The 70th Russian Women’s Chess Championship ended Dec. 16 in Moscow with a victory for Russia’s top female player GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2593) who defeated IM Polina Shuvalova (2456) in a tiebreak match that culminated in a final Armageddon game.
It was a heartbreaker of an event for Shuvalova who started like a runaway train with six wins in as many rounds to lead comfortably. After Round 6, however, the Shuvalova Express sputtered and failed to win again. Compounding her woes was a loss in Round 8, and although way ahead in tiebreak quotient when she and Goryachkina ended up tied for first to second places, the rules call for a tiebreak match in case of a tie.
The other players in the Category 8 (average Elo: 2428) event were IM Alina Kashlinskaya (2494), WGM Natalija Pogonina (2474), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2471), WGM Olga Girya (2464), GM Valentina Gunina (2451), IM Alisa Galliamova (2438), IM Marina Guseva (2359), WGM Leya Garifullina (2348), and WFMs Tatyana Getman (2302), and Yulia Grigorieva (2290).
The final standings: 1-2. Goryachkina, Shuvalova, 8; 3-6. Kosteniuk, Guseva, Kashlinskaya, Garifullina, 6½7-8. Galliamova, Pogonina, 6; 9. Girya, 4; 10. Gunina, 3½; 11. Grigorieva, 2½; 12. Getman, 2.
Gunina, V (2451)-Guseva, M (2359) [D45]
Moscow (3.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 b6 7.b3 Bb7 8.Bb2 Bd6 9.Bd3 Qe7 10.h3 0-0 11.0-0 c5 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Rad1 Rac8 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Bf5 Ne6 16.Qd3 g6 17.Nb5 Ba6 18.e4 Nf4 19.Qe3 Bxb5 20.e5 N6h5 21.exd6 Ne2+ 22.Kh2 Qxe3 23.fxe3 gxf5 24.Nh4 Rc2 25.Ba1 Neg3 26.Rfe1 f6 27.a4 Bd7 28.Rxd5 Kf7 29.Rd4 Rg8 30.Red1 Ne4 31.Rf1 Nhg3 32.Rf3 Rc1 0-1
Shuvalova, P (2456)-Pogonina, N (2474) [E01]
Moscow (6.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Qa4 Bd6 9.Qxc4 a6 10.Rd1 Qe8 11.Bg5 Nd5 12.Ne4 Be7 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Rac1 Rd8 15.a3 Bd7 16.Nc5 Rab8 17.b4 h6 18.h4 Be8 19.e3 Na7 20.Ne5 Nb5 21.Qb3 c6 22.Be4 Nbc7 23.Bb1 f6 24.Nc4 b6 25.Nd3 Bh5 26.Re1 Nb5 27.Nd2 Be8 28.a4 Na7 29.e4 Nc7 30.Qc3 a5 31.bxa5 b5 32.e5 f5 33.axb5 Naxb5 34.Qc5 Qxc5 35.Nxc5 Nxd4 36.Bd3 Rd5 37.Kg2 Ra8 38.a6 Ndb5 39.Ndb3 Nxa6 40.Bc4 Nxc5 41.Nxc5 Rd2 42.Bxe6+ Bf7 43.Bxf5 Raa2 44.Rf1 Bd5+ 45.Be4 Nc7 46.Rc3 Re2 47.Kf3 Bxe4+ 48.Nxe4 Ne6 49.Rd1 c5 50.Re3 Nd4+ 51.Kg4 Rec2 52.h5 Ra4 53.f4 Kf7 54.Rb1 Rb4 55.Ra1 Nb5 56.Ra6 Ke7 57.Rg6 Kf8 58.Rb6 Nd4 59.Nxc5 Rxb6 60.Nd7+ Ke7 61.Nxb6 Rc5 62.Rd3 Ne6 63.Rd7+ Kf8 64.Rd6 Kf7 65.Nd5 Ra5 66.Rd7+ Kf8 67.Nc7 Nc5 68.Rd5 Ke7 69.Kf5 1-0
Goryachkina, A (2593)-Girya, O (2464) [D37]
Moscow (7.6) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.h3 b6 13.e4 Bb7 14.Be3 Rfd8 15.Rxd8+ Rxd8 16.Bxa6 Bxa6 17.Qxa6 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Na5 19.Qb5 h6 20.Ne5 Rd2 21.Rf1 Rc2 22.Rd1 Nb7 23.Qb3 Rxg2+ 24.Kxg2 Nc5 25.Qc2 Qxe5 26.Qf2 Nfxe4 27.Qf4 Qxf4 28.exf4 Nxc3 29.bxc3 Nxa4 30.c4 Nb2 31.Rd8+ Kh7 32.Rc8 g5 33.Kf3 Kg6 34.Ke4 gxf4 35.Kxf4 Nd3+ 36.Ke4 Nf2+ 37.Ke5 Nd3+ 38.Kd4 Nb2 39.Kc3 Na4+ 40.Kb4 Nb2 41.Rd8 f5 42.Rd2 Nxc4 43.Kxc4 f4 44.Kd3 Kf5 45.Rb2 e5 46.Rxb6 e4+ 47.Kd4 1-0
Pogonina, N (2474)-Kosteniuk, A (2471) [E39]
Moscow (9.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 0-0 6.Bg5 Na6 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Qxc3 Nxc5 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Qxf6 gxf6 11.e3 b6 12.Rd1 Rd8 13.Ne2 Bb7 14.Nc3 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.f3 Bc6 17.Bd3 Rac8 18.Rc1 Ba4 19.Kd2 Rc7 20.b4 Rdc8 21.Rc3 d6 22.Rhc1 Bd7 23.g4 Kg7 24.h4 h6 25.h5 f5 26.gxf5 exf5 27.f4 Kf6 28.Be2 Be6 29.Kd3 a5 30.Bf3 axb4 31.axb4 Ra7 32.Kd4 Ra4 33.Rb1 Ra2 34.Rbc1 Rb2 35.b5 d5 36.R1c2 dxc4 37.e4 Rxb5 38.e5+ Ke7 39.Ra2 Rd8+ 40.Ke3 Rb1 41.Bc6 b5 42.Ra7+ Kf8 43.Rca3 b4 44.Ra8 bxa3 45.Rxd8+ Kg7 46.Ra8 c3 0-1
Goryachkina, A (2593)-Shuvalova, P (2456) [A45]
Moscow (tb/3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.Nb5 Na6 5.e3 Be7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Be2 c6 8.Nc3 c5 9.0-0 Bd7 10.Ne5 Rc8 11.a3 Nc7 12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.Bd3 a6 14.Qf3 Nb5 15.Bg5 Nxc3 16.Bxf6 Qxf6 17.Nxd7 Qxf3 18.gxf3 Rfd8 19.Nxc5 Rxc5 20.bxc3 Rxc3 21.a4 Rd7 22.Rfb1 g6 23.Rb6 Kg7 24.f4 Kf6 25.Rab1 Rcc7 26.Kg2 h5 27.Kf3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
So sorry that we omitted a black pawn on e6 in our last problem. Had we not overlooked the omission, the key to that last problem with a black pawn on e6 should have been 1.Qe8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…e6 2.Qxe6#; 1…e5 2.Qxe5#; 1…Ke3 2.Qxe7#; 1…Kxd5 2.Qc6#. So sorry./PN
