Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
The Russian Championship Super Final for men and women is taking place from December 19th to 30th in the Moscow Central Chess Club in the Gogolevsky Boulevard. Participants are the top players by rating and qualifiers from the higher league competitions. The rate of play is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves, and then 15 minutes and a 30 second increment per move to end the game. Players cannot offer draws directly to their opponents but have to do so through an arbiter. Play starts at 15:00h local Moscow time (13:00 CET, 07:00 New York). The prize fund is US $100,000 for the men and US $40,000 for the women.
In round three of the Super Final there were three decisive games: Dmitry Jakovenko beat Evgeny Alekseev after 45 moves of a Symmetrical English game. Artyom Timofeev; and 16-year-old GM Sanan Sjugirov from Kalmykia ground down Nikita Vitiugov in 83 moves of a Ruy Lopez Keres Variation. Finally Peter Svidler struck again, taking Alexander Riazantsev to the cleaners in an exciting Caro Kann Advanced Variation.
Svidler,P (2754) - Riazantsev,A (2661) [B12]
62nd ch-RUS Moscow RUS (3), 22.12.2009
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.0-0 Ne7 7.Nbd2 Nc8 8.a4
Be7 9.Ne1 0-0 10.g4 Bg6 11.f4 f5 12.h3 a5 13.Ndf3 c5 14.Be3 Kh8 15.b3 Na7 16.Nd3
c4 17.bxc4 dxc4 18.Nc5 Nxc5 19.dxc5 Qc8 20.g5 Rd8 21.Qe1 Bxc5 22.Bxc5 Qxc5+
23.Qf2 Qxf2+ 24.Kxf2 b5 25.axb5 Nxb5 26.Bxc4 Nc7 27.Rfb1 Be8 28.Rb6 a4 29.Ke3
Rdb8 30.Rxb8 Rxb8 31.Nd4 Rb6 32.Ra3 h6 33.g6 Rb4 34.Kd3 Nd5 35.Nxe6 Nb6
Alexander Riazantsev, 24, is already in deep trouble, but with his last move he jumps from the frying pan into the fire: 36.Ba2 Bxg6 37.c4 Bf7 38.Kc3. Cute – the rook is trapped. 38...Rxc4+ 39.Bxc4 Nxc4 40.Kxc4 Bxe6+ 41.Kc5 and with the overloaded bishop and the remote black king Black is lost. 1-0.
In round four there were again three decisions: Denis Khismatullin tore apart the E63 King's Indian tried on him by Sanan Sjugirov; Evgeny Alekseev beat Alexander Riazantsev on the black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined Ragozin, and Artyom Timofeev was ground down by Nikita Vitiugov in an 84-move English.
Vitiugov,N (2694) - Timofeev,Arty (2651) [A32]
62nd ch-RUS Moscow RUS (4), 23.12.2009
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.g3 Qc7 6.Nd2 a6 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.N2f3
d6 9.0-0 Bd7 10.b3 Be7 11.Bb2 0-0 12.Rc1 Rac8 13.e3 Qa5 14.a3 Rfd8 15.h3 b5
16.cxb5 axb5 17.Nxc6 Rxc6 18.Nd4 Rxc1 19.Qxc1 Rc8 20.Qb1 d5 21.Rc1 Rxc1+ 22.Qxc1
Qb6 23.Nf3 Qb7 24.Nd2 Qc6 25.Qxc6 Bxc6 26.Kf1 Ne4 27.Nxe4 dxe4 28.Ke1 Bd5 29.b4
f5 30.Bf1 Bc6 31.h4 Kf7 32.Be5 g6 33.Kd2 Ke8 34.Be2 h5 35.Kc3 Kd7 36.Kd4 Bf8
37.Bf4 Kd8 38.Ke5 Ke7 39.Bg5+ Kf7 40.Bf6 Bd7 41.Bd1 Bc6 42.Bb3 Bd7 43.Ba2 Bc8
44.Bd8 Ke8 45.Bg5 Kf7 46.Bf6 Bd7 47.Bb3 Bh6 48.Bd8 Bg7+ 49.Kd6 Ke8 50.Be7 Be5+
51.Kxe5 Kxe7 52.Bc2 Be8 53.Bd1 Bc6 54.Be2 Be8 55.Bf1 Bd7 56.Bh3 Be8 57.Bg2 Bc6
58.Bf1 Be8 59.Be2 Bc6 60.Bd1 Be8 61.Kd4 Kd6 62.Kc3 Bd7 63.Kb2 Kd5 64.Bb3+ Ke5
65.Bd1 Kd5 66.Bb3+ Ke5 67.a4 bxa4 68.Bd1 Kd5 69.Ka3
Black has been suffering but has theoretical chances of holding a draw, but not with the following move: 69...Kc4? 70.Bxa4 Bc8 71.Be8 Kd3 72.Bxg6 Ke2 73.Bxh5+ Kxf2 74.Bd1 e5 75.h5 f4 76.gxf4 exf4 77.h6 Bf5 78.exf4 e3 79.b5 Bc2 80.b6 Bxd1 81.h7 Bf3 82.h8Q e2 83.Qh4+ Kf1 84.f5 1-0.
Standings after four rounds
Peter Svidler leads, with three players half a point behind in hot pursuit. The draw quota is exactly 50% (with 40% white and 10% black wins) – an excellent ratio in an event of this category.
In rounds three and four there were only three draws, with White winning four games in the third round and Black winning three in the fourth. After four rounds GM Alisa Galliamova is in the sole lead, half a point ahead of Nadezhda Kosintseva and 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the field.
Standings after four rounds
The drawing statistics of the Women's tournament are breathtaking: only 20% of the games so far have ended in a draw; White won 60% of the games, Black 30%. Excellent fighting spirit.
Evgeny Alekseev, who has started this tournament with 50%
Newly wed grandmaster Dmitry Jakovenko
Won one, lost one: Nikita Vitiugov
Someone you must always reckon with: Alexander Grischuk
16-year-old GM Sanan Sjugirov beat Nikita Vitiugov in 83 moves in round
three
IM Alisa Galliamova, leading the women's section with four points in four
rounds
WFM Valentina Gunina in place three with 2.5/4 points
WGM Natalia Pogonina doing all right with plus one
Top seed GM Tatiana Kosentseva at 50% after four rounds
Photos by Mikhail Savinov
Links
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
|
