The 2022 Kazan Mayor’s Cup ended January 30th in Kazan, Russia, with a two-way tie for first place that was later resolved by tiebreak, with GM Maxim Matlakov emerging with the better tiebreak quotient to get the title from GM Vladislav Artemiev.
The event is a 10-player, single round robin, Category 14 (average Elo: 2595) rapid chess event with a time format of 15 minutes base reflection time plus 10 seconds increment per move. The players are GMs Vladislav Artemiev, Grigoty Oparin, Maxim Matlakov, Alexey Sarana, Sergy Rublevsky, Alexey Dreev, Artyom Timofeev, Valentina Gunina, IM Ramil Faizrakhmanov, and WGM Alisa Galliamova.
The final standings: 1-2. Matlakov, Artemiev, 6½; 3. Oparin, 6; 4-5. Sarana, Dreev, 5; 6-7. Timofeev, Faizrakhmanov, 4½; 8. Rublevsky, 4; 9. Galliamova, 2½; 10. Gunina, ½.
There was also a blitz tournament (3 minutes +2 seconds increment won by Artemiev with Matlakov and Sarana sharing 2nd-3rd places.
Matlakov,M (2674)-Oparin,G (2681) [E05]
Kazan (4.1) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Nc6 9.Qxc4 Na5 10.Qc2 b6 11.Nc3 Bb7 12.Bg5 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Rad1 Qb6 15.Ne5 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Rfd8 17.Kg1 Qb7 18.Rxd8+ Rxd8 19.Rd1 Rxd1+ 20.Nxd1 Qd5 21.Nf3 h6 22.Bd2 Qb3 23.Qxb3 Nxb3 24.Ne3 Ne4 25.Nc4 g5 26.Be3 f6 27.Kf1 g4 28.Ne1 h5 29.Nd3 e5 30.Ke1 Kf7 31.f3 Nd6 32.Nd2 Nxd2 33.Bxd2 Nf5 34.fxg4 hxg4 35.Nf2 c4 36.Nxg4 Bc5 37.e3 Nd6 38.Ke2 Kg6 39.Nf2 f5 40.Bc3 e4 41.Bd4 Bb4 42.Nh3 Nc8 43.Nf4+ Kg5 44.h3 Bd6 45.Kd2 Bb4+ 46.Kc2 Ne7 47.Ne6+ Kg6 48.Bc5 a5 49.Bxb4 axb4 50.a5 Nd5 51.Nf4+ 1-0
Matlakov,M (2674)-Dreev,A (2623) [E03]
Kazan (2.5) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Qxc4 c5 7.Nf3 a6 8.Qb3 Ra7 9.0-0 b5 10.a4 c4 11.Qc2 Qb6 12.b3 Nd5 13.axb5 axb5 14.Rxa7 Qxa7 15.bxc4 Nb4 16.Qb2 bxc4 17.Na3 Ba6 18.Bd2 Nd5 19.Ra1 Qb8 20.Qxb8+ Nxb8 21.e4 Nb6 22.Ba5 N8d7 23.Nb1 Bc8 24.Nc3 Be7 25.Rb1 Bd8 26.Nb5 0-0 27.Bb4 Bb7 28.Nd2 c3 29.Bxf8 cxd2 30.Bb4 Nc4 31.Na3 Nxa3 32.Bxa3 Ba5 33.Bf3 Bc6 34.d5 exd5 35.exd5 Ba4 36.Rb7 f5 37.Ra7 Ne5 38.Be2 Nc4 39.Bb4 1-0
Rublevsky,S (2637)-Artemiev,V (2700) [C47]
Kazan (8.4) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 d5 9.exd5 cxd5 10.h3 Rb8 11.Qf3 Rb6 12.Bg5 Bb7 13.Ne2 h6 14.Bh4 Re8 15.Rad1 g5 16.a3 Bf8 17.Bg3 c5 18.b3 d4 19.Qf5 Rxe2 20.Bxe2 Be4 21.Qe5 Bd6 22.Rxd4 cxd4 23.Qxd4 Qe7 24.Bc4 Bxg3 25.fxg3 Bxc2 26.h4 Bg6 27.Rd1 Rc6 28.Ra1 0-1
Artemiev,V (2700)-Timofeev,A (2572) [A15]
Kazan (6.2) 2022
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 d6 4.Bb2 e5 5.c4 Bg7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.d3 Nc6 8.0-0 h6 9.Nc3 Be6 10.Rc1 Re8 11.Nd2 Qd7 12.Nde4 Nxe4 13.dxe4 Ne7 14.Qd3 c6 15.Qe3 b6 16.Rfd1 Rad8 17.Ba3 Nc8 18.Rd3 Kh7 19.Rcd1 Qc7 20.Qd2 Bf8 21.f4 Bg7 22.Rf1 exf4 23.gxf4 f5 24.exf5 gxf5 25.e4 Rg8 26.Kh1 Rde8 27.Rg3 Qd7 28.Qd3 Bxc3 29.Qxc3 Rxg3 30.hxg3 fxe4 31.f5 Bxf5 32.Bb2 Bg6 33.Kh2 e3 34.Bxc6 1-0
Oparin,G (2681)-Artemiev,V (2700) [D94]
Kazan (3.3) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 g6 3.c4 e6 4.d4 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.b3 Re8 9.Bb2 b6 10.Rc1 Bb7 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Bxd5 13.Qe2 e5 14.Bb5 exd4 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16.Nxd4 c5 17.Nf3 a6 18.Bxa6 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Qg5+ 20.Kh1 Qh5 21.Rg1 Rxa6 22.Qxa6 Qxf3+ 23.Rg2 Ra8 24.Qb5 Nf6 25.Qxb6 Ne4 26.Kg1 Nc3 27.Re1 Ne4 28.a4 h5 29.h4 Qf5 30.Rd1 Kh7 31.Rd8 Rxd8 32.Qxd8 Nc3 33.Qe7 Kg8 34.a5 Qh3 35.Qd8+ Kh7 36.Qd3 Na2 37.Qd5 Kg8 38.a6 Nc3 39.Rxg6+ 1-0
Sarana,Alexey (2666)-Matlakov,Maxim (2674) [E34]
Kazan (3.2) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 Qf5 7.Qb3 Nc6 8.h3 a5 9.g4 Qg6 10.a3 a4 11.Qd1 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Ne4 13.Qd3 Nd6 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Qe4 16.exd6 Qxh1 17.Qd4 0-0 18.d7 Bxd7 19.Qxd7 Rfd8 20.Qxc7 Qd5 21.Be3 Rac8 22.Qb6 h5 23.gxh5 Qxh5 24.Bg2 Rd7 25.Qb4 Qg6 26.Kf1 Qc2 27.Be4 Qxc3 28.Rc1 1-0
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nf6 2.Re7#; 1…Nc5/e5 2.Bf5#; 1…Rf6/d6 2.Nxg3#; 1…Bxe2 2.Qd5#; 1…Bxc4 2.Nc3#; 1…Be1 2.exd3#; 1…Bxf4 2.Qxf4#; 1…Nb4/e1 2.Qe3#.
