Only one decisive game was produced in Round 5 action at the 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal in Moscow, enabling Sergey Karjakin and Ian Nepomniachtchi to retain their joint leadership in the competition.
The five drawn games of the round, however, were not without their exciting moments as the protagonists battled for points that seem hard to earn in this Category 18 (average Elo: 2689) event.
The only win in the round was turned in by Maxim Matlakov, who brought down Maksim Chigaev in 47 moves of a thrilling Sicilian Najdorf. Elsewhere, Aleksey Goganov held Karjakin to a fighting draw in 42 moves of a Catalan; Nepomniachtchi had a short but interesting point-splitter with Nikita Vitiugov; while the Vladimir Fedoseev vs Mikhail Antipov, Daniil Dubov vs Vladislav Artemiev, and the Andrey Esipenko vs Peter Svidler matches ended in fighting draws.
Standings after Round 5: 1-2. Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi, 3½; 3. Fedoseev, 3; 4-8. Artemiev, Chigaev, Svidler, Vitiugov, Dubov, 2½; 9-11. Esipenko, Goganov, Matlakov, 2; 11-12. Antipov, 1½.
Goganov, A (2594)-Karjakin, S (2752) [E02]
Moscow (5.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Nh3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qxc4 Qe7 10.Nc3 h6 11.Nf4 Ne5 12.Qb3 Rb8 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Bxe4 b6 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.Qxe3 Ng4 17.Qb3 Nf6 18.Bf3 Bb7 19.Bxb7 Qxb7 20.Rfd1 Rfd8 21.Rxd8+ Rxd8 22.Rd1 Rxd1+ 23.Qxd1 Qc7 24.Nd3 Qc4 25.a3 Nd5 26.Qd2 f6 27.Nf4 Nxf4 28.gxf4 Kh7 29.f3 Kg6 30.Kg2 Kh5 31.e4 g5 32.fxg5 fxg5 33.Qd6 Qe2+ 34.Kg3 Qe1+ 35.Kg2 Kh4 36.Qg3+ Qxg3+ 37.hxg3+ Kh5 38.g4+ Kg6 39.a4 a6 40.Kf2 e5 41.b4 b5 42.axb5 axb5 ½-½
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Vitiugov, N (2720) [C45]
Moscow (5.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 g6 10.f4 d6 11.Qf2 Nf6 12.Be2 dxe5 13.0-0 Ne4 14.Qe1 Qc5 15.Kh1 Qd4 16.Bf3 Qa1 17.Qe4 Bb7 18.Qc2 Bc5 19.Nc3 Bb4 20.Na4 0-0-0 21.Be2 Qd4 22.Rd1 Qa1 23.Rf1 Qd4 24.Rd1 Qa1 25.Rf1 ½-½
Fedoseev, V (2674)-Antipov, M (2611) [E60]
Moscow (5.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Be2 d6 6.Nc3 Re8 7.e4 e6 8.Be3 Nc6 9.0-0 e5 10.d5 Nd4 11.Nxd4 exd4 12.Bxd4 Nxe4 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Qd4+ Qf6 15.Qxf6+ Kxf6 16.Nb5 Re7 17.f3 Nc5 18.Rfe1 Bd7 19.Nc3 Rae8 20.Kf2 Na4 21.Nxa4 Bxa4 22.b3 Bd7 23.Rad1 a5 24.Rd2 h5 25.Rc1 b6 26.Rc3 Kg5 27.h4+ Kf6 28.a3 Ra8 29.Bd1 Rae8 30.Be2 Ra8 31.Rc1 Rae8 32.Rc3 ½-½
Dubov, D (2702)-Artemiev, V (2711) [B83]
Moscow (5.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 d6 7.Be3 Bd7 8.Qd2 a6 9.0-0-0 b5 10.a3 b4 11.axb4 Nxb4 12.Kb1 e5 13.Nf5 d5 14.Bg5 Be6 15.f4 Qa5 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.fxe5 fxe5 18.Qg5 Rc8 19.Ne3 Rxc3 20.bxc3 Bc5 21.cxb4 Qxb4+ 22.Kc1 Qa3+ 23.Kb1 Qb4+ 24.Kc1 Qa3+ 25.Kb1 ½-½
Esipenko, A (2686)-Svidler, P (2723) [D90]
Moscow (5.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.h4 dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.d5 b5 8.h5 0-0 9.hxg6 fxg6 10.e5 Ng4 11.d6 e6 12.Rxh7 Rf5 13.Ne4 Nd7 14.Bg5 Qe8 15.Be7 Ngxe5 16.Nfg5 Bb7 17.Qc2 Nc6 18.Rxg7+ Kxg7 19.Qc3+ e5 20.Ne6+ Kg8 21.Nc7 Qf7 22.Nxa8 Nxe7 23.dxe7 Bxe4 24.Nc7 Qxe7 25.Nxb5 Nb6 26.Rd1 Qh4 27.g3 Qh2 28.Rd8+ Kh7 29.Qe3 Bd3 30.Qxc5 Rf7 31.Rf8 Rxf8 32.Qxf8 Qh1 33.Qe7+ Kh6 34.Qf8+ Kh7 35.Qe7+ Kh6 36.Qf8+ Kh7 37.Qe7+ ½-½
Chigaev, M (2619)-Matlakov, M (2698) [B90]
Moscow (5.6) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bc4 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Bb3 h6 11.Nh4 Na5 12.Ng6 Nxb3 13.Nxe7+ Qxe7 14.axb3 b5 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Qxd5 Be6 17.Qd3 Qc7 18.Rfc1 Rfc8 19.Bd2 Qc6 20.h3 f6 21.c4 bxc4 22.bxc4 Bxc4 23.Qg3 Qxe4 24.Bxh6 Qh7 25.Qg4 f5 26.Qd1 d5 27.Bg5 Qg6 28.b3 Qxg5 29.bxc4 d4 30.c5 Rc6 31.Rc4 Rac8 32.Rac1 Kh7 33.g3 Rd8 34.Qa4 Qf6 35.Rd1 Rd5 36.Qb4 Qh6 37.h4 Qh5 38.Rd2 d3 39.Qa4 Qh6 40.g4 Rdxc5 41.Rxc5 Rxc5 42.g5 Qh5 43.Rxd3 Rc1+ 44.Kh2 Qe2 45.Rg3 f4 46.Rg2 Qe1 47.Kh3 Qh1+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The above problem has the dubious distinction of having two black bishops on black squares. Anyway, the key to our last problem is 1.Be4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Se7/f6/h6 2.Q(x)e7#; 1…Kxe4 2.Qe6#; 1…fxe4 2.Sg4#; 1…Bxe4 2.d4#; 1…Rxe4 2.Sf3#./PN
