The 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal started in earnest over the weekend in Moscow with twelve of Russia’s top players playing a single round robin competition with classical time controls. The Category 18 (average Elo: 2689) event is the strongest classic chess competition at the moment in the world.
The players are Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784), Sergey Karjakin (2752), Peter Svidler (2723), Nikita Vitiugov (2720), Vladislav Artemiev (2711), Daniil Dubov (2702), Maxim Matlakov (2698), Andrey Esipenko (2686), Vladimir Fedoseev (2674), Maksim Chigaev (2619), Mikhail Al. Antipov (2611) and Aleksey Goganov (2594). After two rounds of play, Chigaev, Karjakin, Fedoseev, Nepomniachtchi share the lead with identical 1½ points on one-win and one-draw slates.
Running simultaneous with the Superfinal is the 70th Russian Women’s Chess Championships, also with 12 of the country’s top women grandmasters are taking part. We’ll report on this event later.
Standings after Round 2: 1-4. Chigaev, Karjakin, Fedoseev, Nepomniachtchi, 1½; 5-9. Svidler, Artemiev, Goganov, Vitiugov, Dubov, 1; 10-11. Esipenko, Antipov, ½; 12. Matlakov, 0.
Here are the decisive games of the Superfinal so far:
Antipov, M (2611)-Karjakin, S (2752) [C50]
Moscow (1.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Nc3 d6 7.a4 0-0 8.h3 Be6 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Ne2 Qd7 12.c3 Rf7 13.h4 Raf8 14.b4 Kh8 15.Ra2 Bd8 16.Neg1 Ne7 17.Ng5 Rf6 18.Kf1 c5 19.bxc5 dxc5 20.N5f3 Nc6 21.Rd2 Ba5 22.Qb3 a6 23.Rd1 h6 24.h5 Kh7 25.Qc4 Qd6 26.Ne2 Rb8 27.Rb1 Bc7 28.Rh3 Na5 29.Qa2 b5 30.axb5 axb5 31.Rd1 b4 32.cxb4 cxb4 33.d4 b3 34.Qb1 Qb6 35.dxe5 Rf7 36.g4 b2 37.g5 Kh8 38.gxh6 gxh6 39.Ned4 Nc6 40.Nxc6 Qxc6 41.Nh4 Qc4+ 42.Rhd3 Rb3 43.Ng6+ Kg7 44.Kg1 Rxd3 45.Rxd3 Qc1+ 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Matlakov, M (2698) [D35]
Moscow (1.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Bb4 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bg3 Ne4 9.Nge2 h5 10.h4 Nxg3 11.Nxg3 gxh4 12.Nxh5 Qg5 13.Qa4+ Nc6 14.Nf4 Rh6 15.Qb5 Bf5 16.Nfxd5 a6 17.Qa4 Bd6 18.0-0-0 Kf8 19.f4 Qg6 20.Be2 Re8 21.Bf3 b5 22.Qxa6 Nb8 23.Qb7 c6 24.Nc7 Rc8 25.e4 Bxc7 26.exf5 Qxf5 27.Be4 Qd7 28.Kb1 Bxf4 29.Qb6 Qd6 30.Rhf1 Nd7 31.Qa6 Re8 32.Bc2 Nf6 33.a3 Qc7 34.d5 Nxd5 35.Nxd5 cxd5 36.Qxb5 Rb6 37.Qxd5 Qc3 38.b4 Rf6 39.Rxf4 1-0
Dubov, D (2702)-Esipenko, A (2686) [E06]
Moscow (1.6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Qc2 c5 7.dxc5 d4 8.b4 a5 9.b5 Bxc5 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Nb3 Bb4+ 12.Bd2 Bxd2+ 13.Nfxd2 a4 14.Nxd4 e5 15.Nf5 Nc5 16.Ne3 e4 17.0-0 Qd4 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.cxd5 e3 20.Nc4 exf2+ 21.Kh1 Bd7 22.Rad1 Qf6 23.d6 Rae8 24.Nb6 Re5 25.Qxc5 Rxc5 26.Nxd7 Qg5 27.Nxf8 Kxf8 28.d7 Qd8 29.Rxf2 Rc7 30.Bh3 g6 31.Rf6 Kg8 32.Rfd6 Rc2 33.R6d2 Rc7 34.Rd3 f5 35.b6 Rc2 36.Re3 1-0
Chigaev, M (2619)-Dubov, D (2702) [B31]
Moscow (2.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.0-0 Bg7 6.Re1 Nh6 7.c3 0-0 8.h3 f5 9.e5 Nf7 10.d3 h6 11.d4 cxd4 12.cxd4 e6 13.b3 c5 14.Ba3 d6 15.Nbd2 Re8 16.Nc4 Bb7 17.dxc5 dxe5 18.Nfxe5 Nxe5 19.Nxe5 Be4 20.Nc4 Bxa1 21.Qxa1 Qg5 22.g3 e5 23.Nxe5 Re6 24.Qd4 Rae8 25.Nd7 Bc6 26.Rxe6 Rxe6 27.Ne5 Qf6 28.Bb2 f4 29.gxf4 Be8 30.Kh2 Re7 31.c6 Bxc6 32.Qc4+ Kh7 33.Qxc6 Qxc6 34.Nxc6 Re2 35.Bd4 Rxa2 36.Nxa7 Rd2 37.Bc5 1-0
Matlakov, M (2698)-Fedoseev, V (2674) [C45]
Moscow (2.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb4+ 6.c3 Be7 7.Bf4 d6 8.N1d2 Bg5 9.Bg3 Nge7 10.f4 Bh6 11.Qf3 0-0 12.Bf2 f5 13.exf5 Nxf5 14.0-0-0 Kh8 15.h4 Nfe7 16.g3 Ne5 17.Qg2 Bd7 18.Rg1 Bc6 19.Qh3 Qe8 20.Be2 Nd5 21.Rge1 Qg6 22.Bd4 Bxf4 23.gxf4 Nxf4 24.h5 Qg5 25.Qe3 Rae8 26.Bf1 Ng4 27.Qg1 Bf3 28.h6 Qxh6 29.Rxe8 Rxe8 30.Bb5 Bxd1 31.Qxd1 c6 32.Bf1 Nh2 33.Bc4 b5 34.Bf7 Re1 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc5 2.Rb4#; 1…Bg4/xc8 2.Bxd5#; 1…exf3+ 2.Kxf3#; 1…Qxd1+ 2.Kxd1#; 1…Qxb2 2.Sxb2#./PN
