THE Blechzin Memorial Rapid Tournament ended April 14 in St. Petersburg, Russia, with a convincing victory for GM Ildar Khairullin (2670). The 31-year old Khairullin was the 2004 U-14 World Youth Chess Champion and the 2005 U-18 World Youth Champion.
The 10-player, all-GM, Category 13 (average Elo: 2570), single round robin event was held in honor of the late IM Igor Blechzin (1941-2020), a well-known St. Petersburg chess personality. Besides Khairullin, who’s also the 2nd seed, other players are GMs Maxim Matlakov (2676), Aleksandr Shimanov (2638), Evgeny Levin (2568), Aleksey Goganov (2548), Daniil Lintchevski (2548), Evgeny Romanov (2523), Alexander Khalifman (2521), Eduard Gorovykh (2488), and Denis Yevseev (2439). Like the honoree Blechzin, all the players are natives of St. Petersburg. The time format of the competition was 15 minutes for the entire game plus a 10-second increment starting from move one.
The final standings: 1. Khairullin, 6½; 2. Romanov, 6: 3-4. Matlakov, Lintchevski, 5½; 5. Levin, 5; 6. Shimanov, 4; 7-8. Khalifman, Goganov, 3½; 9. Gorovykh, 3; 10. Yevseev, 2.
Romanov, E (2599)-Khairullin, I (2615) [B23]
St. Petersburg (1.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.0-0 Nxb5 7.Nxb5 Nf6 8.Qe1 0-0 9.d3 d5 10.Nc3 dxe4 11.dxe4 b6 12.Qh4 Bb7 13.f5 h5 14.Bg5 Qc7 15.e5 Ng4 16.Bxe7 Rfe8 17.f6 Bf8 18.e6 Bxe7 19.exf7+ Kxf7 20.fxe7 Kg7 21.h3 Ne3 22.Ng5 Rxe7 23.Rf7+ Kg8 24.Rxe7 Qxe7 25.Re1 Qe5 26.Nd1 Nxg2 27.Qc4+ Qd5 28.Qxd5+ Bxd5 29.Re5 Nf4 30.Ne3 Rd8 31.Kf2 Bc6 32.Kg3 Ne2+ 33.Kf2 Nd4 34.Ne6 Rd6 35.Nxd4 cxd4 36.Nc4 Rd5 37.Rxd5 Bxd5 38.Nd6 Bxa2 39.Nc8 Be6 40.Ne7+ Kf7 41.Nc6 Bxh3 0-1
Khalifman, A (2608)-Matlakov, M (2688) [E05]
St. Petersburg (2.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 b5 8.a4 b4 9.Nfd2 Nd5 10.Nxc4 c5 11.dxc5 Ba6 12.Nbd2 Bxc5 13.Nb3 Nd7 14.e4 N5b6 15.Nxb6 Bxb6 16.Rd1 Rc8 17.Qd2 Bc4 18.Qxb4 Qf6 19.Bf4 Ne5 20.a5 Bxf2+ 21.Kxf2 g5 22.Nc1 gxf4 23.Kg1 f3 0-1
Shimanov, A (2597)-Khairullin, I (2615) [B47]
St. Petersburg (3.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nge2 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qc7 6.g4 h6 7.h4 Nf6 8.Rg1 Bb4 9.Ndb5 Qa5 10.f3 a6 11.Nd6+ Ke7 12.Nc4 Qc7 13.Bd2 b5 14.g5 hxg5 15.hxg5 bxc4 16.gxf6+ gxf6 17.Bxc4 Bc5 18.Rg2 Rb8 19.Na4 Ba7 20.Bf1 Rh1 21.c3 d6 22.Qe2 Bd7 23.b3 Ne5 24.Nb2 a5 25.f4 Ng6 26.Rh2 Rxh2 27.Qxh2 a4 28.b4 a3 29.Nc4 Bc6 30.f5 Rh8 31.Qe2 Ne5 32.fxe6 Bb5 33.Ne3 Bxe2 34.Nd5+ Kd8 35.Nxc7 Bxf1 36.Nd5 Bc4 37.e7+ Kd7 38.0-0-0 Bxa2 39.Kc2 Bc4 40.Ra1 a2 0-1
Lintchevski, D (2555)-Romanov, E (2599) [C45]
St. Petersburg (5.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 Qh4 7.Qe2 Nf6 8.Be3 Bb6 9.Nd2 0-0 10.h3 Re8 11.0-0-0 Qh5 12.g4 Qa5 13.g5 Bxe3 14.fxe3 Qxg5 15.Nf3 Qh6 16.h4 d5 17.e5 Bg4 18.exf6 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Rxe3 20.Bxh7+ Kxh7 21.Qf5+ g6 22.Qg5 Re5 23.Qxh6+ Kxh6 24.Rd4 c5 25.Ra4 a5 26.a3 c4 27.b4 cxb3 28.cxb3 c5 29.Rh2 Kh5 30.Rc2 d4 31.b4 cxb4 32.axb4 Rb5 33.Rc7 Rxb4 34.Rxb4 axb4 35.Rxf7 Kxh4 36.Kd2 Kg5 37.Kd3 Rb8 0-1
Romanov, E (2599)-Levin, E (2502) [D05]
St. Petersburg (6.3) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 b6 3.Bb2 e6 4.e3 Bb7 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Ne5 c5 9.Nd2 Nc6 10.f4 Rc8 11.a3 Ne7 12.Qf3 Nf5 13.Qh3 Ne4 14.Rad1 f6 15.Nxe4 Bxe5 16.dxe5 c4 17.exf6 dxe4 18.Bxc4 Qe8 19.Qxf5 Rxc4 20.Qg4 Rc7 21.Be5 Rd7 22.Rxd7 Qxd7 23.Rd1 Qf7 24.Qxg7+ Qxg7 25.fxg7 1-0
Matlakov, M (2688)-Goganov, A (2575) [D10]
St. Petersburg (6.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qb3 Na5 8.Qa4+ Bd7 9.Bb5 Nc6 10.Qd1 e6 11.Nf3 Be7 12.h3 0-0 13.Bd3 Rc8 14.0-0 Na5 15.Ne5 Be8 16.Rc1 Nd7 17.Nf3 f5 18.Nb5 Rxc1 19.Qxc1 Nc6 20.Nd6 Bh5 21.Nxb7 Qb6 22.Nc5 Bxc5 23.dxc5 Nxc5 24.Bb1 Bxf3 25.gxf3 Ne7 26.b4 Na6 27.a3 Rc8 28.Qb2 Ng6 29.Bg3 Nb8 30.h4 h5 31.Rc1 Rxc1+ 32.Qxc1 Nc6 33.Bd3 d4 34.f4 Nge7 35.Qc4 Nd5 36.e4 fxe4 37.Bxe4 Nce7 38.f5 Kf7 39.Be5 Qc6 40.fxe6+ Kxe6 41.Qd4 Qc1+ 42.Kh2 g5 43.Bb8 Nf6 44.Bf3 gxh4 45.b5 Qc8 46.Qa7 Nd7 47.Qa6 Qa6 48.bxa6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qg4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nb7 2.Nc3#; 1…Na4 2.Nd6#; 1…Bxg4 2.Bd5#; 1…Nxb5/b3 2.Qg2#; 1…Ke5 2.Qxf5#./PN
