AFTER two rounds of play, a mix of nine masters remains undefeated at the Chelyabinsk Variant A Tournament which started March 23 at the big industrial city of Chelyabinsk in Russia.
The tournament is a 96-player 10-round classic Swiss event with a 90-minutes base reflection time for the entire game, plus a 30-seconds increment starting the first move. It’s a bit surprising the FIDE website has no information on this fairly strong competition, although most major online playing servers and chess websites are broadcasting the proceedings.
At any rate, 3rd seed GM Igor Lysyj (2605) is leading a nine-man logjam of perfect scorers after round two, even as round three is being played at this writing. Besides Lysyj, the others with two points are IM Andrey Drygalov (2500), GM Kirill Stupak (2492), IM Polina Shuvalova (2476), IM Mikhail Bryakin (2464), IM Rudik Makarian (2458), IM Alexander Gutenev (2451), GM Mikhail Simantsev (2389), and WGM Leya Garifullina (2375). Meanwhile, top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov (2619) and 2nd seed GM Anton Demchenko (2610) lead a large group of 24 players sharing 10th to 33rd places with 1½ points apiece.
Ovod, E (2341)-Lysyj, I (2605) [C50]
Chelyabinsk (1.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 h6 7.b4 Bb6 8.a4 a5 9.b5 Ne7 10.Be3 Bxe3 11.fxe3 0-0 12.Ra2 d5 13.exd5 Nexd5 14.Re2 Nb6 15.Nxe5 Nxc4 16.dxc4 Qxd1 17.Rxd1 Re8 18.Nf3 Ne4 19.c5 Nxc5 20.Rd4 b6 21.Nbd2 Bb7 22.Nf1 Re7 23.Ra2 Rae8 24.N3d2 Re6 25.c4 Rg6 26.g3 Rf6 27.h4 Bc8 28.Rf4 Rxf4 29.gxf4 Bg4 30.Nb1 Bd1 31.Nc3 Bb3 32.Ra3 Bxc4 33.Nd2 Be6 34.f5 Bxf5 35.Nd5 Rd8 36.Ne7+ Kf8 37.Nxf5 Rxd2 38.e4 Nxe4 39.Re3 Nc5 40.Rg3 Ne6 41.h5 Rd5 0-1
Azarov, S (2604)-Tsoi, D (2334) [B01]
Chelyabinsk (1.4) 2021
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.Bd2 Nbd7 9.Bd3 e6 10.0-0 Be7 11.Rfe1 0-0 12.Rad1 Qb6 13.Bc1 Nd5 14.Nxd5 cxd5 15.h4 Qd8 16.Qh3 a6 17.h5 Re8 18.Re2 Nf8 19.Kh1 Bf6 20.c3 b5 21.a3 Qd7 22.g4 g6 23.f4 Re7 24.Rf1 Rae8 25.Bd2 a5 26.Ref2 Qc6 27.f5 exf5 28.gxf5 g5 29.h6 Nd7 30.Rg2 Kf8 31.Qg3 Re4 32.Bxg5 Bxg5 33.Qxg5 Qf6 34.Qg7+ Qxg7 35.hxg7+ Kg8 36.Bxe4 dxe4 37.f6 Re6 38.d5 Rd6 39.a4 Nxf6 40.axb5 Nd7 41.Rxf7 1-0
Shomoev, A (2563)-Vlassov, N (2331) [B75]
Chelyabinsk (1.6) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 b5 11.Bb3 Bb7 12.Rhe1 Rc8 13.Bg5 0-0 14.Bh6 b4 15.Nce2 e5 16.Qg5 exd4 17.Qxg6 Ne8 18.Nxd4 Qf6 19.Qxf6 Ndxf6 20.Nf5 Bxh6+ 21.Nxh6+ Kg7 22.Nf5+ Kh7 23.Nxd6 Nxd6 24.Rxd6 Rc6 25.Red1 Kg7 26.Ba4 Rxd6 27.Rxd6 Bc8 28.Kd2 h4 29.Ke3 Nh5 30.Rd4 Kh6 31.Rxb4 Be6 32.Rd4 Bxa2 33.b3 Rc8 34.Rd6+ f6 35.Kd2 Rg8 36.g4 hxg3 37.hxg3 Rxg3 38.Ke3 Rg2 39.c4 Rc2 40.Kd3 Bb1 41.Rxa6 Nf4+ 42.Ke3 Ng2+ 43.Kd4 Kg5 44.Ra5+ Kg6 45.b4 Rd2+ 46.Kc3 Rf2 47.Be8+ Kg7 48.Bh5 Nh4 49.Ra1 Ba2 50.Kd4 Rd2+ 51.Ke3 Rb2 52.Kd4 Rd2+ 53.Kc3 Rf2 54.b5 Nxf3 55.Bxf3 Rxf3+ 56.Kd4 Rf2 57.b6 Rb2 58.c5 Be6 59.Ra7+ Kg6 60.b7 Bd7 61.b8Q Rxb8 62.Rxd7 Rb4+ 63.Kd5 f5 64.exf5+ Kxf5 65.Rf7+ Kg6 66.Rf1 1-0
Lysyj, I (2605)-Pogosyan, S (2444) [E04]
Chelyabinsk (2.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Qd2 Rb8 8.Ne5 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Qxd2 10.Nxd2 Nd7 11.Nxc4 b5 12.Na5 Nxe5 13.Bf4 Bb4 14.Bxe5 Bxa5 15.Bxg7 Rg8 16.Be5 Bb7 17.Rac1 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Rb7 19.Rc6 Bb6 20.Rd1 Ke7 21.f4 a5 22.f5 Rc8 23.fxe6 fxe6 24.Bf4 Re8 25.Bg5+ Kf7 26.Rd7+ Kg6 27.Be7 Kf5 28.Kf3 h5 29.e4+ Ke5 30.Bg5 Rf8+ 31.Bf4+ Kf6 32.e5+ Kf5 33.Rg7 1-0
Obgolts, E (2404)-Drygalov, A (2500) [B80]
Chelyabinsk (2.9) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.g4 Nb6 10.a3 Bb7 11.Qf2 Nfd7 12.Nb3 Rc8 13.0-0-0 Rxc3 14.bxc3 Qc7 15.Qg3 e5 16.Bxb6 Nxb6 17.f4 Bxe4 18.Bg2 Bxg2 19.Qxg2 d5 20.Kb1 Bxa3 21.Ka2 Qxc3 22.Rb1 Be7 23.Qd2 Qc4 24.Qa5 Na4 0-1
Khruschiov, A (2392)-Stupak, K (2492) [C02]
Chelyabinsk (2.11) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.a3 f6 7.Bd3 fxe5 8.dxe5 c4 9.Bc2 g6 10.0-0 Bg7 11.Nbd2 Nge7 12.Re1 Qc7 13.Qe2 Bd7 14.a4 0-0 15.b3 cxb3 16.Nxb3 b6 17.Ba3 Rfe8 18.Bd6 Qc8 19.Bd3 Nf5 20.Ba6 Qd8 21.Ba3 Bf8 22.Bb7 Rb8 23.Bxc6 Bxc6 24.Nbd4 Nxd4 25.cxd4 Qd7 26.a5 Bb5 27.Qd2 Bc4 28.h4 b5 29.Reb1 Bxa3 30.Rxa3 Qe7 31.Rb4 Rf8 32.g3 Qf7 33.Nh2 Qf5 34.Kg2 Rbc8 35.Rb2 Rb8 36.f3 h5 37.Re3 g5 38.hxg5 Qxg5 39.Kf2 Rb7 40.f4 Rg7 41.Rf3 Qf5 42.Kg2 Qe4 43.Kh3 Rgf7 44.Qc2 Qxd4 45.Qg6+ Rg7 46.Qxe6+ Kh7 47.Rbf2 Qc5 48.Kg2 d4 49.Qh3 Bd5 50.Qxh5+ Kg8 51.Ng4 Bxf3+ 52.Rxf3 Qc2+ 53.Nf2 d3 54.e6 d2 55.Qd5 Qc4 56.Qd6 Qc8 57.f5 Rd8 58.Qe5 d1Q 59.Nxd1 Rxd1 60.f6 Qc2+ 61.Rf2 Qc6+ 62.Rf3 Rd2+ 63.Kh3 Qxf3 64.f7+ Kh7 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ke8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Be7/f6/g5/h4 2.Sxc7#; 1…c6 2.Qxa2#; 1…Kxe6 2.Qc6#; 1…f4 2.Qxe4#; 1…exd3 2.Bf3#; 1…Bb1/b3 2.B(x)b3#; 1…Bc4 2.Qd7#; 1…Sf4/h4/xe3/e1 2.Se(x)f4#./PN
