By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
Vladimir Kramnik dominated the preliminary round of the Play for Russia blitz tournament which ended on May 13 on the lichess.org chess server and advanced along with three others to the semifinal knockouts phase of the charity event.
Also advancing are Peter Svidler, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Alexander Grischuk.
Grischuk, who led the first half of the competition, could only muster 3 points in the last seven rounds and barely progressed.
The end of the preliminaries saw Kramnik winning with a margin of 1½ point versus second-placer Svidler.
The semifinal matches, which will be played on May 14, will pit Kramnik against Grischuk and Svidler versus Tomashevsky, with the winners facing each other in a final face-off on the same day.
As we reported earlier, the prize pool will be distributed among Russian regional hospitals and doctors fighting the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Before the start, participants will determine how and to which particular medical institution they will help – depending on the needs of the institution.
The entire prize fund is distributed equally between the regions, regardless of the places occupied by chess players.
The final standings (preliminary round): 1. Kramnik, 10½; 2. Svidler, 9; 3-4. Tomashevsky, Grischuk, 8; 5. Karjakin, 7½; 6. Inarkiev, 5½; 7. Nepomniachtchi, 5; 8. Riazantsev, 2½.
Svidler, P (2723)-Grischuk, A (2777) [B31]
lichess.org (8.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 h6 7.a3 Qc7 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Be3 b6 10.Qd2 e5 11.b4 Nd7 12.bxc5 f5 13.exf5 gxf5 14.0-0 f4 15.Bxf4 exf4 16.Rfe1+ Kf7 17.d4 Rd8 18.Qd3 Nxc5 19.Qe2 Ba6 20.Qd2 Ne6 21.Re4 Re8 22.Rae1 Ng5 23.Ne5+ Kg8 24.Rxf4 Rf8 25.h4 Rxf4 26.Qxf4 Nf7 27.Qg3 Nxe5 28.dxe5 Rf8 29.f4 Bc8 30.Ne4 Bf5 31.Nd6 Qd7 32.c4 Qe6 33.Qf3 c5 34.Qd5 Kh8 35.g3 Bg4 36.Qxe6 Bxe6 37.Kf2 h5 38.Kf3 Kh7 39.Ke4 Kg6 40.Rf1 Bh3 41.f5+ Kh7 42.Rf2 Bh6 43.e6 Rg8 44.e7 Rxg3 45.Re2 Bg2+ 46.Ke5 Bg7+ 47.f6 Bxf6+ 48.Kxf6 Rg6+ 49.Ke5 Bc6 50.e8Q Bxe8 51.Nxe8 Kh6 52.Kd5 Rg4 53.Re6+ 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Kramnik, V (2753) [C11]
lichess.org (9.4) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd2 a6 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 b5 11.Nd1 b4 12.c4 dxc4 13.d5 exd5 14.Qxd5 Bb7 15.Qxc4 Nb6 16.Qc2 Nd5 17.Bd3 Nxe3 18.Nxe3 Nd4 19.Nxd4 Qxd4 20.Rae1 g6 21.Kh1 Rad8 22.Bc4 Bh4 23.Re2 Be4 24.Qb3 Bb7 25.f5 Kh8 26.Bxf7 Qxe5 27.Bc4 Qd6 28.Qc2 Bg5 29.Rd1 Qf6 30.h3 Bxe3 31.Rxd8 Rxd8 32.Rxe3 gxf5 33.Qe2 Be4 34.Qf2 Rd1+ 35.Kh2 Qd6+ 36.Rg3 h6 37.Be2 Rd2 38.Kh1 Rxe2 0-1
Grischuk, A (2777)-Kramnik, V (2753) [A06]
lichess.org (11.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.e4 dxe4 8.dxe4 Bg4 9.h3 Qxd1 10.Rxd1 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Rfd8 12.Be3 Nd7 13.Nd5 Rac8 14.c3 e6 15.Nf4 Nb6 16.Rxd8+ Rxd8 17.Rd1 Rxd1+ 18.Bxd1 Nc4 19.Bc1 Bh6 20.Be2 Nd6 21.f3 e5 22.Nd3 Bxc1 23.Nxc1 f5 24.exf5 gxf5 25.Kf2 Kf7 26.Nb3 b6 27.Nd2 Ne7 28.f4 exf4 29.gxf4 Nd5 30.Kf3 Ke6 31.Bd1 Kf6 32.Bb3 Ne7 33.Nf1 Ne4 34.Bc2 Nc5 35.Ne3 c6 36.Nc4 Nb7 37.Ne5 c5 38.Nd7+ Kg7 39.a3 Nd6 40.Ne5 Ng6 41.Nc6 a5 42.Bd3 Kf6 43.b4 cxb4 44.cxb4 axb4 45.Nxb4 Ne7 46.Ke3 Ke6 47.Kd4 Nb7 48.Nd5 Nc6+ 49.Kc4 Nd6+ 0-1
Tomashevsky, E (2706)-Kramnik, V (2753) [A06]
lichess.org (13.2) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.b3 Bd6 5.Bb2 0-0 6.Nc3 b6 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxd5 exd5 9.Be2 a5 10.0-0 Ba6 11.Nd4 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 Be5 13.Bc3 Re8 14.Qg4 Bxd4 15.Qxd4 f6 16.Qg4 c5 17.d4 Nc6 18.dxc5 bxc5 19.Rfd1 Qd6 20.Rac1 a4 21.h3 axb3 22.axb3 Rab8 23.Qa4 Red8 24.Be1 Ne5 25.Qa3 Rbc8 26.Rc2 Qb6 27.Ba5 Qa7 28.Qa1 Rd7 29.Bc3 Qb8 30.Rcd2 Rcd8 31.Qa5 Qxb3 32.Bxe5 fxe5 33.Qxc5 d4 34.Qxe5 d3 35.Qb2 Qc4 36.Qa2 Qxa2 37.Rxa2 Kf7 38.Kf1 Ke6 39.Ke1 Rc7 40.Ra3 Rcd7 41.Kd2 g5 42.Rb1 h5 43.Rbb3 Rf7 44.f3 g4 45.hxg4 hxg4 46.Rb6+ Kd5 47.Rxd3+ Kc5 48.Rxd8 Kxb6 49.f4 Kc5 50.Ke2 Rg7 51.Kf2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Be6 2.Sc6#; 1…Bf6 2.Bd6#; 1…Se6 2.Rd5#; 1…Sxe4 2.Sd3#; 1…Sg7 2.Bf6#; 1…Sg3 2.Sxg4#./PN
