Top favorites Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin defeated their respective Round 10 opponents to keep their joint leadership in the 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal in Moscow and throw the championship quest into a tight two-man race.
Vladimir Fedoseev, who demolished a tough Daniil Dubov in Round 10, is the only player with a slim mathematical chance of catching up despite a point behind. Nepomniachtchi and Karjakin face different opponents in the final round and the outcome of their matches will determine who wins the event.
In Round 10, Nepomniachtchi and Karjakin won over Vladislav Artemiev and Andrey Esipenko, respectively. The other round winners were Aleksey Goganov who crushed Maksim Chigaev, and Peter Svidler who finally gained his first win and the unearned point versus the withdrawn Mikhail Antipov. Meanwhile, Nikita Vitiugov has a grandmaster draw versus Maxim Matlakov.
Standings after Round 10: 1-2. Nepomniachtchi, Karjakin, 7; 3. Fedoseev, 6; 4-5. Chigaev, Dubov, 5½; 6-8. Artemiev, Svidler, Vitiugov, 5; 9. Esipenko, 4½; 10. Matlakov, 4; 11. Goganov, 3½; 12. Antipov, 2.
Karjakin, S (2752)-Artemiev, V (2711) [C75]
Moscow (10.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 Bd7 6.0-0 g6 7.d4 Nf6 8.Re1 Bg7 9.h3 0-0 10.Bc2 b5 11.Be3 exd4 12.cxd4 Nb4 13.Nc3 Nxc2 14.Qxc2 b4 15.Ne2 Re8 16.Ng3 h6 17.Bd2 a5 18.a3 bxa3 19.Rxa3 a4 20.Qc1 Kh7 21.e5 Ng8 22.Re4 f6 23.Rh4 Rf8 24.exf6 Bxf6 25.Rf4 Rc8 26.d5 c6 27.dxc6 Bxc6 28.Bc3 Bxf3 29.Rxf3 d5 30.Qd1 Bxc3 31.Rfxc3 Qb6 32.Qc2 Rxc3 33.Rxc3 Ne7 34.h4 Kg7 35.h5 g5 36.Re3 Rf7 37.Qe2 Nf5 38.Re6 Qd4 39.Rg6+ Kf8 40.Nxf5 Rxf5 41.Rxh6 Rf6 42.Rh8+ Kg7 43.Re8 g4 44.Qe7+ Kh6 45.Rh8+ Kg5 46.Rg8+ Kh4 47.g3+ Kh3 48.Qe1 Qd3 49.Re8 a3 50.Re2 Rxf2 51.Qxf2 1-0
Vitiugov, N (2720)-Matlakov, M (2698) [C67]
Moscow (10.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5 Nxb5 7.a4 Nbd4 8.Nxd4 d5 9.exd6 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Qxd6 11.Qe4+ Qe6 12.Qd4 Qd6 13.Qe4+ Qe6 14.Qd4 Qd6 ½-½
Goganov, A (2594)-Chigaev, M (2619) [A25]
Moscow (10.4) 2020
1.c4 g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 e5 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.e4 d6 6.Nge2 Nh6 7.d3 f5 8.Nd5 0-0 9.h4 Nf7 10.Be3 Nd4 11.Qd2 Nxe2 12.Qxe2 c6 13.Nc3 f4 14.Bd2 Nh6 15.f3 fxg3 16.Bg5 Qe8 17.Be3 Nf7 18.0-0-0 Nd8 19.Qe1 Ne6 20.Qxg3 Nf4 21.Bxf4 exf4 22.Qf2 h5 23.d4 Be6 24.Bf1 a6 25.Rg1 Bf7 26.Bd3 b5 27.e5 dxe5 28.d5 cxd5 29.Nxd5 e4 30.Bxe4 bxc4 31.Bxg6 Rb8 32.Be4 Bxd5 33.Rxg7+ Kxg7 34.Qg1+ 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Esipenko, A (2686) [C42]
Moscow (10.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Bf5 12.Bg5 Qa5 13.d5 Qc7 14.Re1 h6 15.Nh4 Bh7 16.Bxh6 gxh6 17.Qg4+ Kh8 18.Nf5 Bxf5 19.Qxf5 f6 20.Rad1 cxd5 21.Rxd5 Qxc4 22.Rxd6 Qf7 23.h4 Qh7 24.Qxh7+ Kxh7 25.Re7+ Kg6 26.h5+ Kg5 27.Rxb7 a5 28.g3 Ra6 29.Rxb8 Rxd6 30.Rxf8 Rd2 31.a4 Ra2 32.Kg2 f5 33.Rc8 Rxa4 34.Rc5 Ra2 35.Kf3 Kf6 36.Ke3 Kg5 37.f3 Kxh5 38.Kf4 Kg6 39.Rc6+ Kg7 40.Kxf5 Rf2 41.Rc7+ Kf8 42.f4 Rf3 43.g4 a4 44.c4 a3 45.Ra7 Rc3 46.Kf6 Ke8 47.c5 Rc4 48.f5 Rxg4 49.c6 Kd8 50.Rxa3 Kc7 51.Rh3 1-0
Fedoseev, V (2674)-Dubov, D (2702) [C50]
Moscow (10.6) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.c3 f5 5.d3 Qf6 6.Ng5 Nh6 7.f4 Bd7 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.exf5 exf4 10.Bxf4 Bxf5 11.Nf3 Nf7 12.Bg3 Nfe5 13.Bb5 Be7 14.d4 Nxf3+ 15.Qxf3 Bd7 16.Qe2 Qg6 17.Bxc6 Bxc6 18.Qxe7 Rde8 19.Qf7 Re2 20.Qf5+ Qxf5 21.Rxf5 Rxg2+ 22.Kf1 Rxb2 23.Rf2 Rb5 24.Nd2 h5 25.c4 Rg5 26.Re1 h4 27.Bf4 Ra5 28.Nb3 Ra4 29.c5 g5 30.Be3 g4 31.cxd6 g3 32.hxg3 hxg3 33.Rc2 Bb5+ 34.Kg1 Rc4 35.Rxc4 Bxc4 36.Bf4 cxd6 37.Bxd6 Kd7 38.Bxg3 Rg8 39.Kf2 b6 40.Rc1 Rc8 41.Ke3 a5 42.Rc2 Rc6 43.Nd2 Bd5 44.Rxc6 Kxc6 45.a3 b5 46.Kd3 b4 47.a4 Bg2 48.Nb3 Kd5 49.Be1 Be4+ 50.Ke3 Bc2 51.Nxa5 b3 52.Bc3 b2 53.Bxb2 Bxa4 54.Nb7 Bc6 55.Nc5 Ba8 56.Nd3 Bb7 57.Ba3 Ba8 58.Bc5 Bb7 59.Kf4 Ke6 60.Kg5 Be4 61.Nf4+ Kd7 62.Kf6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nxd5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…exd5 2.Qxd5#; 1…e5 2.Be3#; 1…Kxc5 2.Qb6#; 1…Bd2 2.Rc4#./PN
