PAVEL Ponkratov emerged as the clear winner of the 74th Russian Open Championship Higher League, which ended July 5, in the Chuvashia republic capital city of Cheboksary in Russia. The 54-player, all-Russian, nine-round Swiss classical event – which has a time control of 90 minutes plus 30 minutes play to finish and 30 seconds increment per move – also serves as a qualifier for the Russian Superfinals slated later this year.
The 33-year-old Ponkratov scored seven points, half a point clear of Maksim Chigaev and Aleksandra Goryachkina, who tallied 6½ points apiece to share second to third places. Five players – Alexander Rakhmanov, Alexander Motylev, Mikhail Antipov, Evgeny Alekseev, and David Paravyan – each tallied six points to share fourth to eighth places. But since only the top five qualify for the Superfinals, Rakhmanov and Motylev booked a Superfinals seat by virtue of better tiebreak quotients.
Among those who failed the cut were top seed Maxim Matlakov (2688), second seed Alexander Predke (2683), fourth seed Alexey Dreev (2647), fifth seed Alexey Sarana (2640), and eighth seed David Paravyan (2629).
Chigaev, M (2630)-Iljiushenok, I (2530) [B94]
Cheboksary (2.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Bc4 Qb6 8.Bb3 e6 9.Qd2 Be7 10.0-0-0 Nc5 11.f3 Qc7 12.g4 b5 13.a3 Rb8 14.Ba2 b4 15.axb4 Rxb4 16.h4 Rb8 17.Nb3 Qb7 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Qh6 Bd7 20.g5 fxg5 21.hxg5 Rf8 22.Qg7 a5 23.Rxh7 a4 24.Nxc5 dxc5 25.Nxa4 Bxa4 26.g6 f6 27.Bb3 Bxb3 28.Qf7+ Rxf7 29.gxf7+ Kf8 30.Rg1 1-0
Ponkratov, P (2627)-Sarana, A (2640) [B90]
Cheboksary (3.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.h3 Nbd7 9.a4 Qc7 10.g4 h6 11.h4 Nb6 12.Rg1 Be6 13.g5 hxg5 14.hxg5 Nfd7 15.g6 Nf6 16.gxf7+ Kxf7 17.Qf3 Nc4 18.Bxc4 Qxc4 19.Qg2 Rag8 20.Nd2 Qb4 21.0-0-0 g5 22.Rh1 g4 23.f4 Rh3 24.f5 Rxe3 25.fxe6+ Kxe6 26.Qf2 Rxc3 27.Qf5+ Kf7 28.bxc3 Qxc3 29.Rdf1 Ke8 30.Qe6 Rf8 31.Rh6 Nd7 32.Rxf8+ Nxf8 33.Qxg4 Kd8 34.Rh3 Qa1+ 35.Nb1 b5 36.axb5 Qa5 37.bxa6 Qxa6 38.Ra3 Qc6 39.Nc3 d5 40.Rb3 1-0
Paravyan, D (2629)-Ponkratov, P (2627) [D20]
Cheboksary (6.1) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 e5 4.Bxc4 Nc6 5.Nf3 e4 6.Nfd2 Qg5 7.g3 f5 8.Nc3 Bd6 9.a3 Nf6 10.b4 h5 11.h4 Qg6 12.Ne2 a6 13.Ba2 b5 14.Bb2 Ne7 15.Qc2 Bb7 16.Nc3 Ng4 17.Rf1 Bxg3 18.fxg3 Nxe3 19.Qb3 Qxg3+ 20.Rf2 Ng4 21.Ncxe4 Qxb3 22.Bxb3 fxe4 23.Rf7 e3 24.Nf1 Nd5 25.Rxg7 0-0-0 26.Rc1 Rd7 27.Rxd7 Kxd7 28.Rc5 Nf4 29.Bc2 Bf3 30.Bf5+ Kd8 31.Ng3 Re8 32.Bc3 Ng2+ 33.Kf1 e2+ 34.Nxe2 Rxe2 0-1
Goryachkina, A (2596)-Dreev, A (2647) [D43]
Cheboksary (6.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 g6 8.Be2 Bg7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Ne5 dxc4 11.f4 Qe7 12.Ne4 b6 13.Rc1 Bb7 14.Rxc4 c5 15.dxc5 Bd5 16.Rd4 Nc6 17.Nxg6 fxg6 18.Rxd5 exd5 19.Qxd5+ Kh7 20.Qxc6 Rac8 21.Qa4 Rxc5 22.Bd3 Rd5 23.Bb1 Rc8 24.Qa6 Qd7 25.Qe2 Kh8 26.h3 Rd8 27.b3 Rd1 28.Bc2 Rxf1+ 29.Qxf1 Qc6 30.Qe2 Rc8 31.Bd3 Re8 32.Qc2 Qe6 33.Kh2 Qd5 34.Ng3 Rxe3 35.Bxg6 Qe6 36.Qd2 Bf6 37.Bf7 Bh4 38.Bxe6 Bxg3+ 39.Kg1 Re1+ 40.Qxe1 Bxe1 41.Kh2 Kg7 42.g3 Kf6 43.Bc8 a5 44.Kg2 Kg6 45.Kf3 Kf6 46.Ba6 Kg7 47.Bd3 Kf7 48.g4 Kf6 49.Ke4 Bg3 50.Bc4 Bf2 51.Kd5 Be3 52.Kc6 Bf2 53.Bd3 Be3 54.Bc2 Bf2 55.h4 Bxh4 56.Kxb6 Be1 57.Kb5 Bd2 58.Bh7 Ke6 59.Bg6 Kf6 60.Bh5 Be3 61.a3 Bd2 62.f5 Ke7 63.b4 axb4 64.axb4 Be1 65.Kc5 Bf2+ 66.Kc6 Be3 67.b5 Bf2 68.b6 Bxb6 1-0
Goryachkina, A (2596)-Predke, A (2683) [B06]
Cheboksary (8.5) 2021
1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.c4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 exd5 7.exd5 Ne7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 h6 10.Bd2 g5 11.h4 g4 12.Ne1 f5 13.Nd3 Nd7 14.Nf4 Ne5 15.h5 Kh7 16.Bd3 Ng8 17.Nce2 b5 18.cxb5 Nf6 19.Bc3 Ne4 20.Bxe4 fxe4 21.Bxe5 Bxe5 22.Ng6 Rf5 23.Nxe5 Rxe5 24.Ng3 Bb7 25.Qxg4 Qe8 26.Rad1 Bxd5 27.Nf5 Qg8 28.Qg6+ Qxg6 29.hxg6+ Kxg6 30.Rxd5 Rxf5 31.Rxd6+ Kg5 32.Rfd1 Re8 33.R1d5 c4 34.Rxf5+ Kxf5 35.Rd7 Re5 36.a4 e3 37.Kf1 Kg6 38.Rxa7 Rf5 39.f3 Rd5 40.Ke2 Rd2+ 41.Kxe3 Rxg2 42.Rc7 1-0
Demchenko, A (2600) – Chigaev, M (2630) [B52]
Cheboksary (9.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0-0 Ngf6 6.Qe2 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 a6 9.c4 Rc8 10.b3 g6 11.Rd1 Bg7 12.Ba3 Qc7 13.Nc3 0-0 14.e5 dxe5 15.Bxf8 Rxf8 16.Nf3 e4 17.Nd4 Qe5 18.Rac1 h5 19.g3 Bh6 20.Rc2 h4 21.b4 hxg3 22.hxg3 Kg7 23.c5 Rh8 24.Kg2 Bf4 25.gxf4 Qxf4 26.Qe3 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Ne5 28.Qg3 Qh5 29.Nde2 Nfg4 30.Kg2 g5 31.Ng1 f5 32.Nxe4 fxe4 33.Rcd2 e3 34.fxe3 Qh1+ 35.Kf1 Rf8+ 36.Ke2 Rf2+ 37.Qxf2 Nxf2 38.Kxf2 Ng4+ 39.Kg3 Nxe3 40.Rh2 Nf5+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.e3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc5/b5/a5 2.Qd4#; 1…Rd6/d7/d8/e5 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…Rxf5 2.Qa8#; 1…Qxf5 2.Qh1#; 1…Nxe3 2.Nd2#./PN
