Ian Nepomniachtchi made short work of Sergey Karjakin’s Nimzo-Indian Defense, winning in just 32 moves of their Round 7 match to take the solo leadership of the ongoing 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal in Moscow.
Nepomniachtchi, who scored his second straight win, now leads Karjakin by a full point. Nepo earlier ditched Aleksey Goganov in Round 6. Two other matches ended decisively in Round 7, with Maksim Chigaev beating Vladislav Artemiev in 52 moves of a Sicilian Richter-Rauzer and Andrey Esipenko who was awarded a win when Mikhail Antipov withdrew from the tournament. The withdrawal at this late stage meant a full point each for Antipov’s remaining opponents and definitely this will impact on the standings at the end. Nepomniachtchi, Chigaev and Artemiev are Antipov’s last three foes.
Standings after Round 7: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 5½; 2. Karjakin, 4½; 3-4. Chigaev, Fedoseev, 4; 5-8. Svidler, Vitiugov, Artemiev, Dubov, 3½; 9. Esipenko, 3;10-11. Goganov, Matlakov, 2½.
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Karjakin, S (2752) [E20]
Moscow (7.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 c5 8.d5 exd5 9.exd5 0-0 10.Be2 Re8 11.Nf3 Bg4 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.d6 Bf8 14.h3 Bh5 15.Bf4 Qb6 16.b3 Rad8 17.Ra2 h6 18.a4 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Ne5 20.Nb5 Bxd6 21.a5 Qa6 22.Rd2 Nxf3+ 23.Rxf3 Ne4 24.Nxd6 Nxd2 25.Qxd2 Re6 26.Rd3 b6 27.Nf5 Rxd3 28.Qxd3 Qb7 29.Qd5 Qxd5 30.cxd5 Re1+ 31.Kf2 Rd1 32.Ke2 1-0
Chigaev, M (2619)-Artemiev, V (2711) [B69]
Moscow (7.5) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 e6 9.f4 Be7 10.Nf3 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Kb1 Qb6 13.g3 0-0-0 14.Bh3 Kb8 15.f5 Rhe8 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.Qh6 Qc5 18.Ne2 Rc8 19.Nf4 Qc4 20.Nd2 Qa4 21.c3 b4 22.b3 Qb5 23.c4 Qg5 24.Qh5 Nd4 25.Rhf1 Qxh5 26.Nxh5 Rc5 27.Nxf6 Bxf6 28.Rxf6 Ne2 29.Rh1 Ra5 30.Kb2 Nc3 31.a4 Re5 32.Bg4 Nxe4 33.Nxe4 Rxe4 34.Bf3 Rd4 35.Rd1 Rxd1 36.Bxd1 Re7 37.Bc2 Kc7 38.Rh6 Rf7 39.Rxh7 Rf2 40.Kc1 Kc8 41.h4 e5 42.Bd1 e4 43.Re7 Bc6 44.h5 Rh2 45.a5 Kd8 46.Re6 Kc7 47.h6 d5 48.cxd5 Bxd5 49.Re5 Bg8 50.Rh5 Rxh5 51.Bxh5 Bh7 52.g4 1-0
Karjakin, S (2752)-Matlakov, M (2698) [E10]
Moscow (6.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 a5 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Qc2 c5 8.cxd5 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Qb6 10.e3 exd5 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.Rc1 Be6 14.Qxc6 Bxd2 15.Qxb6 Bxc1 16.Qd4 Rfb8 17.b3 Rb4 18.Qd3 Bb2 19.a3 Bxa1 20.axb4 axb4 21.h3 h6 22.f4 Rc8 23.Nd2 Rc1+ 24.Nf1 Bc3 25.f5 Bd7 26.Bxd5 Be5 27.g4 Rc3 28.Qa6 Nxd5 29.Qa8+ Bc8 30.Qxd5 Bf6 31.Nd2 Rc1+ 32.Kh2 Rd1 33.Kg3 Bc3 34.Qd8+ Kh7 35.Qxc8 Rxd2 36.Qe8 f6 37.h4 Rd1 38.Kg2 Rd2+ 39.Kf3 Rd5 40.Qg6+ Kh8 41.g5 hxg5 42.hxg5 fxg5 43.f6 g4+ 44.Kf4 1-0
Artemiev, V (2711)-Esipenko, A (2686) [A07]
Moscow (6.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.d3 0-0 6.Bf4 c5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Ne5 Nxe5 9.Bxe5 Nd7 10.Bf4 d4 11.a4 e5 12.Bd2 Nb8 13.Na3 Nc6 14.f4 exf4 15.gxf4 f5 16.Nc4 Be6 17.a5 Qd7 18.exf5 Bd5 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.Bxd5+ Qxd5 21.fxe5 Qxe5 22.Qf3 Rad8 23.Qxb7 Rxf5 24.Rfe1 Qf6 25.Rxe7 Rf8 26.Ree1 Qg6+ 27.Kh1 Rf2 28.Qd5+ Kh8 29.Rg1 Qe8 30.Rg2 1-0
Goganov, A (2594)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [D37]
Moscow RUS (6.6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5 Nb6 8.Be2 Nc6 9.0-0 Be7 10.Qd2 0-0 11.Qf4 Rb8 12.Qg3 Kh8 13.Rd1 Nb4 14.Nc3 Bb7 15.Rb1 N4d5 16.Bd2 Nxc3 17.Bxc3 Bd5 18.b3 Be4 19.Ra1 Nd5 20.Be1 c3 21.Bd3 Bxd3 22.Rxd3 Ba3 23.Bxc3 Nxc3 24.Rxc3 Bb2 25.Rac1 c5 26.Rxc5 Bxc1 27.Rxc1 Qa5 28.h4 Qxa2 29.Qf4 Qxb3 30.Ng5 h6 31.Ne4 Rbc8 32.Re1 Qb4 33.Rd1 Rcd8 34.Qe3 a5 35.g4 a4 36.g5 h5 37.Nf6 g6 38.Kh2 Qb3 39.Rd3 Qc2 40.Rc3 Qf5 41.Ra3 Ra8 42.d5 exd5 43.Qd4 Qe6 44.f4 Rfc8 45.f5 Qxf5 46.Nxd5 Qe6 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nc2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bf4 2.Rg3#; 1…Bg3 2.Rf4#; 1…Bd4 2.Sb4#; 1…Bf6 2.Rg7#; 1…Bg7, Rb4 2.Rf6#./PN
