The 71st Russian Women Championsip Superfinal concluded October 21st in the capital city of Ufa in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan with a tightrope win for veteran campaigner GM Valentina Gunina.
The 32-year old Gunina fended off WGM Polina Shuvalova in a final round nail-biter of a game, getting the draw she needed to capture her fourth national championship. Shuvalova needed to beat Gunina in her final outing to take the title herself, but somehow got lost in the maze of complications to allow the latter to escape with the draw and the gold. Shuvalova settled for the silver.
Besides Gunina and Shuvalova, the other participants in the Category 7 (average Elo: 2422) event were IMs Evgenija Ovod, Alina Kashlinskaya, Alisa Galliamova, Anastasia Bodnaruk, Alina Bivol and Marina Guseva; GM Olga Girya and WGMs Natalija Pogonina, Leya Garifullina and Daria Voit.
The final standings: 1. Gunina, 8; 2-3. Shuvalova, Ovod, 7½; 4. Kashlinskaya, 6½; 5-6. Pogonina, Garifullina, 6; 7. Galliamova, 5½; 8. Girya, 4½; 9. Guseva, 4; 10-12. Voit, Bodnaruk, Bivol, 3½.
Kashlinskaya,A (2493)-Gunina,V (2462) [D18]
71st RUS-ch Superfinal Women 2021 Ufa (3.3) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Nh4 e6 7.Nxf5 exf5 8.e3 Bb4 9.Bxc4 0-0 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.h3 a5 12.Qf3 g6 13.g4 fxg4 14.hxg4 Qe7 15.Kg2 Rfe8 16.Rh1 Nf8 17.g5 Nh5 18.Kf1 Rad8 19.Rxh5 Bxc3 20.bxc3 gxh5 21.Ba3 Qd7 22.Rb1 Ng6 23.Ba2 b5 24.axb5 cxb5 25.Bc5 Rc8 26.Qxh5 Qf5 27.Rxb5 Rxe3 28.Rb7 Qd3+ 29.Kg1 Re1+ 30.Kh2 Qe4 31.Bxf7+ Kh8 32.Bd5 Rh1+ 33.Kg3 Qf4+ 0-1
Gunina,V (2462)-Galliamova,A (2421) [D45]
Ufa (8.2) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 Qe7 9.Be2 b6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Rfe1 Rac8 12.e4 Bb4 13.e5 Ne4 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Nd2 c5 16.Red1 cxd4 17.Nxe4 Nxe5 18.a3 f5 19.axb4 Bxe4 20.Qc1 f4 21.Rxd4 Bxg2 22.Rxf4 Rxf4 23.Qxf4 Ng6 24.Qg4 Bb7 25.Rxa7 Rf8 26.c5 e5 27.Bc1 Qf6 28.Be3 Qc6 29.f3 Nf4 30.Bc4+ Kh8 31.b5 Qxf3 32.Qxf3 Bxf3 33.Bxf4 exf4 34.c6 Bg4 35.Rb7 g5 36.Bd3 Rd8 37.h3 Bc8 38.Rxh7+ Kg8 39.Be4 Rd4 40.Re7 Kf8 41.Re5 g4 42.hxg4 Bxg4 43.Bg2 Kf7 44.c7 Rd1+ 45.Kh2 Rc1 46.Re4 Bc8 47.Rc4 Re1 48.Rxf4+ Ke7 49.Rd4 Rc1 50.Bc6 Rf1 51.Kg3 Rf8 52.Bf3 Rg8+ 53.Kf2 Rf8 54.Ke3 Rg8 55.Bc6 Rh8 56.Be4 Rf8 57.Rc4 Rf6 58.Bf3 Re6+ 59.Kd4 Rd6+ 60.Bd5 Rh6 61.Rc1 Rh4+ 62.Be4 Rh6 63.b4 Rd6+ 64.Ke3 Rh6 65.Rd1 Rh8 66.Bf3 Rf8 67.Rd4 Rg8 68.Rc4 Rg6 69.Kf4 Rf6+ 70.Kg3 Rg6+ 71.Kh4 Rf6 72.Bg4 Rf8 73.Bh5 Rh8 74.Rc6 Kd7 75.Kg5 Rg8+ 76.Kf6 Rf8+ 77.Bf7 Bb7 78.Rc1 1-0
Shuvalova,P (2509)-Bodnaruk,A (2415) [B93]
Ufa (10.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e5 7.Nb3 Nbd7 8.g4 h6 9.g5 hxg5 10.fxg5 Nh5 11.Qf3 Nb6 12.Be3 Be6 13.0-0-0 Nd7 14.Kb1 g6 15.h4 Rc8 16.Nd5 Bg7 17.Bh3 0-0 18.Bg4 Bxg4 19.Qxg4 Qe8 20.Nc1 Kh7 21.Ne2 Qe6 22.Qg2 f5 23.gxf6 Ndxf6 24.Nxf6+ Rxf6 25.a3 b5 26.Nc3 Rcf8 27.Qd2 Nf4 28.Rh2 Qc4 29.b3 Qe6 30.Kb2 Rc8 31.a4 Qd7 32.axb5 axb5 33.Nd5 Nxd5 34.Qxd5 Qc7 35.Bg5 Qc3+ 36.Kb1 Rc5 37.Qd2 Rf4 38.Qxc3 Rxc3 39.Re2 Rc6 40.Rd5 Rf1+ 41.Kb2 b4 42.Rb5 Rc5 43.Rxb4 d5 44.Rb7 d4 45.Rg2 Ra5 46.b4 Raa1 47.Kb3 Rf3+ 48.Kc4 Ra2 49.h5 Kh8 50.hxg6 d3 51.Rb8+ Bf8 52.Bf6+ Kg8 53.g7 1-0
Ovod,E (2331)-Bodnaruk,A (2415) [B55]
Ufa (8.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.Nb3 a5 7.a4 Be7 8.Bb5+ Nc6 9.c4 0-0 10.Be3 Be6 11.Nc3 Nd7 12.0-0 Nc5 13.Nd5 Bg5 14.Bf2 Bxd5 15.exd5 Nxb3 16.Qxb3 Nb4 17.Rad1 Rc8 18.Rfe1 b6 19.Re2 f5 20.Be1 Rf6 21.Bxb4 axb4 22.Qxb4 Rg6 23.Qc3 Bf4 24.g3 Qh4 25.Rg2 Qh3 26.Re1 h5 27.Ree2 Bg5 28.Qc2 Rf8 29.Bd7 Bd8 30.b4 h4 31.g4 e4 32.fxe4 f4 33.Bf5 f3 34.Re3 Bg5 35.Rd3 Rgf6 36.Rf2 Rxf5 37.gxf5 Qg4+ 38.Kf1 Re8 39.Rdxf3 Rxe4 40.h3 Rxc4 41.hxg4 1-0
Kashlinskaya,A (2493)-Pogonina,N (2467) [E32]
Ufa (10.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 c5 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nd7 10.Bf4 Ndc5 11.0-0 Nxd3 12.Qxd3 Bxc3 13.bxc3 b6 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Rfd1 Bb7 16.c4 Qa5 17.Nb3 Qb4 18.Be3 Rfc8 19.Rac1 h6 20.f3 Ng5 21.h4 Nh7 22.Nd4 Rd8 23.Qe2 Nf8 24.h5 Rac8 25.Nb5 Rxd1+ 26.Rxd1 Rxc4 27.Nd6 Rc7 28.Rd4 Qb1+ 29.Kh2 Rc2 30.Bd2 Bc6 31.Qe3 Nh7 32.Rg4 Ng5 33.Rxg5 hxg5 34.Qxg5 Rxd2 35.Qxd2 Qa1 36.Qf4 f5 37.Qg3 Kf8 38.f4 Qxa2 39.Qg6 Kg8 40.Nc8 Qxg2+ 41.Qxg2 Bxg2 42.Kxg2 b5 43.Kf2 a5 44.Ke3 a4 45.Kd3 b4 46.Kc4 a3 47.Kb3 Kh7 48.Ne7 Kh6 49.Nxf5+ Kxh5 50.Nxg7+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxe5 2.Nc3#; 1…Nc6 2.Qxb5#; 1…Bxe5 2.Ne3#; 1…Kxe5 2.Qxd4#.
