IN the end, top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov lived up to his premier billing by winning the 2021 Chelyabinskiy Variant A Tournament which concluded Thursday, March 31, in Russia.
The 33-year-old Ponkratov drew with GM Igor Lysyj in the final round and finished with an undefeated 7½ points. Those half-a-points behind him at the start of Round 10 were unable to bridge the hairline gap by drawing their own final games. These draws, combined with the winners from the next score group, created an eight-player logjam for 2nd to 9th places. These players (according to their tiebreak quotients) are IM Andrey Drygalov, Lysyj, GM Anton Shomoev, GM Alexei Fedorov, untitled Azamat Utegaliyev, IM Semen Khanin, GM Sergei Azarov, and GM Arseniy Nesterov.
Meanwhile, IM Rudik Makarian, GM Anton Demchenko, WGM Alina Bivol, untitled Salemgareev Tagir, and IM Stefan Pogosyan rounded up the top 14 finishers in the 96-player, 10-round classic Swiss event.
Lysyj, I (2605)-Ponkratov, P (2619) [D11]
Chelyabinsk (10.1) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 b5 6.0-0 Bb7 7.Ne5 e6 8.b3 cxb3 9.axb3 Bb4 10.Bb2 Ba5 11.Qc2 Nd5 12.e4 Ne7 13.Nc3 a6 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.Qe2 Bb6 16.d5 Bc5 ½-½
Azarov, S (2604)-Shuvalova, P (2476) [C89]
Chelyabinsk (10.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.d4 exd4 10.e5 Ne4 11.cxd4 Bf5 12.Nc3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Na5 14.Bc2 Bxc2 15.Qxc2 Nc4 16.Bf4 a5 17.Rad1 Ra6 18.g3 Qd7 19.Kg2 Rfa8 20.Re2 Rc6 21.Qb1 Rg6 22.h4 Raa6 23.Ng5 Qe8 24.Rde1 Bxg5 25.hxg5 Qc6 26.Bc1 Re6 27.f4 g6 28.g4 Re8 29.f5 Qd7 30.Qd3 b4 31.Rh1 bxc3 32.Rh6 Rb6 33.Qh3 gxf5 34.Rxh7 Kf8 35.gxf5 1-0
Gabrielian, A (2448)-Drygalov, A (2500) [B92]
Chelyabinsk (10.6) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.a4 h6 10.Bxf6 Nxf6 11.0-0 Be6 12.Re1 0-0 13.Bf3 Rc8 14.Nd2 Qb6 15.Rb1 Qc5 16.Nf1 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.Ne3 b4 19.Ne2 Rfd8 20.Ng3 g6 21.Qe2 h5 22.Ngf1 Bf8 23.h3 Bg7 24.b3 Ne8 25.Rbd1 Nc7 26.Bxh5 gxh5 27.Ng3 d5 28.Qxh5 Qe7 29.Ngf5 Bxf5 30.Nxf5 Qf6 31.Rd3 Ne6 32.Rg3 d4 33.f4 Nxf4 34.Qg4 Rxc2 35.Qxg7+ Qxg7 36.Rxg7+ Kh8 37.Rg4 d3 38.Rd1 d2 39.Rh4+ Kg8 40.Rg4+ Kf8 41.Ne3 Rc1 42.Kf2 Rd3 43.g3 Ne6 0-1
Demchenko, A (2610)-Girya, O (2432) [C00]
Chelyabinsk (10.7) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.d3 0-0 6.Nbd2 c5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Re1 Qc7 9.c3 b6 10.a3 Bb7 11.e5 Nd7 12.d4 a5 13.Nf1 Rfc8 14.Bf4 cxd4 15.cxd4 Qd8 16.h4 h6 17.N1h2 Ba6 18.Bh3 a4 19.Ng4 Bf8 20.Ne3 Be7 21.Rc1 Nf8 22.Ng4 Nh7 23.Bxh6 gxh6 24.Nxh6+ Kg7 25.Qd2 Qf8 26.Ng4 Kh8 27.Qf4 Qg7 28.Nh6 Nd8 29.g4 Rxc1 30.Rxc1 Rc8 31.Rxc8 Bxc8 32.g5 Ba6 33.Bf1 Bxf1 34.Kxf1 Qg6 35.Qc1 Qe4 36.Kg2 Bf8 37.Qc8 Bxh6 38.gxh6 Qg6+ 39.Ng5 Nxg5 40.Qxd8+ Kh7 41.Qxg5 Qxh6 42.Qxh6+ Kxh6 43.Kh3 Kh5 44.Kg3 Kg6 45.Kg4 1-0
Petrov, N (2571)-Pogosyan, S (2444) [D38]
Chelyabinsk (10.8) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Bd7 8.Qc2 h6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bf4 0-0 11.e3 Nh5 12.Bg3 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Na5 14.Bd3 c5 15.Ne5 Nc6 16.Nxd7 Qxd7 17.0-0 Qd6 18.dxc5 Qxc5 19.Rfb1 b6 20.Rb5 Qd6 21.Qa2 Rfd8 22.Rd1 Ne7 23.c4 Qc6 24.Rbb1 Rac8 25.cxd5 Nxd5 26.Be4 Nc3 27.Bxc6 Nxa2 28.Rxd8+ Rxd8 29.Rb2 Nc3 30.Kh2 Kf8 31.Rb3 Nd1 32.f3 Rc8 33.Bb7 Rc7 34.Ba8 Rc3 35.Rxc3 Nxc3 36.Kg1 Ke7 37.Bc6 Kd6 38.Be8 f6 39.Kf2 Kc5 40.e4 Kd4 41.a4 a6 42.Bd7 b5 43.axb5 axb5 44.Be6 Nd1+ 45.Ke2 Ne3 46.Kf2 b4 47.Ba2 Nd1+ 48.Ke1 Nc3 49.Bb3 Ke3 50.Bf7 g5 51.Bc4 Kd4 52.Bf7 Kd3 53.Bg6 Ke3 54.Bf7 Ne2 55.g4 Nf4 56.Kf1 Nd3 57.Bd5 Kd2 58.Bf7 Nc5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sd8/xh8/xd6/h6/e5/g5 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…b5, Qxa1/c1/d1/e1/f1/g1/c2/d3/e4/f5/g6/h7 2.S(x)b6#; 1…Ra4/a5/a6/a7/a2/xa1, Sc3 2.Sxe3#; 1…Rb3/c3/d3 2.Qa8#; 1…Sd4/f4/xg3/c1/g1 2.Q(x)d4#; 1…Qb2/b3/b4/b5 2.Qh1#./PN
