NO PROMINENT names were in the roster and no Elo 2600 players participated, but the 17th International RSSU Chess Cup Moscow Open which ended on Feb. 28 at the Russian State Social University still attracted some 160 players to take part in one of the very few classic tournaments held in the world.
Seven players – four GMs and three IMs – tied for first in the competition, each scoring seven points in the 9-round Swiss event with a time control of 90 minutes base reflection time and 30 seconds increment per move. The seven are top seed GM Ivan Bocharov (2568), 2nd seed GM Ivan Rozum (2546), 4th seed GM Nikita Afanasiev (2519), 5th seed IM Sergei Lobanov (2516), 9th seed GM Arsenij Nesterov (2475), 11th seed IM Vasiliy Korchmar, (2451) and 12th seed IM Viachaslau Zarubitski (2446).
When the tiebreaks were applied in accordance with the rules, however, Rozum was awarded the champion’s trophy via a superior tiebreak coefficient. Bocharov oficially took runner-up honors and Afanasiev settled for official 3rd place. Eight players led by GM Nikita Maiorov (2495) came in the 6½ points score group and sharing 8th to 15th places, followed by a 15-man logjam led by IM Arsen Kukhmazov (2442) with six points apiece and a share of 16th to 30th slots.
Since this is a state university-funded event, it’s highly likely the low prize fund did not inspire popular GMs to enlist.
Zarubitski, V (2446)-Rozum, I (2546) [B01]
Moscow RUS (5.4), 24.02.2021
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.h3 Bf5 7.Ne5 Nbd7 8.Nc4 Qc7 9.Qf3 e6 10.Bf4 Qd8 11.0-0-0 Nb6 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.g4 Bg6 14.d5 Nxd5 15.Bb5 Bd6 16.Nxd5 exd5 17.Bxd6 Qxd6 18.Rhe1+ Kf8 19.Bc4 Qc5 20.Bb3 Rxa2 21.Qf4 Ra8 22.Re3 h5 23.Rde1 d4 24.Re4 hxg4 25.Rxd4 Rxh3 26.Ra4 Rd8 27.Qc7 Qg5+ 28.Rf4 Rf3 29.Ree4 Rxf2 30.Kb1 Rxf4 31.Rxf4 Qe7 32.Qxb6 g3 33.Qg1 Qg5 34.Rf3 g2 0-1
Bocharov, I (2568)-Afanasiev, N (2519) [C42]
Moscow (7.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4 4.Qe2 Qe7 5.Qxe4 d6 6.f4 f5 7.Qe3 dxe5 8.fxe5 Nc6 9.d4 Qh4+ 10.g3 Qxd4 11.Qxd4 Nxd4 12.Bd3 Be6 13.Kf2 Bc5 14.Be3 0-0-0 15.Rd1 Bb6 16.Nc3 Nc6 17.Bxb6 axb6 18.Re1 g5 19.Rad1 h5 20.h4 gxh4 21.gxh4 Rd4 22.Rh1 Nxe5 23.Be2 Rf4+ 24.Ke3 Rb4 25.Rd4 Rxb2 26.Ra4 Kb8 27.Kd2 Nc6 28.Re1 Nb4 29.Bd1 Nxa2 30.Nxa2 Rxa2 31.Rxa2 Bxa2 32.Re5 Rd8+ 33.Kc1 Rd4 34.Rxf5 Rxh4 35.Bxh5 c6 36.Rg5 Bd5 37.Bg4 Rh1+ 38.Kb2 Rg1 39.Rg6 b5 40.Kc3 Ka7 41.Kd4 0-1
Lobanov, S (2516)-Makarian, R (2458) [C41]
Moscow (9.3) 2021
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 c6 8.a4 Re8 9.h3 h6 10.Be3 Qc7 11.Ba2 Nf8 12.Qd3 exd4 13.Nxd4 Ng6 14.a5 Bf8 15.Bd2 Re5 16.b4 Nh5 17.Nce2 Nf6 18.Nf4 Nxf4 19.Bxf4 Re8 20.Re3 Be6 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.e5 Nd5 23.exd6 Qf7 24.Be5 Rad8 25.Rg3 Nxb4 26.Qe2 Nxa2 27.Rxa2 Rd7 28.Ra4 Red8 29.Rag4 Qf5 30.Rf3 Qh7 31.Qc4 Re8 32.Rf6 g5 33.f4 Qg7 34.fxg5 hxg5 35.Rxe6 Qf7 36.Rxg5+ 1-0
Nesterov, A (2476)-Kukhmazov, A (2442) [D37]
Moscow (9.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5 Nb6 8.Be2 Nc6 9.Be3 Be7 10.a3 Na5 11.Qc2 Bb7 12.Rd1 Bc6 13.Nc3 Rb8 14.h4 Qd7 15.Rh3 Na4 16.d5 exd5 17.e6 fxe6 18.Ne5 Rxb2 19.Bh5+ Kd8 20.Qc1 Nb3 21.Nxa4 Nxc1 22.Nxb2 c3 23.Nbc4 Nb3 24.Nxd7 c2 25.Nce5 cxd1Q+ 26.Bxd1 Na5 27.Nf7+ Kxd7 28.Nxh8 Ke8 29.Bc2 1-0
Maltsevskaya, A (2327)-Bocharov, I (2568) [E06]
Moscow (8.6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Ne5 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Nc3 Rb8 10.Qa4 Qxd4 11.Be3 Qe5 12.Qxa7 Rxb2 13.Bd4 Qh5 14.Qxc7 c5 15.Bf3 Ng4 16.Bxg4 Qxg4 17.Nd5 exd5 18.Bxb2 Qxe2 19.Rfe1 Qxb2 20.Qxe7 Qa3 21.Rab1 g6 22.Rb5 Qxa2 23.Rxc5 Qd2 24.Re5 Qd1+ 25.Re1 Qd4 26.Qd6 Be6 27.h4 h5 28.Qe7 Qg4 29.Rc6 d4 30.Rd6 d3 31.Rexe6 fxe6 32.Rd8 Qf5 33.Rxf8+ Qxf8 34.Qxe6+ Qf7 35.Qd6 Kh7 36.Kf1 Qb7 37.Ke1 Qb1+ 38.Kd2 Qc2+ 39.Ke3 Qe2+ 40.Kd4 d2 41.Qc7+ Kh6 42.Qf4+ Kg7 43.Qc7+ Kf6 44.Qd6+ Kf7 45.Qd5+ Kg7 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc5 2.Sf3#; 1…Kc5 2.Sb3#; 1…Ke5 2.Bc3#./PN
