THE Bronze Horseman (Mednyi Vsadnik) posted its seventh straight win in as many outings to formally clinch the 28th Russian Team Championship Premier League championship with a round to spare.
The team exerted just enough effort to beat Wildberries Molodezhka, 3½-2½, in Round 8 to maintain its insurmountable three-match point lead in the nine-team, single round robin team competition. The fight for the silver medal has also been trimmed down to Moscow Chess and Gogolevsky 14, which face separate opponents in the final round. At the moment, Moscow Chess has 11 match points to Gogolevsky’s 10.
The other Round 8 matches saw Moscow Chess demolishing Cimmeria, 5-1; Gogolevsky squeaking past Ladya, 3½-2½, and KPRF defeating M. Botvinnik School by the ame margin. SShOR drew the bye.
Meanwhile, in the 22nd Russian Women’s Team Championship, Moscow Chess Team also clinched the gold victory after erecting a 3-match point lead over its closest pursuer Southern Ural. More on this later and the All-Russia Higher League team competition that ran simultaneous with the Premiere League.
Standings after Round 8 (in match points): 1. Bronze Horseman, 14; 2. Moscow Chess, 11; 3. Gogolevsky 14, 10; 4-5. Wildberries Molodezhka, KPRF, 7; 6-7. Ladya, M. Botvinnik School, 5; 8. SShOR, 3; 9. Cimmeria, 2.
Musalov, R (2359)-Inarkiev, E (2654) [A46]
Sochi (8.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.c4 cxd4 5.exd4 b6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Qc2 h6 12.Bf4 Qc7 13.Qd2 Bb7 14.Bxh6 Ne4 15.Qc2 f5 16.Be3 Rac8 17.Ng5 Nxg5 18.Bxg5 Ba6 19.Qa4 Nb8 20.Rfe1 e5 21.f3 Rf7 22.Rad1 Qd7 23.Qxd7 Nxd7 24.c5 Bxd3 25.Rxd3 bxc5 26.dxe5 dxe5 27.Rd5 Rb8 28.Be3 f4 29.Bxc5 Rb5 30.Red1 Nxc5 31.Rxe5 Rfb7 32.Rd8+ Kh7 33.h4 Na4 34.Ree8 Nc3 35.Kh2 Rd5 36.Rc8 Nd1 37.Rh8 Kg6 38.Rc6 Kf7 39.h5 Ne3 40.g3 Rb1 0-1
Babakekhyan, A (2236)-Najer, E (2648) [A04]
Sochi (8.4) 2021
1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.Nb3 d6 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.0-0 h5 9.h3 Be6 10.Nd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 0-0 12.Qb4 b6 13.Bg5 Rc8 14.Qa4 a5 15.Qf4 Qd7 16.Kh2 Rc4 17.Qd2 Rfc8 18.a4 d5 19.Rfc1 Rd4 20.Qe1 Rb4 21.Rd1 Rxb2 22.Bxf6 Bxf6 23.Nxd5 Bxd5 24.Bxd5 Qc7 25.Bb3 Rxc2 26.Bxc2 Bxa1 27.Bd3 Bc3 28.Qh1 h4 29.Qf3 hxg3+ 30.fxg3 Bf6 31.Kg2 Kg7 32.Rb1 Rd8 33.h4 Rd4 34.Bb5 Qc5 35.Rh1 Rd5 36.Rc1 Qd6 37.Rc6 Qd8 38.Rc8 Qd6 39.Rc6 Qe5 40.Bd3 Rd4 41.Rc4 Rd8 42.Re4 Qa1 43.Qf1 Qa3 44.Qb1 Qd6 45.Qb5 Rh8 46.Rc4 Be5 47.Rc6 Qd4 48.Qc4 Qe3 49.Qg4 Bd4 50.Qe4 Qf2+ 51.Kh3 g5 52.Qxe7 Rxh4+ 53.gxh4 Qf1+ 54.Kg3 Qg1+ 55.Kf3 Qf2+ 56.Kg4 Qf4+ 57.Kh3 g4+ 58.Kg2 Qf2+ 59.Kh1 Qg1# 0-1
Antipov, M (2609)-Esipenko, A (2701) [B13]
Sochi (8.4) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.h3 Nc6 6.c3 g6 7.Nf3 Bf5 8.Be2 e6 9.0-0 a6 10.Re1 h6 11.a3 Qc7 12.Nbd2 g5 13.c4 Rd8 14.c5 Ne4 15.b4 h5 16.Bb2 g4 17.Ne5 gxh3 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Bf3 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Rg8 21.g3 h4 22.g4 f5 23.exf6 Rxg4+ 24.Kh1 Qf4 25.Re3 Bxf3+ 26.Qxf3 Qxf3+ 27.Rxf3 Kf7 28.Kh2 Re4 29.Kxh3 d4 30.Rd1 e5 31.Bc1 Rd7 32.Kg2 Ke6 33.f7 Re2 34.Kf1 Rc2 35.Bg5 Rxf7 36.Rxf7 Kxf7 37.Bxh4 Bg7 38.f3 Ke6 39.Rb1 Bf8 40.Re1 Bh6 41.Bg3 Be3 42.Re2 Rc1+ 43.Re1 Rc2 44.Re2 Rc3 45.Bf2 Rxa3 46.Bxe3 Rxe3 0-1
Murzin, V (2478)-Samusenko, M (2469) [B07]
Sochi (8.5) 2021
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 c6 5.f3 Nbd7 6.Qd2 b5 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.Nge2 Qc7 9.a3 a6 10.g4 e5 11.g5 Nh5 12.Ng3 Nf4 13.Bxf4 exf4 14.Qxf4 h6 15.h4 hxg5 16.hxg5 Rxh1+ 17.Nxh1 c5 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.exd5 Bg7 20.0-0-0 cxd4 21.Nf2 Rc8 22.Kb1 Nc5 23.Rd2 Be5 24.Re2 Kf8 25.Qd2 Bg7 26.Ng4 Re8 27.Rxe8+ Kxe8 28.Nf6+ Kd8 29.Qe1 Qe7 30.Qa5+ Kc8 31.Bxb5 axb5 32.Qa8+ Kc7 33.Ne8+ Kd7 34.Qc6 Kd8 35.Nxd6 Qd7 36.Qxc5 d3 37.cxd3 Be5 38.Ne4 b4 39.d6 Qa4 40.Qc7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c5, Ke6 2.Qxe4#; 1…Kd4 2.Rd3#; 1…Bd3/xc2 2.Re5#; 1…Bf5+ 2.Qxf5#./PN
