BY A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
Alexander Grischuk, who barely survived the preliminary round, made a scintillating comeback in the semifinal and final rounds to win the Play for Russia blitz charity tournament which ended on Friday, May 15, on the lichess.org chess server.
Grischuk first disposed preliminary round winner Vladimir Kramnik, 2-1, in the semifinal before crushing Evgeny Tomashevsky in the final, 3-0.
Tomashevsky earlier eliminated Peter Svidler in their semifinal tiff, 1½-½.
As we reported earlier, at the end of the tournament, the 24,670,000 rubles collected by organizers will be allocated evenly among 13 Russian medical institutions in 10 regions specializing in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 patients as determined by the players (to be continued).
Grischuk,A (2777)-Kramnik,V (2753) [D35]
lichess.org (1.3) 2020
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 0-0 8.Bd3 Re8 9.Nge2 b6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Qc2 Nbd7 12.Rad1 c6 13.a3 Nf8 14.b4 Ne6 15.Qb2 Rc8 16.a4 Rc7 17.a5 Rd7 18.Ra1 Bd6 19.Bg3 Ng5 20.Rfc1 Nh5 21.Bxd6 Rxd6 22.axb6 axb6 23.Ra7 Qb8 24.Rca1 Nf6 25.h3 Rdd8 26.Qd2 Bc8 27.Nf4 Ne6 28.Nce2 Nxf4 29.Nxf4 Qd6 30.Qc3 Ne4 31.Bxe4 Rxe4 32.Rc1 Bd7 33.b5 Rc8 34.Qb3 g5 35.Nh5 Re6 36.Ng3 Rf6 37.bxc6 Rxc6 38.Rxc6 Qxc6 39.Qa3 Qd6 40.Nh5 1-0
Tomashevsky,E (2706)-Svidler,P (2723) [A20]
lichess.org (1.1) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bc5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 0-0 6.Nge2 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxd5 cxd5 9.d4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 Bf5 13.Bd2 Qb6 14.Rc1 Be7 15.Bc3 Rfd8 16.Qa4 a5 17.Rfd1 Be6 18.Rd2 Bf8 19.h4 h6 20.Rcd1 Bb4 21.Qc2 Qc5 22.Rc1 Rdc8 23.e4 Bxc3 24.Qxc3 Qxc3 25.Rxc3 Rab8 26.b3 Kf8 27.Rc5 a4 28.bxa4 dxe4 29.Bxe4 Rb4 30.Bxc6 Rxa4 31.Bxa4 Rxc5 32.Bb3 Bxb3 33.axb3 Rc1+ 34.Kg2 Rb1 35.Rd3 Ke7 36.Kf3 Kf6 37.Kf4 g5+ 38.hxg5+ hxg5+ 39.Ke4 Rb2 40.f3 Ke6 41.g4 f6 42.Re3 Rb1 43.Kd4+ Kd6 44.Kc4 Rc1+ 45.Rc3 Rb1 46.b4 Ke5 47.Kc5 f5 48.gxf5 Kxf5 49.b5 Ke6 50.Kc6 1-0
Tomashevsky,E (2706)-Grischuk,A (2777) [E90]
lichess.org (2.1) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.h3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.g4 Na6 9.Be3 Nc5 10.Nd2 c6 11.Be2 a4 12.Qc2 Qa5 13.a3 Bd7 14.Kf1 cxd5 15.cxd5 b5 16.Kg2 Rac8 17.f3 Ne8 18.Rhc1 f5 19.b4 axb3 20.Nxb3 Nxb3 21.Qxb3 Nf6 22.Qb4 Qd8 23.Nxb5 Rb8 24.a4 h5 25.exf5 gxf5 26.g5 Nxd5 27.Bc4 Be6 28.Bxd5 Bxd5 29.Rd1 f4 30.Rxd5 Qxg5+ 31.Kh2 Qg3+ 32.Kh1 Qxf3+ 33.Kh2 Qg3+ 34.Kh1 Qxh3+ 35.Kg1 Qxe3+ 0-1
Grischuk,A (2777)-Tomashevsky,E (2706) [D02]
lichess.org (2.2) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 e6 5.Nbd2 Qb6 6.Rb1 cxd4 7.exd4 Bd7 8.Be2 Bb5 9.c3 Bxe2 10.Qxe2 Nc6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Ne5 0-0 13.Bg5 Rfe8 14.f4 Rac8 15.Kh1 Qa6 16.Qxa6 bxa6 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nb3 Be7 19.Nxc6 Rxc6 20.Nc1 a5 21.a4 Bd6 22.Nd3 g6 23.g4 Kg7 24.Kg2 Rc4 25.Ra1 Rh8 26.f5 exf5 27.gxf5 Re8 28.Rfe1 Rxe1 29.Nxe1 Kf6 30.Nc2 Bf4 31.fxg6 fxg6 32.h4 Rc8 33.Kf3 Kf5 34.Re1 Rb8 35.Ne3+ Bxe3 36.Rxe3 Kf6 37.Re5 Rd8 38.Ke3 h6 39.b3 g5 40.hxg5+ hxg5 41.c4 Rb8 42.Rxd5 Rxb3+ 43.Ke4 Rb4 44.Rd6+ Ke7 45.c5 g4 46.Rg6 Rxa4 47.Kd5 Ra1 48.Rxg4 a4 49.Rg7+ Kd8 50.Rxa7 Kc8 51.Kc6 Kb8 52.Ra5 1-0
Tomashevsky,E (2706)-Grischuk,A (2777) [A29]
lichess.org (2.3) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Bc5 7.0-0 0-0 8.d3 Nb6 9.a3 a5 10.Bd2 a4 11.Ne4 Be7 12.Rc1 f6 13.b4 axb3 14.Qxb3+ Kh8 15.Bb4 Re8 16.Rfd1 Be6 17.Qb1 Bd5 18.e3 Nxb4 19.axb4 Bd6 20.Nc5 Qe7 21.Nd2 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Ra7 23.Ndb3 Nd7 24.d4 Bxc5 25.Nxc5 Nxc5 26.dxc5 Raa8 27.Qe4 b6 28.cxb6 cxb6 29.Rc6 Rab8 30.b5 Red8 31.Rxd8+ Qxd8 32.h4 h6 33.h5 Rc8 34.Qc4 Rb8 35.Qf7 Qd3 36.Qg6 Qd5+ 37.e4 Qxb5 38.Rc7 Rg8 39.Rb7 Qe8 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd5!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Sxa7 2.Qd8#; 1…Sxd3 2.Sc6#; 1…Bc2/d1/a2/a4/c4/xd5 2.b4#./PN
