Some Like It Hot
Dmitry Kryakvin reports about rounds 4-5 of the Russian Championships Superfinal
While the Russian Superfinals are underway in Satka, Riga marks the end of the European Youth Championship. Our young compatriots have again taken a host of medals, and I would like congratulate their coaches and relatives! However, hitting the spotlight yet another time was the subject of cheating, causing a storm of discussions. After all, gathered in Satka are the authors of articles on computer cheating – Daniil Dubov, his second Vasily Gagarin (whose first publication on the problem dates back to 1998!) and other people interested in combating the "plague of the XXI century".
This is what Emil Sutovsky posted on his Facebook account, “Tsoi is alive!” Exactly this way. Tsoi is alive thanks to timely intervention of security enforcement agencies. To be more precise, thanks to the European Youth Championship arbiters. The Russian Dmitry Tsoi was facing the tournament leader (we will not disclose the name for the moment in order to not put the Russian Chess Federation’s website in line of fire of the ill-reputed FIDE Ethics Commission, let all verdicts be passed first - ed.). The player M, being in the lead, was closely watched by the special anti-cheating team of arbiters. And here we go, during round seven a phone was found in the toilet. A test call to this phone confirmed the worst.”
Head of the ECU, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, joined the discussion and shared details of organizers contacting the suspect's delegation and representatives of security enforcement agencies. The issue is given a thorough investigation. It is not for nothing that Oleg Korneev and Irina Lymar once wrote about no doing without law enforcement agencies.
Let me add that a talented young chess player from the near Moscow (Tsoi) was pressing for the whole game and had a small edge, which was deftly neutralized by opponent’s sequence of powerful moves. It goes without saying that Tsoi and Stefan Pogosyan were lucky in that organizers and arbiters showed such prompt reaction: Tsoi and Pogosyan ended up taking first places in their age groups.
At breakfast, your correspondent met Mikhail Kobalia, a senior Russian youth team coach. Despite taking part in the tough tournament, the grandmaster keeps a close eye on the events in Riga and, as far as I understand, analyses all the games from the broadcast. Mikhail Robertovich was heaving breakfast in a great mood. All in all, his student Volodar Murzin has taken first in a confident manner, and other Russians have given good accounts of themselves as well. As a result, Mikhail delivered a spectacular display against one of the Superfinal favorites.
Kobalia – Jakovenko
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 Be7 10.g4 0–0 11.0–0–0 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 f5
A trendy line in the Najdorf, which usually sees 15.gxf6. However, Kobalia once again demonstrates a powerful opening preparation and makes a move pioneered by my childhood friend Oleg Chebotarev, now a famous poker player. White sacrifices a pawn, intending to take control of the light squares in return.
15.Rg1 f4 16.Bf2 Bxg5 17.Bh3
The game against Andrei Purtov (the 2005 Chigorin Memorial ) saw Chebotarev immediately planting the knight to c6, but Black regrouped successfully with: 17.Na5 Bh4! 18.Bxh4 Qxh4 19.Nc6 Kh8. White’s play was improved by no lesser person than Rustam Kasimdzhanov: 17.Bh3 Be7 18.Na5 Qe8 19.Nc6 Kh8 20.Qa5, but it still ended in a draw, and the line never gained popularity (as in Kasimdzhanov – Areshchenko, 2006).
17...Be7 18.Na5 Qc7
Dmitry Jakovenko prefers a different setup, pinning hopes on the e5-e4 counterstrike, but in the followup complications the threats of "Colonel Kobalia", as Sergey Shipov called him for a noble posture at the board, proved more dangerous.
19.Nc6 Rae8 20.Qb4 Nhf6 21.Qa3 e4 22.Nd4!
By this time, the home prep was long since over and both opponents have burned up a lot of their clocktime. The white knight is longing for e6, and Black is not even helped by creating a protected passer – 22...e3 23.Ne6 Qc4 24.Bh4 Rf7 25.Rd4 with a devastating attack. A many-time Russian Cup winner has many a complex problems to solve now.
23…Nc5 23.b4!
Another mighty blow - White sacrifices an exchange to take full control of e6, which gives him a sweeping attack.
23…Nd3+ 24.Rxd3 exd3 25.Qxd3
Also worthy of attention was 25.Rxg7+ Kh8 26.Qxd3, but after 25...Rf7 26.Be6 Kobalia took back the exchange, and after
26…Ref8 27.Nf5 Kh8 28.Bd4 Nh5 29.Bxf7 Rxf7 30.Re1 Kg8 his attack triumphed: 31.Re6 Bf8 32.Bc3 winning shortly after.
Winning his game even faster was Daniel Dubov - his rival Denis Khismatullin underestimated his young rival’s onslaught, and Dubov ended up taking a sole lead in the tournament.
Khismatullin - Dubov
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Be2 0–0 5.0–0 d6 6.b3 Nc6 7.Bb2 Bf5 8.c4 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Qc1 Qe7 11.a3 Rad8 12.b4 Bg4
White finds it hard to complete his development already.
13.Ra2 e4 14.Bxf6
After 14.Nd4 Ne5 the black knight is mounted on d3, but Dubov's attack proves so potent that no amount of simplifications help White.
14...Qxf6 15.Nd4 Nxd4 16.Bxg4 h5! 17.Bd1
17.Bxh5 Nb3 18.Qc2 Na1!, shown by the winner, looks impressive as Black emerges up a piece. However, no other bishop retreats change the deadly nature of Black’s offensive either: 17.Bh3 Nf3+! 18.gxf3 Qg5+ 19.Kh1 Qh4 20.fxe4 (20.Bg2 exf3 21.Bxf3 Be5) 20...Qxh3, with a grim-looking defense ahead.
17...Nf3+ 18.Kh1
The knight is invincible - 18.gxf3 exf3 19.Kh1 Qh4, and the KID bishop makes it to е5.
18...Qh4 19.h3
19.Bxf3 exf3 20.gxf3 Qh3, and once again Gufeld's favorite bishop helps his queen checkmate the white king.
19...f5 20.c5 Ng5 21.Qc4+ Kh7 22.f4
This is forced since 22.Nd2 Nxh3 23.gxh3 Qxh3+ 24.Kg1 Be5 is hopeless, but Dubov has everything calculated here as well.
22...Nxh3! 23.gxh3 Rxd1 24.Kg2
After 24.Rxd1 Qxh3+ 25.Kg1 (25.Rh2 Qf3+) 25...Qg4+ Black takes the sacrificed material back with interest.
24...Rd3 25.Re2 g5 White resigns.
Advent of a leader could not have come at a better time! With dense results that we have now, a team of arbiters is preparing full-time for a potential tie-break. No wonder they say that a good arbiter makes good decisions in difficult situations, whereas a very good arbiter nips potential collisions in the bud.
Other games ended in draws. An interesting rook ending arose in Vladimir Fedoseev – Alexey Sarana, in which a young chess player built a fortress in a pawn down ending. I remember taking a walk along the sea embankment in Sochi with Mikhail Shereshevsky - a coach working in Sirius talked about his acquaintance with the leading Russian junior players. "A capable and promising junior, but when it comes to endgames..." - Mikhail Shereshevsky was, of course, zeroing in on his favorite topic. Then Shereshevsky suddenly stopped, saying, "As for Lesha Sarana, his endgame performance is really up to the mark!"
Of course, at times of Lev Polugaevsky one cold postpone the game and find a study-like solution in home analysis - a similar endgame seems to be subjected to scrutiny by the great grandmaster in the "Birth of the Line". However, Fedoseev had to find everything over the board, failing to break through the opponent’s defensive lines.
Meanwhile, in round five, marked by six draws in men's section, Alexey missed the opportunity to add a vital point to his tournament score. Finding himself in a plight, his opponent, Dmitry Andreikin, resorted to his trademark trick, which once rescued the Ryazan grandmaster against Kramnik and helped him come victorious out of their World Cup matchup.
Sarana – Andreikin
Black seems in dire straits, and Andreikin rushes forward with his king.
44...Nxb4 45.Rxg7+ Kc6 46.Rg6 Kc5 47.Rxh6 Kd4 48.Rxf6 Kxe4
White has a dangerous h-passer, but Black's forces have markedly increased in activity, and Sarana immediately blunders.
49.h6 Nc2+
50.Kf2?
It is not easy to see that after 50.Ke2 Nd4+ 51.Kf2 Nxf5 52.h7 Rh8 53.Rf7 Black finds it hard to get at the h7-pawn. Thus, 53…Nd6 54.Rd7 Ne8 55.Nd5 Kf5 56.Rxb7 Kg6 is refuted by 57.Rb8!, and the pawn will cost Black a knight. When the participants were signing scoresheets, it was evident in the broadcast that during post-mortem Andreikin asked the opponent about an alternative line - it was obviously about the king's move to e2.
50...Ne3 51.Ke2 Ng4 52.Rg6 Draw.
Nevertheless, Alexey Sarana’s tournament performance is above any praise. His 50% against the Russian chess elite is a serious achievement. Someone might complain about too many draws... Over dinner, being shown on TV was a commercial of the movie "The Equalizer 2”, and people immediately warmed up to it. Evgeny Tomashevsky even wondered if the movie was about chess.
Nevertheless, there has been no shortage of interesting moments. Suffice it to mention 6.Nd2!? (after1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7), uncorked by Daniil Dubov against Nikita Vitiugov! A fresh Anti-Meran idea, it has not panned out, nonetheless. Daniil ditched a central pawn, then won it back, and it was a draw.
Grigoriy Oparin goes on with his reversed color openings. His coach Sergey Shipov even "recolored" the pieces after the opening for the audience to see how everything would look like with colors reversed. It was another English Opening with Grigoriy attacking on both sides.
Oparin – Fedoseev
1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Be7 5.b3 0–0 6.Bb2 dxc4 7.Bxc4 a6 8.Qc2 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.g4!?allowed a young chess player to seize the initiative, but Fedoseev is Fedoseev - the St. Petersburg magician snapped his fingers and vanished into thin air when spikes and spears were about to close on him from all directions.
Black seems in a crisis already as there is neither 26...exf5? 27.Rxg6 nor 26...gxf5? 27.Rxg7+ Kxg7 28.Rg1+. Vladimir played 26... g5!?, which White needed to parry with 27.Qxc5! Qxc5 28.dxc5, and there is no 28…Bxb2? 29.Rxg5+ Bg7 30.f6 – and White’s attack persists into the endgame as well. Nevertheless, no sooner did Grigoriy commit an inaccuracy
27.fxe6?!, than it ended in a draw: 27...fxe6 28.dxc5 Bxb2 29.Kxb2 Rc7 30.Rd6 Rf2+ 31.Kb1 Qf6 32.Qxe6+ Qxe6 33.Rxe6 Rxc5 34.Rg6+ Kf7 35.R6xg5 Rxg5 36.Rxg5 Rf1+ 37.Kc2 Rf2+ 38.Kd3 Rxa2 39.Kc4 a5 40.Kb5 Ra3, and the opponents reached the legitimate.moment to shake hands, agreeing a draw.
As opposed to this, round four of the women's section could have given spectators as many as six decisive games. The first to score was Alexandra Kosteniuk. The chess queen has upset Elena Tomilova, scoring her first victory.
Alexandra said she had carefully gone over the line happened in the game with the Russian national team coach Evgeny Najer, who had had it against Pentala Harikrishna. While the game was in progress, Sergey Shipov noted that the position had been tested many times in his blitz games with Garry Kasparov, in which Sergey, in charge of the black pieces, had had a hard time to go through. Tomilova has had a hard time as well.
Kosteniuk – Tomilova
Black needs to consolidate his pieces, 22...Kg8 suggesting itself. For some reason, 23.h4 was focused on during the press conference, but in this case 23...Nf8! puts the knight into the blockade e6-square, helping Black stabilize on the kingside. However, Alexandra's good feel for initiative would have undoubtedly helped her find 23.Rbd1 Ne7 24.h4 or even 23.e6!? Rxe6 24.Rxe6 Qxe6 25.Rb5 Qc6 26.h4, – and the h8-rook’s out of game makes itself felt.
22...Qe6?
Black defends the c4-knight and prepares d5-d5, but Kosteniuk refutes it with a nice combination.
23.Rb5 Rc8 24.Rxc5! Rxc5 25.Bb4 Qb6
After 25...Qc6 26.Qd4 Black is down a pawn, but the text has more in the way of harsh reality - 26.Qxd5! The b4-bishop is not to be taken because of the checkmate on d8, and otherwise White is up many pawns.
Alexandra also talked about key points of her matchup with Valentina Gunina - indeed, the opponents faced the most challenging tasks of tactical nature, and Alexandra demonstrated her calculating skills to the audience.
Natalija Pogonina made her fellow citizen Anastasiya Protopopova walk into the trap.
Protopopova – Pogonina
A draw seems not far away already, but these are the moments Pogonina is known to upset her opponents most often with her clever ideas based on geometrical motives
18...Nc4! 19.Nxc4 dxc4 20.Rxc4?
Correct was 20.Qc2 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 f6 22.Bf4, keeping an eye on g6. Protopopova surely saw her opponent’s idea of trapping her bishop, counting to get a compensation for it.
20...Bxg2 21.Rxc8 Qxc8 22.Kxg2 f6 23.Bf4 g5
The bishop is trapped, but it is not over yet!
24.hxg5 hxg5 25.Qd1 Rf7
White’s minor is not to be touched so far: 25...gxf4 26.Qg4+ Kf7 27.Qh5+ with a perpet.
26.Rc1 Qb7+ 27.d5
White seems to have everything calculated precisely: 27...gxf4 28.Qg4+ Kf8 29.Qxe6 with a powerful compensation, but Pogonina has nothing of it with - 27…Bc5!, and Black took material at an opportune moment, bringing it home afterwards.
The chess world has been shown yet another action movie with Valentina Gunina as a central character. Her game with Anastasia Bodnaruk has had no shortage of goal scoring opportunities for both sides, but Gunina could have been the last to drive it home.
Bodnaruk – Gunina
Winning now was an interfering 65...Rb4+ 66.Ke3 (66.Bc4 f4) 66...Rg4 67.Rxg4+ Kxg4. How on earth is White supposed to stop the h-pawn? Much to Gunina’s grief, she found a seemingly simpler solution.
65... Rf1? 66.Ke3 Kh3 67.Bxh5
Alas, 67...g2 runs into 68.Be2! f4+ 69.Ke4, and White allows her opponent to take a rook for a passer as 69…Re1 is answered by 70.Kf3.
67…Kg2 68.Rf8 Rf2 69.Be2 Kh2 70.Bf3 g2 71.Rh8+ Kg1 72.Rg8 Ra2 73.Bxg2 Rxg2 74.Rxg2+ Kxg2 Draw.
Converting her positional edge confidently against Alina Kashlinskaya was Olga Girya, while Aleksandra Goryachkina managed to put up too complex a task in front of Polina Shuvalova.
Shuvalova – Goryachkina
Now Goryachkina was fully entitled for a knight retreat 15...Nd6, looking to the c4-square; however, looking forward to making up for the underwhelming tournament start, Goryachkina surprises with a piece sacrifice.
15... Nxc3!? 16.Rxc3 Qa5 17.Kd2 Rxc3 18.Qxc3 Qxa2+ 19.Ke1 e5
With two pawns for a piece, Black’s last move sets to prepare the rook for showing up on c8.
20.Qd2 Qa1+ 21.Qd1
As in a legendary Kosteniuk - Gunina, one really wants to evacuate the king with 21.Kf2 Rc8, and now White has a choice between a human 22.e4 Qa4 (there is no taking the pawn for losing the queen) 23.Kg1 or an engine-like 22.Bd3 Qxh1 23.Bxf5 Rc6 24.Kg3 – and Black has two rooks and two pawns vs White’s bishop pair (with one of them sidelined on h2!), but in store for Black are potent shots of White’s queen on а2 or а5.
21...Qb2
Polina could have opted for a move repetition, among other things, but this is a rare case in the women’s chess. Instead of repetition, the game saw a deadly pin.
22.Be2? Rc8 23.Kf2 Rc2 24.Re1 b5
Not only does Black have two passers leaping into action, her bishop is also looking for an opportunity to pile up on his white pinned counterpart for a third and last time.
25.g4 Be6 26.Qd3 e4! 27.fxe4 Bxg4 28.Bd6 dxe4 29.Qxe4 Rxe2+, and Aleksandra won.
At last, a real drama took place in Gritsayeva – Galliamova. Gritsayeva is not the most convenient opponent for Galliamova, but this time the game was dictated by the latter. Galliamova could knock her opponent in the endgame; however, failing to find a precise sequence made her task harder to achieve.
Gritsayeva – Galliamova
Black is winning no longer: 63...Rf1+ 64.Ke6 Re1+ 65.Kd6 a2 66.b5. Pressed for time, one of the most titled chess players of our country abandons her rook en prise…
63... a2?? 64.Bxa1 Black resigns.
When I met Gritsayeva outside, the Higher League’s winner said, as if apologetically, "I'm not to blame after all..." For Alisa Galliamova it came as a terrible shock, but we know her as a seasoned chess warrior. The following day she was again the last to finish her game, outperforming Polina Shuvalova in a queen and two pawns vs a pair of rooks ending.
Going into round five, Gritsayeva grabbed the lead. However, before long snappping at her heels were Aleksandra Goryachkina and Natalija Pogonina.
Goryachkina – Protopopova
As if taken from a manual for tacticians - white starts and wins!
26.a5! Qa7
26...Rxd6 27.axb6 Rd5 28.Be7, infiltrating into c5 and d6, gives Black a grim-looking endgame. On the other hand, with Black’s queen sidelined, the tactical sequence is as natural as nature itself.
27.Nf6+! Bxf6 28.Rxe6 Bxg5 29.fxg5 Rf8
There is no defending the black king after 29...fxe6 30.Qxe6+ Kh8 31.Qe5+ Kg8 32.Rf1. On the other hand, losing an exchange is an uphill battle as well.
30.Re7 Qa8 31.Qc7 Bc8 32.Rae1 Bf5 33.Qb7 Qd8 34.Qxc6 Black resigns.
Exploiting the ex-world champion’s overly risky play, Natalija Pogonina scored a vital victory. Besides, making it back into the + zone was Alina Kashlinskaya.
Kashlinskaya – Bodnaruk
Alina honestly confessed that she blundered the move order in the opening. The grandmaster said that she was aiming at a certain position, which she and the commentator Sergey Shipov were playing blindfold at the airport. For some reason this caused a storm of emotions on Shipov’s channel, some spectators writing that they were ready to give away even their lives to get a chance to face the game winner in a blindfold game. If not their lives, their right hands for sure.
36. e6?
Winning was 36. Rxb7! Qxb7 (nothing is changed by 36... Rc2+ 37. Ke3 Rc3+ 38. Kd2) 37. Qxf5+ Kh8 38. Qf6+ Kh7 39. Qg6+ Kh8 40. Qh6+ Qh7 41. Qf6+, whereas the game error has 36...Qc7, rightly pointed to by Kashlinskaya as a bailout for Black. However, pressed for time, Bodnaruk rushed to snap the pawn.
36...Qxe6? 37. Rxb7+ Kh8 38. Rb8+ Kh7 39. Rb7+ Kh8 40. Rb8+ Kh7
Having repeated moves to Botvinnik’s rule, Alina Kashlinskaya comes up with a crushing blow.
41.Re1! Rc2+ 42. Kf1 Rc4
A baseline shown by Kashlinskaya: 42…Qa6 43.Kg1 Qf6 44.Re7+ Qхe7 45.Qхf5+ Kg7 46.Qg6 – checkmate!
43. Qg3!
Black is forced to give up her queen to save His Majesty, but the followup is a loss of a rook.
43…Qxe1+ 44. Kxe1 Rxb8 45. Qg6+ Kh8 46. Qh6+ Kg8 47.Qe6+ Kg7 48. Qxc4 and White went on to win.
Gunina – Gritsayeva
White has sacrificed a piece already, and could have increased his offering to a whole rook: 33.Rxa6!! Kxa6 34.Qb5+ Kb7 35.a5 Rc2 36.a6+ Kb8, and the passers break through Black's defensive lines - 37.Rd1 f3 38.b7 with a deadly threat of а6-а7.
The game continued with 33.Qd6? Qe6! 34.Qxf4 Qe4 35.Qxe4+ Rxe4, Gritsayeva traded queens and made a draw from the position of strength.
“Gunina’s play has become a lot more solid! A couple of years ago she would have parted with the rook without calculating any lines whatsoever!” - a children’s coach was explaining emotionally in the hall’s lobby. Meanwhile, solid chess is rather about the men’s section. A beautiful girl does her job for both sections of the tournament.
There is yet another round before going into the rest day. The rest day will see simuls and a walk of the lake. If only we had the Caucasian customs here, where rounds are followed by banquets, it would certainly boost performance in the men’s section!
