THE talented but internationally obscure super-GM Mikhail Demidov convincingly won the strong Igor Kurnosov Memorial ended Sept. 6 in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The event, which is a stage of the rapid Grand Prix of Russia, commemorates the late GM Igor Kornusov who was killed in a traffic accident in his hometown of Chelyabinsk in 2015 at age 28.
A total of 150 players competed in the memorial tournament, many of whom are Kornusov’s friends and acquaintances.
The undefeated Demidov scored an impressive nine points in the 11-round Swiss event, winning by half-a-point over top seed Vladislav Artemiev and fifth seed Aleksandr Rakhmanov who each tallied 8½ points. The field has two GMs rated over Elo 2700+ and 16 GMs rated Elo 2600+.
GMs Anton Demchenko, Boris Savchenko, Nikita Vitiugov, Igor Lysyj, Maxim Matlakov, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Andrey Esipenko, Ilia Iljiushenok, and Aleksej Aleksandrov scored identical eight points apiece and shared fourth to 13th places.
The tournament has a half-a-million rubles kitty in prize fund.
Ponkratov, P (2683)-Savchenko, B (2552) [D85]
Chelyabinsk (4.8) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Rc1 Qa5 10.d5 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.Qd2 Bg7 13.c4 Qxd2+ 14.Kxd2 b6 15.Bd3 f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Rhe1 Bf6 18.a4 Kf7 19.Bf4 Bd7 20.Bc2 e6 21.Bd1 exd5 22.cxd5 Rad8 23.Bh5+ Kg7 24.Rc3 Be8 25.Rg3+ Bg6 26.d6 Rhe8 27.Rxe8 Rxe8 28.Bxg6 hxg6 29.d7 Rd8 30.Rd3 Bd4 31.f3 Kf6 32.Kc2 Rxd7 33.Kb3 g5 34.Bc1 Re7 35.h3 Re2 36.g3 Rh2 37.f4 gxf4 38.Bxf4 Ke6 39.Kc4 Rb2 40.Bd2 a6 41.Rb3 b5+ 0-1
Demidov, M (2636)-Sarana, A (2618) [D02]
Chelyabinsk (9.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.e3 Be7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Bd3 c5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Re1 Nxc3 11.bxc3 b6 12.h4 Bb7 13.Ng5 Bxg5 14.hxg5 Ne7 15.Re3 Nf5 16.Rh3 Qd5 17.Bf1 g6 18.Bf4 f6 19.gxf6 Rxf6 20.Be5 Rf7 21.Qg4 Ne7 22.Bd3 Kf8 23.c4 Qc6 24.Re1 Rd8 25.Be4 Qc8 26.Bxb7 Qxb7 27.Qxe6 Nf5 28.Bf6 Qd7 29.Bxd8 Qxd8 30.d5 Qg5 31.Qe8+ Kg7 32.Rxh7+ 1-0
Demidov, M (2636)-Matlakov, M (2660) [D30]
Chelyabinsk (10.1) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Be7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 a6 8.a4 c5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Re1 b6 11.d5 exd5 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.Bxd5 Bb7 14.e4 Qc7 15.Bd2 Rad8 16.Bc3 Nb4 17.Bxb4 cxb4 18.Qb3 Bxd5 19.exd5 Bc5 20.Rad1 a5 21.g3 Rfe8 22.Kg2 h6 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.Qd3 Qd6 25.b3 Qg6 26.Qb5 Rd8 27.Qc4 Qf5 28.Rd2 Rd6 29.Qd3 Qf6 30.Qe2 Rd8 31.Qe5 Qxe5 32.Nxe5 Kf8 33.f4 f6 34.Nc6 Rc8 35.Re2 Rc7 36.Kf3 Rd7 37.Rd2 Kf7 38.Ke4 h5 39.f5 g6 40.h3 Bd6 41.g4 h4 42.Kd4 Bc5+ 43.Ke4 1-0
Artemiev, V (2769)-Sjugirov, S (2640) [A15]
Chelyabinsk (10.2), 06.09.2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 b6 5.b3 Bb7 6.Bb2 a6 7.g3 Nbd7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bg2 Bd6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Rc1 Re8 12.Ne2 Rc8 13.Nfd4 c5 14.Nf5 Bf8 15.d4 g6 16.Nh4 Bg7 17.dxc5 bxc5 18.Nf3 a5 19.Nf4 Nb6 20.Qd3 c4 21.Qb1 Ba6 22.Rfd1 cxb3 23.axb3 Rxc1 24.Qxc1 Bb7 25.Qa1 Nbd7 26.Bd4 Qa8 27.Bh3 1-0
Faizrakhmanov, R (2472)-Rakhmanov, A (2665) [A53]
Chelyabinsk (11.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.e3 Bg7 6.Bd3 Bxd3 7.Qxd3 0-0 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.b3 e5 10.Bb2 Re8 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Rfd1 c6 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Qe7 15.Rd2 Nc5 16.Qc2 e4 17.Ne1 Bxb2 18.Qxb2 a5 19.Rad1 Qe5 20.Qxe5 Rxe5 21.h4 Kf8 22.Kf1 Ke8 23.Ke2 h6 24.g3 Rc8 25.Ng2 g5 26.Rd6 Re6 27.R6d4 Re5 28.Rd6 Ne6 29.R6d2 Rd8 30.Rxd8+ Nxd8 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.g4 Ne6 33.Ne1 Rc5 34.Rd2 f5 35.gxf5 Rxf5 36.Nc2 Nc5 37.Nd4 Rf6 38.Rd1 g4 39.Nc2 Nd3 40.Rf1 Rh6 41.Nd4 Rf6 42.Nc2 Kf7 43.a3 c5 44.Ne1 Nc1+ 45.Kd2 Nxb3+ 46.Kc2 a4 47.Ng2 Na5 48.Kc3 Rb6 49.Nf4 Rb3+ 50.Kc2 Nxc4 51.Nd5 Nxa3+ 52.Kd2 Rb2+ 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bb3! Black’s futile options are: 1…c4 2.Qg6#; 1…e4 2.Qxf5#; 1…f4 2.Qe6#; 1…S5f4 2.Qg7#; 1…Qc4 2.fxe8=S#; 1…Qxg4+ 2.Sxg4#; 1…Sg5 2.Bxg5#; 1…S3f4 2.Qg5#./PN
