THE star-studded top seed Bronze Horseman (Mednyi Vsadnik) team narrowly defeated the equally star-studded KPRF squad, 3½-2½, in Round 4 action, May 4, to grab the solo leadership of the 28th Russian Team Championship Premier League ongoing at the Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina in Sochi.
GM Vladimir Fedoseev provided the winning margin for the Bronze Horseman after beating GM Sergey Rublevsky on Board 5 with the black pieces in 40 moves of a Closed Sicilian. The rest of the boards were drawn. In the other matches, Moscow Chess handed Gogolevsky 14 its first loss in the event, 4-2, but the latter kept its hold on second spot by virtue of its better win-loss record. Wildberries Molodezhka blanked tournament tailender Cimmeria, 6-0, to gain the 3rd spot while Tatarstan’s Ladya team had its hands full against SSHOR and had to concede a 3-3 draw. M. Botvinnik School drew the bye in Round 4.
Standings after Round 4 (in match points): 1. Bronze Horseman; 2. Gogolevsky 14; 3. Wildberries Molodezhka; 4. Ladya; 5. KPRF, 6. Moscow Chess; 7. M. Botvinnik School; 8. SSHOR 9. Cimmeria.
Oparin, G (2652)-Lobanov, S (2515) [E06]
Sochi (4.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Qc2 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bf4 c5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Nc3 Be6 11.Rfd1 Rc8 12.e3 c4 13.Ne5 Nb4 14.Qe2 Ne8 15.e4 Nf6 16.a3 Nd3 17.Nxd3 cxd3 18.Qxd3 dxe4 19.Nxe4 Nd5 20.Bd2 h6 21.Rac1 Qd7 22.Rxc8 Rxc8 23.Rc1 Rxc1+ 24.Bxc1 Bf5 25.Bd2 Qe6 26.Qf3 Bg4 27.Qb3 Qd7 28.Nc3 Nf6 29.Be3 Bh3 30.d5 Bxg2 31.Kxg2 Qf5 32.Qc4 g5 33.h3 h5 34.Bd4 g4 35.hxg4 hxg4 36.Qc6 Qf3+ 37.Kg1 Nh5 38.Qe8+ Bf8 39.Qe5 1-0
Murzin, V (2478)-Sarana, A (2649) [B53]
Sochi (4.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Rd1 0-0 9.Nc3 Ng4 10.Qf4 Qb6 11.Qg3 Qc5 12.Rd5 Qb6 13.Rd1 Qc5 14.h3 Nge5 15.Ne1 Nd4 16.Bf1 Nec6 17.Be3 f5 18.Qh4 fxe4 19.Nxe4 Nf5 20.Nxc5 Nxh4 21.Bc4+ Kh8 22.Ne6 Bxe6 23.Bxe6 Bxb2 24.Rab1 Bf6 25.Bd5 Rab8 26.g4 g5 27.c4 Rfc8 28.c5 dxc5 29.Bxc5 b6 30.Be3 Ne5 31.Rbc1 Kg7 32.Kf1 Nhg6 33.Ke2 Rxc1 34.Rxc1 Rd8 35.Bb3 b5 36.Ng2 a5 37.Rc5 a4 38.Bc2 Nc4 39.Rxb5 Nxe3 40.fxe3 Bc3 41.Bxa4 Rd2+ 42.Kf1 Rxa2 43.Bd1 h6 44.Rb1 Be5 45.Be2 Bg3 46.Ne1 Ne5 47.Rd1 Kf6 48.Rb1 e6 49.Rd1 Kf7 50.Rb1 Ke7 51.Rd1 Kf6 52.Rb1 Ra3 53.Nc2 Rc3 54.Rb2 Nf7 55.Ba6 Bd6 56.Ke2 Ne5 57.Ne1 Ra3 58.Bb5 Ra1 59.Nd3 Rg1 60.Rd2 Nf7 61.Nf2 Ke7 62.Bc6 Ne5 63.Ba8 Ra1 64.Bg2 Bb4 65.Rd1 Ra2+ 66.Kf1 Nc4 67.Rc1 Nxe3+ 68.Kg1 Nxg2 69.Kxg2 Bd2 0-1
Rublevsky, S (2642)-Fedoseev, V (2687) [B23]
Sochi (4.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nge2 Nf6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d3 0-0 8.Bg5 h6 9.Be3 Rb8 10.h3 b5 11.Qd2 Kh7 12.a3 a5 13.d4 Nd7 14.Rfd1 b4 15.Na4 Ba6 16.dxc5 Bb5 17.axb4 axb4 18.cxd6 exd6 19.Nd4 Nxd4 20.Bxd4 Bxd4 21.Qxd4 Qc7 22.c3 b3 23.Ra3 Ne5 24.c4 Nxc4 25.Rc1 Qd7 26.Rxc4 Bxc4 27.Qxc4 Rfc8 28.Qd4 Rc1+ 29.Kh2 Qc7 30.Qe3 Rc2 31.Ra1 Qa5 32.Qf4 Kg7 33.Qxd6 Rd8 34.Qa3 Rd3 35.Qe7 Rdd2 36.Nc3 Qxa1 37.Qe5+ Kh7 38.Nd5 Rxd5 39.Qxd5 Rxf2 40.Qb3 Qf1 0-1
Gaifullin, A (2450)-Timerkhanov, A (2403) [D15]
Sochi (4.6) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 a6 5.g3 dxc4 6.Bg2 b5 7.0-0 Bb7 8.e4 e6 9.e5 Nd5 10.Ne4 h6 11.Nh4 Be7 12.Qh5 g6 13.Nxg6 fxg6 14.Qxg6+ Kd7 15.Bh3 Qg8 16.Qh5 Kc7 17.Nf6 Qf8 18.Bxe6 Nxf6 19.exf6 Qxf6 20.Re1 Bd6 21.Bd2 Bc8 22.Ba5+ Kb7 23.Qh3 Bc7 24.Bc3 Rf8 25.Bxc8+ Rxc8 26.Re6 Qf3 27.Re3 Qd5 28.Re7 a5 29.Rae1 b4 30.Bd2 Na6 31.Rd7 Qf3 32.Qf1 Re8 33.Be3 Rad8 34.Rh7 Rh8 35.Rxh8 Rxh8 36.Qxc4 h5 37.h4 Re8 38.Qe2 Qxe2 39.Rxe2 Bb6 40.Rd2 Nc7 41.Kg2 Nd5 42.Kf3 Ka6 43.Bg5 a4 44.Rd1 Kb5 45.g4 Rf8+ 46.Ke4 hxg4 47.h5 Nf6+ 48.Bxf6 Rxf6 49.Rh1 Rxf2 50.h6 Re2+ 51.Kd3 Re8 52.h7 Rh8 53.Rh5+ c5 54.b3 axb3 55.axb3 g3 56.Ke2 Kc6 57.d5+ Kd7 58.Kf3 Bc7 59.Kg2 Bd6 60.Rh6 Bf4 61.Rf6 Be5 62.Rh6 Rf8 63.Kg1 Ra8 64.Rg6 Ra2 65.Rg4 Rh2 0-1
Demidov, M (2523)-Popov, I (2630) [A06]
Sochi (4.6) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 c6 3.c4 Bg4 4.cxd5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 cxd5 6.Bb5+ Nc6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.b3 e6 9.Bb2 Nf6 10.0-0 Be7 11.Nc3 Qa5 12.Qe2 0-0 13.Na4 Qb5 14.Rfe1 Rfc8 15.Rac1 Nd7 16.Qg4 Bf8 17.Rc2 c5 18.Rec1 Rc6 19.e4 Qb4 20.d3 d4 21.Qe2 e5 22.f4 exf4 23.Rc4 Qb5 24.Bxd4 Rg6 25.Ba1 Nb6 26.Nxb6 axb6 27.Rf1 Qd7 28.e5 Qd5 29.Rcxf4 Ra7 30.d4 b5 31.dxc5 Bxc5+ 32.Kh1 h6 33.h3 Rga6 34.e6 Rxe6 35.Qxb5 Rxa2 36.Rg4 Rg6 37.Rxg6 fxg6 38.Rg1 Rd2 39.Bc3 Rd3 40.Qe8+ Kh7 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Na3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kxa3 2.Qa5/a7#; 1…b2, Sb4/xa3 2.Q(x)b4#; 1…Rxa3 2.Nb2#./PN
