World Chess Championship 2016 challenger Sergey Karjakin seized the solo leadership of the 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal in Moscow after beating Nikita Vitiugov in Round 3 action.
Karjakin’s win also turned out to be the only decisive game of Round 3, and gave the 30-year-old a half-point lead in the 12-player, single round robin event. The other seeded Elo 2700+ players including Ian Nepomniachtchi, Peter Svidler, Vladislav Artemiev, and Daniil Dubov all drew their games and are apparently conserving their energy in this long tournament.
Nepomniachtchi, Svidler and Dubov split the point respectively with Artemiev, Vladimir Fedoseev and Maxim Matlakov. Aleksey Goganov and Mikhail Antipov also drew their Round 3 match, as did Andrey Esipenko and Maksim Chigaev.
Standings after Round 3: 1. Karjakin, 2½; 2-4. Chigaev, Fedoseev, Nepomniachtchi, 2; 5-8. Svidler, Artemiev, Goganov, Dubov, 1½; 9-11. Esipenko, Vitiugov, Antipov, 1; 12. Matlakov, ½.
Vitiugov, N (2720)-Karjakin, S (2752) [C67]
Moscow (3.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Rd1+ Ke8 10.Nc3 Ne7 11.a4 Ng6 12.a5 a6 13.h3 Be7 14.Be3 h5 15.Re1 h4 16.Bg5 Rh5 17.Bxe7 Kxe7 18.Ra4 b5 19.Rd4 Be6 20.b4 Kf8 21.Rdd1 Re8 22.Nd4 c5 23.Nxe6+ Rxe6 24.Rd8+ Re8 25.Rxe8+ Kxe8 26.Nd5 Kd7 27.f4 c6 28.Nb6+ Ke7 29.Nc8+ Ke6 30.Nd6 Nxf4 31.Ne4 cxb4 32.Nc5+ Kd5 33.Nxa6 c5 34.Rd1+ Kc4 35.Nc7 Ne6 36.Nd5 Nd4 37.Nb6+ Kc3 38.a6 Kxc2 39.a7 Rh8 40.Rf1 b3 41.Rf2+ Kd3 42.Nd7 Ra8 0-1
Goganov, A (2594)-Antipov, MA (2611) [D97]
Moscow (3.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0-0 7.e4 a6 8.Be2 b5 9.Qb3 c5 10.dxc5 Bb7 11.e5 Nfd7 12.Be3 Nxe5 13.Rd1 Qc7 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.Qxd5 Nbc6 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.Bf3 Rfc8 18.Qxc6 Qxc6 19.Bxc6 Rxc6 20.Rd2 f5 21.f4 Bf6 22.Ke2 Kf7 23.h3 h6 24.g4 Rh8 25.gxf5 gxf5 26.Kf3 Rg8 27.Bf2 Rgc8 28.Rhd1 R8c7 29.Rc2 Ke8 30.b4 Ra7 31.Rd3 Ra8 32.Be3 Kf7 33.a3 a5 34.a4 Rb8 35.bxa5 bxa4 36.Ra3 Rb3 37.Rxa4 Re6 38.Re2 Bh4 39.a6 Rg6 40.Rg2 Re6 41.Re2 ½-½
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Artemiev, V (2711) [C79]
Moscow (3.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 Nxe4 7.d4 Bd7 8.Re1 Nf6 9.Bxc6 Bxc6 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qxd8+ Kxd8 12.Nxe5 Be8 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bxf6+ gxf6 15.Ng4 Be7 16.Nd2 Bd7 17.Ne3 c6 18.Rad1 b5 19.Nb3 Re8 20.f4 Kc7 21.Nd4 Bf8 22.Kf2 Re4 23.g3 Bc5 24.Nec2 Rxe1 25.Rxe1 a5 26.a3 h5 27.Kf3 Bg4+ 28.Kg2 Bd7 29.Kf3 Bg4+ 30.Kg2 Bd7 31.Kf3 Bg4+ ½-½
Fedoseev, V (2674)-Svidler, P (2723) [D85]
Moscow (3.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Rb1 a6 11.Rc1 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 e6 14.Bd3 0-0 15.h4 h6 16.e5 Rd8 17.h5 g5 18.Nxg5 Nxd4 19.Ne4 Bxe5 20.Bxh6 f5 21.Nc5 Nc6 22.g4 Bb2 23.Rc2 Ba3 24.gxf5 exf5 25.Rg1+ Kh7 26.Be3 Nb4 27.Rc3 Nxd3 28.Rxd3 Rxd3+ 29.Nxd3 Be6 30.Rg6 Re8 31.Bc5 Bxc5 32.Nxc5 Bxa2 33.Nxb7 Re6 34.Rxe6 Bxe6 35.Nc5 Bf7 36.Nxa6 Bxh5 37.f4 Kg7 38.Nc5 Kf6 39.Nd3 Be8 40.Ne5 Bb5 41.Ke3 ½-½
Dubov, D (2702)-Matlakov, M (2698) [D37]
Moscow (3.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.g3 dxc4 6.Bg2 c6 7.0-0 Be7 8.e4 0-0 9.a4 b5 10.axb5 cxb5 11.e5 Nd5 12.Nd2 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Rb8 14.Rxa7 Qb6 15.Ra1 Bb7 16.Ne4 Bd5 17.Qg4 Kh8 18.Bg5 Bxg5 19.Nxg5 Bxg2 20.Kxg2 h6 21.Ne4 Qc6 22.Qf3 b4 23.cxb4 Rxb4 24.Rfb1 Rb3 25.Rxb3 cxb3 26.Rb1 Rb8 27.Nc5 Nxe5 28.Qxc6 Nxc6 29.Rxb3 Rd8 30.Rf3 Kg8 31.Nb3 g5 32.h3 Kg7 33.Rc3 Nxd4 34.Nxd4 Rxd4 35.g4 h5 36.Kg3 h4+ 37.Kg2 Kf6 38.Rc7 Rd6 39.Ra7 e5 40.Ra8 Ke6 41.Rg8 f6 42.Ra8 e4 43.Ra5 Rd5 44.Ra8 Ke5 45.Re8+ Kf4 46.Re6 f5 47.Rf6 Ra5 48.Rf8 Rb5 ½-½
Esipenko, A (2686)-Chigaev, M (2619) [C84]
Moscow (3.6) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 d6 7.c3 0-0 8.Re1 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.Nf1 h6 11.Ng3 b5 12.Bb3 Be6 13.d4 Bxb3 14.Qxb3 d5 15.dxe5 dxe4 16.Rd1 Qc8 17.exf6 exf3 18.Qd5 Ne5 19.Bf4 c6 20.Qe4 Nc4 21.Qxf3 g5 22.Bc1 Qe6 23.b3 Rad8 24.Rf1 Ne5 25.Qf5 Ng4 26.h3 Qxf5 27.Nxf5 Nxf6 28.c4 Ne4 29.Be3 Nd6 30.Nxd6 Rxd6 31.cxb5 cxb5 32.g4 f5 33.gxf5 Re5 34.Rac1 Rxf5 35.Rc8 Re6 36.Rd1 Kf7 37.Rd7+ Kg6 38.Ra7 Rf7 39.Rxf7 Kxf7 40.Kg2 Ba3 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Kxb7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bxc5 2.Bxe5#; 1…Rc3 2.Rxd5#; 1…Rxe4 2.Se6#./PN
