2011 Russian Team Championship led by Tomsk-400 with 100%

Tournament: The Russian Club Championship is being held in the village of Olginka (Krasnodar Territory), Russia, from April 11 to 23.The men's tournament is a round-robin with twelve clubs participating. Each team consists of six players with two reserves. Time Control: 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes KO and a 30-second increment as of the first move. Time: All rounds at 6:30 AM New York / 12:30 PM Paris Rest day: April 18

Rounds five to seven

After seven rounds of action, two teams have emerged as the ones to beat: Tomsk-400 and HSM-64. In terms of pure Elo, Tomsk-400 is only the fifth team with 2686, and only one 2700 player (compared to CHF - St. Petersburg with five in its lineup), yet as in any team sport, have an all-star lineup does not guarantee an all-star result. Despite being composed of six individual matches, as opposed to a single cohesive team, the fact remains there is a dynamic and team strategy that affects results.

Lacking a fancy jacket or uniform, Ponomariov and Khismatullin decided to improvise

The Tomsk-400 players are clearly working well together, and the mutual energy is rebounding. Ponomariov has been in very fine form and has a 2800+ result at the moment on board one, while their second board, Alexander Motylev has been just sizzling with 5.0/7 and a 2871 performance. In round eight they will play the Elo leaders, CHF - St. Petersburg, and it will be interesting to see whether they are able to maintain their 100% match result.

Gelfand takes a tally of the opposition with Ivanchuk in the rear and Eljanov and
Nepomniachtchi in the fore.

Just behind with a single match draw is HSM - 64, which instead preferred to invest in a more eclectic team with veteran Boris Gelfand on board one followed by Wang Hao, followed by rising stars Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri. However, the truth is that they are the top boards since both Gelfand and Hao arrived later and have only played three games, meaning it was the teenagers who secured their superb start at the top boards.

Both youngsters are undefeated and a genuine credit, but without their anchors they would not be enough. There is Potkin (2653) who is fresh from his win at the European Championship and still strong with a near 2700 performance, and above all the rear-guard on board six, Evgeny Najer (2638) who has scored an incredible 6.5/7 and 2959 performance!

Here is one of his spectacular wins to highlight the quality he has brought to the board:

Najer,Evgeniy (2638) - Levin,Evgeny A (2472) [C05]
TCh-RUS Premier Olginka RUS (6), 17.04.2011

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.g3 Be7 9.Ne2 cxd4 10.cxd4 0-0 11.Bh3 f6 12.Nc3 Kh8 13.0-0 fxe5 14.Na4 Qa5 15.fxe5 Nb6 16.Nc3 Bd7 17.Ne2! This is a French gone wrong where Black has none of the pressure on the center (he chose to liquidate the tension) and space problems notably on the kingside and a weakness on e6. This last is highlighted by the Ne2-f4 maneuver. 17...Rac8 18.Nf4! Nd8

19.Ng5! Taking advantage of the overloaded bishop to irrevocably take on e6. 19...Kg8. If 19...Bxg5? 20.Ng6+ hxg6 21.Rxf8+ Kh7 22.Bxg5; And 19...Rc6 gets mated after 20.Qh5 h6 21.Ng6+ Kg8 22.Nxe7+ Kh8 23.Rxf8#

20.Nxh7! Rxf4. Trying to find a solution. 20...Kxh7 21.Bd2! Connecting the rooks. 21...Qa4 22.Qh5+ Kg8 23.Ng6! Qxd4+ A spite check, nothing more. 24.Kh1 Qe4+ 25.Bg2 and Black must give the queen to prevent mate. 21.Bxf4 21.Rxf4 was actually stronger, though there is nothing wrong with White's continuation. 21...Be8 (21...Kxh7 22.Bd2 Qa4 23.b3 Qc6 24.Rc1 Qb5 25.Rxc8 Nxc8 26.Bf1 capturing the queen.) 22.Nf6+! Bxf6 23.exf6 g6 24.Bd2 Qa6 25.f7+!! Bxf7 26.Qf3 Nd7 27.Rf1! 21...Kxh7. 21...Be8 22.Bg5 Qa4 23.Qg4 Bxg5 24.Nxg5 Rc7 25.Qh4 22.Qh5+ Kg8

23.Bh6!! Qb4. 23...gxh6 24.Qg6+ Kh8 25.Qxh6+ Kg8 26.Rf6! Bxf6 27.exf6 followed by mate. 24.Rf4 Bf8 25.Qg6 Rc7 26.Raf1 Bb5 27.Bxe6+! Nxe6 28.Qxe6+ Kh7 29.Bg5 1-0. [Click to replay]

At this point the women's team championship has also just started.

Pogonina and Lahno share smiles before the games start

"Polytechnique" (Nizhny Tagil) vs. SHSM-RSCU (Moscow)

On the rest day, the players took advantage of the good weather

Aleschenko and Ponomariov having a stroll in the park

Pictures by Maria Bolshakova (Russiachess.org)

Crosstable after seven rounds

Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for win, 1 for draw, 0 for loss)
Tie Break2: Game points
Tie Break3: The results of the teams in the same point group according to Matchpoints

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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!

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