The leaderboard of the ongoing Alexander Panchenko Memorial in Chelyabinsk, Russia has been trimmed to two after a torrid Round 7 saw four of the top five boards ending in decisions.
GM Dmitry Kokarev and IM Semen Khanin continued their winning ways to lead the 125-player, nine-round Swiss event. Kokarev disposed of their erstwhile co-leader and second seed GM Vladimir Fedoseev while the 21-year-old Khanin demolished veteran GM Aleksej Alexandrov in just 24 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Ragozin. Kokarev and Khanin now have six points apiece and will likely dispute the leadership in Round 8.
Meanwhile, top seed GM Aleksandr Predke – hobbled by a loss in Round 3 – bounced back to within half-a-point of the leaders after winning his fourth straight game. Predke now has 5½ points and shares third to seventh places with GMs Alexey Goganov, Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Mikhail Demidov and Maksim Chigaev.
Fedoseev and GMs Nikita Afanasiev and Artyom Timofeev round up the top ten standings with five points apiece.
Kokarev, D (2611)-Fedoseev, V (2678) [C67]
Chelyabinsk (7.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Bd7 10.Nc3 h6 11.b3 Kc8 12.Bb2 b6 13.Rad1 Ne7 14.Nd4 c5 15.Nde2 Nc6 16.Nd5 c4 17.bxc4 Bc5 18.Nc1 Re8 19.Nd3 Bd4 20.Bxd4 Nxd4 21.Rd2 Nc6 22.f4 h5 23.Kf2 h4 24.Rfd1 Be6 25.Ne3 g6 26.Ne1 Na5 27.Rd4 c5 28.Rd6 Kc7 29.Nf3 Nxc4 30.Nxc4 Bxc4 31.Rd7+ Kc8 32.a3 Be6 33.R7d6 Kb7 34.Nxh4 b5 35.Nf3 b4 36.Ng5 Bf5 37.R6d2 Kb6 38.Nxf7 Rf8 39.Nd6 Be6 40.Ke3 a5 41.Ne4 Kb5 42.a4+ Kc4 43.Rd3 1-0
Aleksandrov, A (2608)-Khanin, S (2482) [D38]
Chelyabinsk (7.3) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qa4+ Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 dxc4 10.a3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Bd7 12.Qxc4 Rac8 13.0-0 Rfd8 14.Nd2 Na5 15.Qb4 b6 16.Ba6 Rb8 17.Rfd1 Bc6 18.a4 Ba8 19.Rab1 c5 20.Qa3 e5 21.dxc5 Rxd2 22.Rxd2 Qg6 23.Bf1 Qxb1 24.Rd7 Bxg2 0-1
Predke, A (2684)-Shaposhnikov, E (2547) [E15]
Chelyabinsk (7.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Ba6 7.b3 0-0 8.Nc3 d5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Rc1 Nd7 11.Bg2 c5 12.0-0 Nxc3 13.Rxc3 Rc8 14.Rfc1 Qf6 15.R3c2 Rfd8 16.Qf4 Qxf4 17.gxf4 Kf8 18.e3 Nf6 19.dxc5 Rxc5 20.Rxc5 bxc5 21.h3 Nd7 22.Ng5 Ke7 23.Bc6 Nb8 24.Ba4 Bb7 25.Rxc5 Na6 26.Rb5 Rd1+ 27.Kh2 Rh1+ 28.Kg3 Rg1+ 29.Kh4 Bc8 30.Ra5 h6 31.Nf3 Rg2 32.Bb5 Nc7 33.Rxa7 Kd6 34.Ba4 f6 35.Nd2 Na6 36.Bb5 Nb8 37.Nc4+ Kc5 38.a4 Kb4 39.Nd6 Ba6 40.Bxa6 Nc6 41.Rc7 Na5 42.Bc4 Nxc4 43.Rb7+ 1-0
Demchenko, A (2641)-Demidov, M (2519) [C65]
Chelyabinsk (7.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.Re1 a6 7.Bxc6 Bxc6 8.d4 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qxd8 Rfxd8 12.Nxe5 Be8 13.Nd3 b5 14.Bg5 Bc6 15.f3 h6 16.Be3 b4 17.Ne2 Bb5 18.Rad1 c5 19.Nef4 g5 20.Ne2 Bf8 21.Ng3 Rac8 22.Nf5 Bd7 23.g4 Be6 24.h4 Nh7 25.hxg5 hxg5 26.Nc1 a5 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.Nb3 Rc8 29.Nxa5 Ra8 30.Nc6 f6 31.Ra1 Kf7 32.Kg2 Ke8 33.Rh1 Bg8 34.Rd1 Rxa2 35.Rd8+ Kf7 36.Rd7+ Ke8 37.Rd8+ Kf7 38.Rd7+ Ke8 39.Rc7 Rxb2 40.Kh3 Bc4 41.Kg3 Rxc2 42.Rxh7 b3 43.e5 b2 44.Rb7 Bd5 45.Rb6 Bxc6 46.e6 Kd8 47.e7+ Bxe7 48.Nxe7 Kxe7 49.Bxc5+ Rxc5 50.Rxb2 Rc3 0-1
Chigaev, M (2588)-Iljiushenok, I (2516) [C01]
Chelyabinsk (7.6) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd6 6.c4 dxc4 7.d5 a6 8.Ba4 b5 9.dxc6 bxa4 10.0-0 Ne7 11.Nbd2 c3 12.Ne4 0-0 13.Qxa4 Rb8 14.bxc3 Rb6 15.Re1 Nxc6 16.Nxd6 cxd6 17.Ba3 Ne7 18.Rad1 Bb7 19.c4 Bc6 20.Qa5 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Ng6 22.c5 Qg5+ 23.Kh1 Qf6 24.Re3 dxc5 25.Qxc5 Rfb8 26.Qc2 h6 27.Rde1 Rb5 28.Qd3 Rf5 29.Rg1 Nh4 30.Be7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sg6 2.Rf7#; 1…Sb8/d8/a7/a5/b4 2.d5#; 1…Se7 2.Rd6#; 1…Se5 2.dxe5#; 1…Sxd4+ 2.Qxd4#./PN
