Rhe8 22.Nh5 Bc5 23.Qh4 f5 24.Ng7 e4 25.Nxe8 Rxe8 26.Rhe1 Qg6 27.Qf4+ Bd6 28.Qe3 Kb7 29.Nd4 Qxg2 30.Nc6 Nxc6 31.dxc6+ Kxc6 32.Bb5+ axb5 33.axb5+ Kd7 34.Qa7+ Ke6 35.Qb6 Kf7 36.Qxd6 Be6 37.Rg1 Qh3 38.Qc7+ Re7 39.Rg7+ 1-0
Kosic, D (2445)-Utegaliyev, A (2507) [E90]
Chelyabinsk (8.10) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Bg4 6.Be3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Nfd7 8.Qd1 0-0 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.d5 Nce5 11.Be2 Nf6 12.h3 c6 13.0-0 cxd5 14.exd5 a6 15.f4 Ned7 16.Rac1 Qa5 17.a3 Rfc8 18.b4 Qd8 19.Rfd1 h5 20.Bf1 Rc7 21.Rc2 Rac8 22.Rdc1 Kh7 23.Na4 b5 24.Nb6 Rb8 25.Nxd7 Qxd7 26.Bd3 e6 27.dxe6 Qxe6 28.Re1 Re7 29.Bf2 Qd7 30.Rxe7 Qxe7 31.f5 gxf5 32.Qg5 Qe5 33.Qxf5+ Kg8 34.c5 Ne8 35.c6 Nc7 36.Re2 Qxf5 37.Bxf5 Be5 38.Bd7 Kg7 39.Ba7 Ra8 40.Bb6 Nd5 41.Bf2 a5 42.bxa5 Rxa5 43.Rd2 b4 44.c7 Nxc7 45.Bb6 Rd5 0-1
Afanasiev, N (2519)-Obgolts, E (2404) [E91]
Chelyabinsk (7.13) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Bg4 7.Be3 Nfd7 8.0-0 e5 9.d5 a5 10.Nd2 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 f5 12.f3 Na6 13.a3 Qh4 14.Bf2 Qg5 15.Be3 Qh4 16.Rab1 Bh6 17.b4 Bxe3+ 18.Qxe3 axb4 19.axb4 c5 20.dxc6 bxc6 21.b5 Nc7 22.bxc6 Nc5 23.Nd5 f4 24.Qc3 N7e6 25.Nb3 Nxb3 26.Rxb3 Rac8 27.Rb7 Nd4 28.Qd2 Rf7 29.Rxf7 Kxf7 30.c7 g5 31.Qf2 Qh5 32.Qa2 g4 33.c5 Kg7 34.cxd6 gxf3 35.gxf3 Kh6 36.Qg2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rg7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kd4 2.Re7/g4#; 1…Ke5+, Rg4/h5/xh6/h3/h2/h1 2.R(x)g4#; 1…Kf4 2.Sg2#; 1…Rf4 2.Re7#./PN
