THE 2021 Chelyabinsk Variant A Tournament in Russia is headed towards a dramatic finish when top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov seized the solo leadership of the classic Swiss event after beating erstwhile leader IM Andrey Drygalov with ease in Round 9.
Ponkratov – long lingering in the shadows of Drygalov and his co-leader GM Anton Shomoev – finally came out with both barrels blazing and overwhelmed his overmatched compatriot in just 27 of a Sicilian Najdorf. Shomoev, on the other hand, failed to level with Ponkratov after another short grandmasters’ draw with IM Semen Khanin.
Ponkratov, with seven points, now holds a half-point lead over five players with 6½ points that include Shomoev, 9th seed GM Alexei Fedorov, untitled 12th seed Azamat Utegaliyev, Khanin and 3rd seed GM Igor Lysyj. Ponkratov needs only to draw his last round game to get at least a share of the championship.
Meanwhile, the loss pushed Drygalov down to a share of 7th to 13th places with IM Polina Shuvalova, WGM Olga Girya, and GMs Artur Gabrielian, Dmitry Frolyanov, Sergei Azarov and Arseniy Nesterov, each of whom has six points. Although it is mathematically possible for them to catch up with Ponkratov, the odds of doing so are highly improbable, to say the least.
Ponkratov, P (2619)-Drygalov, A (2500) [B90]
Chelyabinsk (9.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.g4 h6 9.Rg1 Nc6 10.g5 hxg5 11.Nxg5 Qc7 12.Bc4 Nd8 13.Bb3 Ne6 14.Qe2 Nxg5 15.Bxg5 Rxh3 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nd5 Qa5+ 18.c3 Bd8 19.Rxg7 Be6 20.0-0-0 Rc8 21.Kb1 Qc5 22.f4 exf4 23.Nxf4 Re3 24.Qg2 Bxb3 25.axb3 Qe5 26.Qg4 Qxe4+ 27.Ka2 1-0
Lysyj, I (2605)-Suleymenov, A (2440) [A70]
Chelyabinsk (9.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.Be3 Na6 10.Bxa6 bxa6 11.0-0 Re8 12.Qc2 Rb8 13.Rfe1 a5 14.Bf4 Rb4 15.Rad1 Bf5 16.Bg5 Bd7 17.a3 Rb6 18.e5 dxe5 19.Nxe5 h6 20.Bc1 Rd6 21.Bf4 Bf5 22.Qa4 Rb6 23.Nc6 Qd7 24.Qxa5 Rxb2 25.Qxc5 Rc2 26.Be5 Ne4 27.Rxe4 Bf8 28.Qd4 Rxc3 29.Qxc3 Bxe4 30.Qd4 Bf5 31.a4 h5 32.a5 a6 33.Bg3 Re4 34.Qc3 h4 35.Be5 Re2 36.Qf3 Re4 37.Ba1 Bg7 38.Bxg7 Kxg7 39.Qc3+ Kh7 40.Rd4 Qe8 41.Kh2 Kg8 42.Qc4 Rxd4 43.Qxd4 Bd7 44.Ne5 Bf5 45.d6 Qb8 46.Nc6 Qf8 47.Ne7+ Kh7 48.Qxh4+ Kg7 49.Qd4+ f6 50.Nxf5+ gxf5 51.Qa7+ Kg6 52.Qc7 1-0
Fedorov, A (2529)-Sitnikov, A (2437) [B07]
Chelyabinsk (9.5) 2021
1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d6 3.g3 Bg4 4.f3 Bd7 5.d4 e6 6.Be3 d5 7.e5 Ng8 8.f4 Nh6 9.Nf3 b6 10.Bh3 f5 11.exf6 Qxf6 12.g4 Nf7 13.g5 Qd8 14.Qe2 Bb4 15.Bd2 Qe7 16.0-0-0 Nd6 17.Nb1 Ne4 18.Bxb4 Qxb4 19.Nbd2 Nxd2 20.Rxd2 Nc6 21.Bxe6 0-0-0 22.Bxd7+ Rxd7 23.Qe6 Qd6 24.Qg4 Kb7 25.Ne5 Re7 26.Re1 Rf8 27.c3 g6 28.Rde2 Rf5 29.Nd3 Rxe2 30.Qxe2 Rf7 31.Qe6 Qxe6 32.Rxe6 Re7 33.Rxe7 Nxe7 34.Ne5 c5 35.dxc5 bxc5 36.Nd7 Kc6 37.Nf6 Kd6 38.Kd2 Ke6 39.Nxh7 Kf5 40.Ke3 d4+ 41.cxd4 Nd5+ 42.Kd3 Nxf4+ 43.Kc4 cxd4 44.Kxd4 Ne2+ 45.Kc4 Ng1 46.Kb5 Nf3 47.Ka6 1-0
Utegaliyev, A (2507)-Makarian, R (2458) [C65]
Chelyabinsk (9.6) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Be6 7.Nb3 Bb6 8.Bd2 Qe7 9.Bc3 Nd7 10.Qe2 0-0-0 11.Nfd2 a6 12.Na5 h5 13.Nac4 Ba7 14.a4 Qg5 15.Nf3 Qg6 16.Ne3 f6 17.b4 h4 18.b5 Nb8 19.Rb1 h3 20.g3 axb5 21.axb5 Qe8 22.bxc6 Nxc6 23.Nd2 Qh5 24.Qxh5 Rxh5 25.0-0 g6 26.Rfe1 f5 27.exf5 gxf5 28.Rb5 Bd4 29.Bxd4 exd4 30.Ng2 Bd7 31.Nf4 Rh6 32.Nf3 b6 33.Re2 Nb8 34.Rb1 Ba4 35.Rb4 b5 36.Rxd4 Rf8 37.Rd5 Na6 38.Nd4 c5 39.Nxf5 Rhf6 40.Nd6+ Kb8 41.Ne4 Rc6 42.Nxh3 Rfc8 43.c3 b4 44.Nf4 Rb6 45.Rb2 Ka7 46.c4 Bc6 47.Re5 b3 48.h4 Rb4 49.h5 Rcb8 50.Nc3 Kb6 51.Re6 Rc8 52.Nfd5+ Ka5 53.Re1 1-0
Frolyanov, D (2542)-Garifullina, L (2375) [E32]
Chelyabinsk (9.9) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 c5 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nd7 10.Bf4 Ndc5 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nxd3 13.Qxd3 b6 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Rfd1 Bb7 16.c4 Qa5 17.Nb5 Qa4 18.Qb3 Nc5 19.Qxa4 Nxa4 20.Rd7 Nc5 21.Re7 Rfe8 22.Rxe8+ Rxe8 23.Rd1 Ba6 24.Be3 Na4 25.Nc7 Nc3 26.Rd2 Rc8 27.Nxa6 h6 28.c5 Nd5 29.Rc2 Rc6 30.cxb6 Rxc2 31.b7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Re1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kxe1 2.Qd2#; 1…Be2/d3/c4/b5/a6/h3 2.Qg1#; 1…Bg2 2.Qh4#./PN
