There was little excitement at the closing round of the Alexander Panchenko Memorial in Chelyabinsk, Russia, after the top two board matches – either by mutual fear or mutual exhaustion – ended in short grandmaster draws.
The only excitement it seems was the great effort of top seed GM Alexander Predke to join the championship circle by trying to beat a badly-outrated GM Artyom Timofeev. Timofeev, however, defended assiduously and got the draw that allowed only three players to tie for the gold.
The three were IM Semen Khanin, GM Dmitry Kokarev and GM Maksim Chigaev. Khanin and Kokarev had short draws with GMs Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Aleksei Pridorozhni, respectively. These two top board draws generated only 25 moves – 11 for Khanin vs Rakhmanov, 14 for Kokarev vs Pridorozhni. Chigaev, half-a-point behind Khanin and Kokarev at the dtart of Round 9, defeated GM Mikhail Demidov to join the champions’ circle. All three have seven points apiece. There was no official word from the organizers yet as we write this, but if a tiebreak were to be applied, Khanin will bring home the champion’s belt, Kokarev will get the silver, and Chigaev the bronze.
Rounding up the top nine finishers with 6½ points each are (in the order of their tiebreak quotients) Rakhmanov, Pridorozhni. GM Igor Lysyj, GM Pavel Ponkratov, Predke, and Timofeev.
Predke, A (2684)-Timofeev, A (2580) [D30]
Chelyabinsk (9.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxe7 Qxe7 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.g3 0-0 8.Bg2 Nbd7 9.0-0 c5 10.cxd5 exd5 11.a4 a5 12.Nb1 b6 13.Nc3 Bb7 14.Qb3 Rfd8 15.Rfd1 Rac8 16.e3 h6 17.Rac1 c4 18.Qa3 Qxa3 19.bxa3 Kf8 20.Nd2 Bc6 21.f3 Ne8 22.Rb1 f5 23.Rf1 Nef6 24.Bh3 g6 25.Bg2 Kg7 26.h3 h5 27.h4 Re8 28.Rfe1 Re7 29.Kf2 Rce8 30.Rb2 Re6 31.Ndb1 R6e7 32.Bf1 Kf8 33.Nb5 Bxb5 34.Rxb5 Re6 35.Nc3 Rd6 36.Ne2 Rc8 37.Nf4 Kf7 38.Reb1 Rcc6 39.Be2 Nf8 40.Bd1 Ne6 41.Ne2 Ke7 42.Nc3 Nc7 43.R5b2 Re6 44.Rd2 Kd8 45.Ne2 Nfe8 46.Bc2 Rf6 47.Nc3 Rce6 48.Re2 Re7 49.Kg2 Rd6 50.e4 dxe4 51.fxe4 fxe4 52.Bxe4 Nf6 53.Bf3 Rxe2+ 54.Bxe2 Ncd5 55.Nd1 Ng4 56.Rc1 Nde3+ 57.Nxe3 Nxe3+ 58.Kf2 Nf5 59.Rxc4 Nxd4 60.Bd3 Nb3 61.Ke3 Nc5 62.Rd4 Rxd4 63.Kxd4 Nxd3 64.Kxd3 Kd7 65.Kc4 Kc6 66.Kd4 Kd6 67.Kc4 Kc6 68.Kd4 Kd6 69.Kc4 Ke5 ½-½
Chigaev, M (2588)-Demidov, M (2519) [B06]
Chelyabinsk (9.4) 2020
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 e6 5.Bb3 b6 6.0-0 Ne7 7.Re1 Nd7 8.a4 a6 9.Nbd2 Bb7 10.Nf1 c5 11.c3 0-0 12.Ng3 cxd4 13.cxd4 Rc8 14.Be3 Nf6 15.Bc2 Nc6 16.h3 Nb4 17.Bb1 Qc7 18.Ra3 Nc2 19.Rc3 Nxe1 20.Rxc7 Nxf3+ 21.Qxf3 Rxc7 22.Bd3 Re8 23.Qe2 Ra8 24.Kh2 Bc6 25.b3 Bb7 26.Qd2 Nd7 27.Ne2 Rac8 28.Bh6 Bh8 29.Be3 Bg7 30.Bh6 Bh8 31.Be3 Bg7 32.Bh6 Bxh6 33.Qxh6 e5 34.f3 exd4 35.Nxd4 Rc5 36.Bc4 d5 37.exd5 Bxd5 38.Bxa6 Ra8 39.b4 Rc7 40.Qf4 Rca7 41.Bb5 Kg7 42.Qg5 Ba2 43.Bc6 Rxa4 44.Bxd7 Rxb4 45.Qe5+ Kg8 46.Nc6 Rh4 47.g4 Rh6 48.Kg3 Bb1 49.g5 Rh5 50.Bg4 1-0
Ponkratov, P (2631)-Goganov, A (2565) [D85]
Chelyabinsk (9.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nxc3 7.Bxc3 0-0 8.Qd2 c5 9.d5 Bxc3 10.bxc3 Qd6 11.f4 e6 12.Nf3 exd5 13.Bc4 Nd7 14.Bxd5 Qa6 15.c4 Nb6 16.0-0 Nxc4 17.Qd3 Be6 18.Bxe6 Qxe6 19.Ng5 Qa6 20.Qh3 h5 21.e5 Qa3 22.Rf3 Qb2 23.Rd1 Qe2 24.Rfd3 Rae8 25.Rd7 Re7 26.Qd3 Qxd3 27.R1xd3 Rxd7 28.Rxd7 f6 29.Nh7 Rf7 30.Nxf6+ Kf8 31.Rd8+ Kg7 32.Rg8+ Kh6 33.h3 h4 34.Kf2 b5 35.Kf3 a5 36.Ke4 1-0
Lysyj, I (2594)-Salemgareev, T (2461) [D37]
Chelyabinsk (9.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 a6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 c6 10.Bf4 Qc7 11.Qd2 h6 12.Rfe1 0-0 13.h3 Nh5 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.b4 Nhf6 16.Qb2 b6 17.a4 a5 18.b5 c5 19.Rad1 Rac8 20.e4 c4 21.Bb1 Qb4 22.Qc1 dxe4 23.Bxe4 Nxe4 24.Rxe4 Nf6 25.Re5 Rfd8 26.d5 Nxd5 27.Nxd5 Bxd5 28.Rexd5 Rxd5 29.Rxd5 Qxa4 30.Ne5 c3 31.Nc6 Qb3 32.Rd3 Qxb5 33.Rxc3 Re8 34.Rg3 Kh8 35.Kh2 a4 36.Nd4 Qe5 37.Qc4 a3 38.Nc2 Ra8 39.f4 Qb2 40.Rb3 Qa2 41.Qc3 Qxc2 42.Qxc2 a2 43.Rb1 axb1Q 44.Qxb1 Rf8 45.Qxb6 f5 46.Qe6 Rf6 47.Qe7 Kh7 48.Kg3 Kg6 49.Qe8+ Kh7 50.Kf3 Rb6 51.Qf7 Rf6 52.Qd7 Kg6 53.Qe8+ Kh7 54.Qc8 Kg6 55.Ke3 Rd6 56.Qe8+ Kh7 57.Qf7 Rf6 58.Qd7 Kg6 59.Kd4 Ra6 60.Ke5 Ra5+ 61.Ke6 Ra6+ 62.Ke7 Rf6 63.Qd3 Kh5 64.g3 Kg6 65.g4 h5 66.gxf5+ Kh6 67.Qe4 Kh7 68.Qe6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Se2+ 2.Rg7#; 1…h1=S 2.Qg1#; 1…Ke1 2.Qb1#; 1…Sb5+/d5+/a4+/e4+/a2+/b1+/d1+ 2.Rb2#./PN
