Top seed Ian Nepomniachtchi fought off a determined Vladimir Fedoseev and drew to keep the lead after Round 8 of the of the ongoing 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal in Moscow. That lead, however, was trimmed down to just half-a-point as second-running Sergey Karjakin dealt Peter Svidler’s first loss in the Category 18 (average Elo:2690) event. Maxim Chigaev also drew closer after getting an unearned point against Mikhail Antipov who withdrew from the tournament at the start of the previous round but whose remaining games shall be counted as default losses.
The other decisive games of the round were authored by Vladislav Artemiev who drubbed Maxim Matlakov in 43 moves of a Larsen Opening, and Daniil Dubov who crushed Aleksey Giganov in 36 moves of a Catalan. The Nikita Vitiugov vs Andrey Esipenko ended in a draw after 43 moves of a Petroff.
Standings after Round 8: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 6; 2. Karjakin, 5½; 3. Chigaev, 5; 4-6. Artemiev, Fedoseev, Dubov, 4½; 7. Vitiugov, 4; 8-9. Svidler, Esipenko, 3½; 10-11. Goganov, Matlakov, 2½; 12. Antipov, 2.
Karjakin, S (2752)-Svidler, P (2723) [B96]
Moscow (8.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.0-0-0 b5 11.Kb1 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Be7 13.f5 Bd7 14.Qd2 0-0-0 15.Ne2 d5 16.exd5 Bc6 17.Qe3 Bxd5 18.Nc3 Bb7 19.Bd3 Kb8 20.fxe6 Bc5 21.Qh3 fxe6 22.Qxe6 Bd4 23.Be4 Bxc3 24.Bxb7 Kxb7 25.bxc3 Qxc3 26.Qe7+ Kc8 27.a3 Rhe8 28.Qxh7 Qxa3 29.Qf5+ Kc7 30.Qf4+ Kb7 31.Qxf6 Qb4+ 32.Qb2 Qg4 33.Rxd8 Rxd8 34.Re1 Qxg2 35.Re7+ Ka8 36.Qf6 Qg1+ 37.Ka2 Qg8+ 38.Rf7 1-0
Artemiev, V (2711)-Matlakov, M (2698) [A01]
Moscow (8.2) 2020
1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Bf5 3.d3 Nd7 4.Nd2 Ngf6 5.Ngf3 c6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.g3 e5 9.Bg2 Bc5 10.e3 0-0 11.0-0 a5 12.c4 d4 13.exd4 Bxd4 14.Bxd4 exd4 15.Nf3 Qb6 16.Re1 a4 17.Rb1 axb3 18.axb3 c5 19.Qd2 Ra3 20.b4 cxb4 21.Rxb4 Qd6 22.Bf1 Nc5 23.Rb5 b6 24.Qd1 Nfd7 25.h4 Rfa8 26.Rb2 Qf6 27.Ng5 Ne5 28.Rd2 Qf5 29.Bh3 Qf6 30.Bg2 Rf8 31.Ne4 Nxe4 32.Bxe4 Nd7 33.Qb1 Nc5 34.Bd5 Rb3 35.Qd1 Qf5 36.Be4 Qf6 37.Ra2 Rc3 38.Ra7 g5 39.Bd5 gxh4 40.Rxf7 Rxf7 41.Re8+ Kh7 42.Qh5+ Qh6 43.Qxf7 1-0
Vitiugov, N (2720)-Esipenko, A (2686) [C42]
Moscow (8.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bd3 d5 6.Qe2 Qe7 7.0-0 Nd6 8.Qd1 Qd8 9.Re1+ Be7 10.c3 0-0 11.Bc2 c6 12.d4 Bf5 13.Bf4 Bxc2 14.Qxc2 Na6 15.Nbd2 Nc7 16.h4 g6 17.h5 Nf5 18.Ne5 Bd6 19.Ndf3 f6 20.hxg6 fxe5 21.gxh7+ Kg7 22.Rxe5 Ne6 23.Rxe6 Bxf4 24.g3 Qd7 25.Rae1 Bd6 26.g4 Ne7 27.Qd2 Kh8 28.Nh4 Rf7 29.Qg5 Rg7 30.Qf6 Kxh7 31.g5 Rd8 32.R1e3 Kg8 33.g6 Rf8 34.Rxd6 Qg4+ 35.Rg3 Qd1+ 36.Kg2 Rxf6 37.Rxf6 Qh5 38.Rd6 Kh8 39.Rh3 Qg4+ 40.Kh2 Qf4+ 41.Kh1 Qg4 42.Rh2 Qd1+ 43.Kg2 Qg4+ ½-½
Goganov, A (2594)-Dubov, D (2702) [E04]
Moscow (8.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Qc1 h6 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Nfd2 e5 12.d5 Ne7 13.Nxc4 Nxd5 14.Rd1 e4 15.Bxe4 c6 16.Nc3 Be6 17.Ne2 Qe7 18.Nd4 Bg4 19.Bf3 Bh3 20.Bg2 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 Rfd8 22.a3 c5 23.Nf3 b5 24.Ncd2 c4 25.e4 Nb6 26.Re1 Nd7 27.Re2 Nc5 28.e5 Bg5 29.Nxg5 hxg5 30.Qc2 Rd3 31.Rae1 Rad8 32.Ne4 Qb7 33.Kg1 Ne6 34.Re3 g4 35.Rxd3 cxd3 36.Qc1 Nd4 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Fedoseev, V (2674) [B51]
Moscow (8.6) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.a4 Ngf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 b6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4 Bb7 9.0-0 e5 10.Qe3 Qc7 11.Rd1 Be7 12.Nd2 0-0 13.Nb3 Rfd8 14.Bf3 Bc6 15.Qe2 h6 16.g3 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.Rxa8 Rxa8 19.Nxb5 Bxb5 20.Qxb5 Qxc2 21.Qd3 Qxd3 22.Rxd3 Ra4 23.Rc3 Nxe4 24.Rc7 Nef6 25.Bc6 Rb4 26.Bxd7 Rxb3 27.Ba4 Rb4 28.Bc2 Bf8 29.Rc8 g5 30.h4 Kg7 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.Bxg5 Rxb2 33.Bf5 Nd5 34.Be4 Rb5 35.Rd8 Nc3 36.Bd3 Rd5 37.Bf5 e4 38.g4 Ne2+ 39.Kg2 Nd4 40.Bf4 Nxf5 41.gxf5 f6 42.Re8 Rxf5 43.Rxe4 Kf7 44.Ra4 Rb5 45.Kf3 d5 46.Ra6 Bc5 47.Rc6 Rb3+ 48.Kg4 Be7 49.Kf5 Rf3 50.Rc7 Rxf2 51.Rd7 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qd5 2.Qf4#; 1…Sc8/f7/xb5/f5/c4 2.Sc5#; 1…Sb7 2.Bc6#; 1…Kd5 2.Qe5#; 1…Sd3/f3 2.Q(x)f3#./PN
