It’s a rest day at the 8thAltibox Norway Chess Tournament as we write this, so we’ll be reporting in the interim about another strong Swiss classical event taking place at the moment – the 73rd Russian Championships Higher League which started Oct. 8 in Sochi, Russia.
The men’s division has 51 participants with top seed GM Vladislav Artemiev (2716) the highest ranked player in the cast and the only Elo 2700+ rated grandmaster competing. But make no mistake about it. This is a strong nine-round Swiss event with 14 players rated over Elo 2600+ and 14 other GMs rated over Elo 2500+. Absent the very top Russian grandmasters, the cream of Russian chess is here.
After six rounds of play, the leader is 16th-ranked GM Mikhail Chigaev (2598) who defeated GM Mikhail Antipov (2591) in a clash of Round 5 co-leaders. Artemiev, the top seed, is among the nine GMs in the third score group, a full point behind Chigaev. Although he hasn’t lost, he isn’t winning much either.
The top 12 standings after Round 6 (all GMs unless otherwise specified): 1. Chigaev, 5; 2-3. Aleksey Goganov, Vladimir Fedoseev, 4½; 4-12. Antipov, Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Pavel Ponkratov, Aleksei Pridorozhni, Artemiev, Andrey Esipenko, Evgeny Alekseev, Konstantin Sakaev, David Paravyan, 4.
In the women’s division of the Championships, GM Valentina Gunina is leading a 37-player field with six points after Round 6. Trailing her with 4½ points apiece are WGM Leya Garifullina, IM Marina Guseva and FM Ekaterina Goltseva.
Antipov, M (2591)-Chigaev, M (2598) [C50]
Sochi (6.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 a5 7.h3 0-0 8.Re1 h6 9.Nbd2 a4 10.Nf1 Bd7 11.d4 Bb6 12.Ng3 Re8 13.Be3 exd4 14.Nxd4 Ne5 15.Bf1 Ng6 16.Nc2 Bxe3 17.Rxe3 Ra5 18.Qd4 Rae5 19.Rae1 Bc6 20.Nb4 Bd7 21.Qa7 b5 22.Qb7 c5 23.Nc6 Bxc6 24.Qxc6 c4 25.Rd1 R8e6 26.Qb7 Qe8 27.Rd4 Nf4 28.Nf5 d5 29.exd5 N4xd5 30.Rxe5 Rxe5 31.Nd6 Qe6 32.Nxb5 Re1 33.Nc7 Nxc7 34.Qxc7 Qe2 35.Qc8+ Ne8 36.Qxc4 Rxf1+ 37.Kh2 Qxf2 38.Qxa4 Qg1+ 39.Kg3 Qe3+ 0-1
Sjugirov, S (2675)-Goganov, A (2573) [D37]
Sochi (6.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.e5 Qd8 11.Ne4 0-0 12.Qe2 Be7 13.Rad1 Qc7 14.Rc1 Bd7 15.Ng3 Bc6 16.Nxd4 Rd8 17.Nxc6 Nxc6 18.Bb5 Qxe5 19.Qxe5 Nxe5 20.Rc7 a6 21.Be2 Rd7 22.Rxd7 Nxd7 23.Rc1 Nc5 24.b4 Na4 25.Bf3 Bxb4 26.Bxb7 Ra7 27.Rc8+ Kh7 28.Be4+ g6 29.Bc6 Nc3 30.a4 Kg7 31.Kf1 a5 32.Ne2 Nd5 33.Bxd5 exd5 34.Rd8 Rc7 35.Nf4 Rc1+ 36.Ke2 Rc2+ 37.Kf3 Ra2 38.Nd3 Bc3 39.Rxd5 Rxa4 40.Rc5 Bf6 41.Rc7 Ra3 42.Ke2 a4 43.f4 Ra1 44.Ne5 Bxe5 45.fxe5 Kf8 46.Ra7 a3 47.Kf2 a2 48.h3 g5 49.Kg3 h5 50.h4 gxh4+ 51.Kh2 Ke8 52.Ra3 Kd7 53.Ra6 Ke7 0-1
Sviridov, V (2558)-Fedoseev, V (2674) [D02]
Sochi (6.4) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.Bf4 Nf6 4.c3 Bf5 5.e3 a5 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.Nh4 Bg4 8.Qb3 b5 9.a4 e5 10.dxe5 Nc5 11.Qc2 Nfe4 12.Nhf3 Nxd2 13.Nxd2 Nxa4 14.Bd3 g6 15.Nb3 Bg7 16.e4 0-0 17.0-0 Be6 18.Nd4 Qd7 19.Rad1 Nc5 20.exd5 Bxd5 21.Be2 Ne6 22.Bg3 Nxd4 23.Rxd4 Qb7 24.Rfd1 Rae8 25.f4 f6 26.c4 fxe5 27.fxe5 bxc4 28.Bxc4 Qb6 29.Bxd5+ cxd5 30.Bf2 Bxe5 31.Rh4 Qb5 32.b3 Rc8 33.Qa2 Rc3 34.b4 Qd3 0-1
Rozum, I (2566)-Paravyan, D (2653) [E06]
Sochi (6.7) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qa4 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 Nc6 12.e3 b4 13.Qc4 Na5 14.Qe2 c5 15.Rc1 Rc8 16.dxc5 Bxc5 17.Be1 Qd6 18.Nbd2 Bd3 19.Qd1 Rfd8 20.Nb3 Nxb3 21.Qxb3 Be4 22.a3 bxa3 23.bxa3 Rb8 24.Qc3 Rdc8 25.Qe5 Qe7 26.Nh4 Bd6 27.Rxc8+ Rxc8 28.Qa5 Qb7 29.Bf1 Qb2 30.Rd1 Be7 31.Bb4 Ng4 32.Be1 Bxh4 33.gxh4 Qb8 34.f4 Nxe3 35.Rd4 Bb7 36.Bxa6 Bxa6 37.Qxa6 Nd5 38.f5 Rc1 39.Qa5 h6 40.fxe6 fxe6 41.Re4 Qe8 42.Qd2 Qg6+ 43.Qg2 Qf5 44.h3 Nf4 45.Qf3 Nd3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qg4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sd8/d6/a5/c5 2.S(x)c5#; 1…Rxb4+ 2.Qxb4#; 1…Rxc3 2.Bxc3#./PN
