Ian Nepomniachtchi emerged the clear winner of the 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal which ended Wednesday in Moscow after making a short draw with Maksim Chigaev and seeing penultimate round co-leader Sergey Karjakin got beaten by Daniil Dubov in the final round.
This was the second Superfinal crown for Nepomniachtchi, who won in 2010 after a playoff victory with who else but Karjakin.
Dubov, playing white, surprised Karjakin in the opening with a rare gambit line of the Giuoco Piano and was soon all over the board with what appeared a kamikaze attack. Karjakin somehow survived the opening complications, but either missed or rejected lines that would have given him excellent drawing chances and opted to fight it out tooth and nail. This decision finally cost him the game.
The other final round wins were authored by Maxim Matlakov, who devastated Aleksey Goganov; and by Vladislav who took the default point versus an absent Mikhail Antipov. The matches Andrey Esipenko vs Vladimir Fedoseev and Peter Svidler vs Nikita Vitiugov ended in draws.
The final standings: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 7½; 2. Karjakin, 7; 3-4 Fedoseev, Dubov, 6½; 5-6. Artemiev, Chigaev, 6; 7-8. Vitiugov, Svidler, 5½; 9-10. Esipenko, Matlakov, 5; 11. Goganov, 3½; 12. Antipov, 2.
Dubov, D (2702)-Karjakin, S (2752) [C53]
Moscow (11) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.b4 Bb6 7.e5 Ne4 8.Bd5 Nxc3 9.Nxc3 dxc3 10.Bg5 Ne7 11.0-0 h6 12.Bh4 0-0 13.Re1 Qe8 14.Bb3 a5 15.Bf6 a4 16.Bc4 Ng6 17.Qd3 d5 18.exd6 Be6 19.Qxg6 fxg6 20.Rxe6 Qf7 21.Bxc3 Kh8 22.Re4 Qf5 23.Re7 Rg8 24.Bxg8 Rxg8 25.dxc7 Qc2 26.Be5 Bxf2+ 27.Kh1 Bb6 28.h3 Kh7 29.Re1 a3 30.Kh2 g5 31.Nd4 Qc4 32.Nf5 Qxb4 33.Rc1 Kg6 34.Rxg7+ Kxf5 35.Rxg8 Bxc7 36.Bxc7 Qb2 37.Rc5+ Ke4 38.Rd8 1-0
Esipenko, A (2686)-Fedoseev, V (2674) [C83]
Moscow (11) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Be7 10.h3 0-0 11.Bc2 Qc8 12.Nbd2 f5 13.exf6 Nxf6 14.Re1 Bd6 15.Nf1 Ne7 16.Ng3 Bd7 17.Bg5 Kh8 18.Ne5 Be6 19.Qd3 Bg8 20.Re2 Nd7 21.Ng4 Nc5 22.Qd2 Nc6 23.Rae1 Qd7 24.Nh5 Ne4 25.Bxe4 dxe4 26.b3 Rf5 27.Ng3 Rd5 28.Qc1 h6 29.Bf4 h5 30.Nh2 Bxf4 31.Qxf4 Ne5 32.Rf1 Nd3 33.Qe3 Re8 34.Nxe4 Bh7 35.f3 c5 36.c4 bxc4 37.bxc4 Rd4 38.Rd2 Qd8 39.Kh1 Kg8 40.Qg1 Qa5 41.Rfd1 Red8 42.Nf1 Bxe4 43.fxe4 Qa4 44.Ne3 Nb2 45.Rxd4 cxd4 46.Rd2 Nxc4 47.Nxc4 Qxc4 48.Qd1 Qc5 49.Rd3 Qe5 50.Qe2 a5 51.Rd1 Kh7 52.Qd3 g6 53.Rf1 Rd7 54.Rd1 Kg7 55.Kg1 Rd6 56.Kh1 h4 57.Kg1 Qg3 58.Qxg3 hxg3 59.Rd3 Kf6 60.Kf1 Ke5 61.Rxg3 Rc6 62.Ke1 Kxe4 63.Kd2 a4 64.h4 Re6 65.Rg4+ Kd5 66.Rg3 Kc4 67.Ra3 Kb4 68.Rd3 Re4 69.g3 Kc4 70.Ra3 Kb5 71.Rf3 Kc4 72.Ra3 Kb4 73.Rd3 Kc4 ½-½
Chigaev, M (2619)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [B90]
Moscow (11) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bc1 Nf6 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bc1 Nf6 10.Be3 ½-½
Matlakov, M (2698)-Goganov, A (2594) [E00]
Moscow (11) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.0-0 c6 9.Rc1 a5 10.a4 h6 11.Na3 Ne4 12.Be3 f5 13.Ne1 Qe8 14.f3 Nef6 15.Nd3 g5 16.Re1 Bd6 17.Rad1 Qg6 18.Qc1 Kh7 19.Nb1 e5 20.dxe5 Nxe5 21.Nxe5 Bxe5 22.f4 gxf4 23.Bxf4 Bxf4 24.Qxf4 Be6 25.cxd5 Bxd5 26.Nc3 Bxg2 27.Kxg2 Rf7 28.Rf1 Nh5 29.Qe5 Ng7 30.Rd6 Re8 31.Qd4 Re6 32.Rd7 Qf6 33.Qxf6 Rfxf6 34.Rxb7 Kg6 35.Rd1 Re5 36.Rd8 Ne6 37.Rg8+ Kh5 38.b4 Re3 39.bxa5 Rxc3 40.a6 Rc2 41.a7 Rxe2+ 42.Kf1 Nd4 43.a8Q Rfe6 44.Qf8 1-0
Svidler, P (2723)-Vitiugov, N (2720) [C78]
Moscow (11) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.axb5 axb5 11.Qd3 0-0 12.Bg5 exd4 13.cxd4 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.e5 gxh4 16.Qg6+ Kh8 17.Qxh6+ Nh7 18.Bc2 f5 19.exf6 Rf7 20.Ng5 Qxf6 21.Nxf7+ Qxf7 22.Bxh7 Qxh7 23.Qf8+ Qg8 24.Qh6+ Qh7 25.Qf8+ Qg8 26.Qh6+ Qh7 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rb3 2.Qe5#; 1…cxd4 2.Qe6#; 1…Kxd4 2.Qe4, Sf6/e3#; 1…Kc4 2.Se3#./PN