19 August 2015
Tomashevsky and Goriachkina Lead Before Final Round
Karjakin and Kosteniuk are half a point behind.
Games of round 10 of the Russian Championship Superfinal, the 68th for men and the 65th for women, were played in Chita on August 19.
Vladislav Artemiev and Denis Khismatullin played out a popular variation of the English opening. In a position with opposite-colored bishops, White launched an attack on the queenside, but it progressed rather slowly. Black tackled his opening issues and set up a powerful attack on the kingside. After winning a pawn, Khismatullin created serious threats to the white king and won his third consecutive game.
The games Khairullin – Lysyj, Motylev – Vitiugov, Bukavshin – Jakovenko, Svidler – Dubov and Karjakin – Tomashevsky ended in a draw.
Anastasia Bodnaruk scored the second point in a row playing with Anastasia Savina. Bodnaruk offered a piece sacrifice, which White mistakingly accepted, getting under a devastating attack. Soon it was Black's turn to make a mistake, after which a draw by perpetual check would have been a logical outcome of the game. At this point Savina tried to avoid move repetition, but played very poorly and allowed her opponent to regroup her forces with tempi. The white king got under a new wave of attack, and Savina resigned several moves before checkmate.
Valentina Gunina defeated Marina Guseva in an endgame with opposite-colored bishops. White forced Black into a zugzwang, and since one of the black pawns was doomed, Guseva acknowledge defeat.
Alina Kashlinskaya and Evgenija Ovod had a showdown in the Improved Tarrasch Defense. White seized the initiative in a sharp position at the end of the opening and won a pawn. Ovod attempted to exploit the open position of her opponent's king and sacrificed a second pawn, but White warded off all the threats and counterattacked. Soon White won yet another pawn and converted her extra material confidently.
The games Kosteniuk – Lagno, Goriachkina – Pogonina, and Girya – Kovalevskaya were drawn.
Evgeny Tomashevsky leads before the final round in the men's section with 7 points out of 10. Sergey Karjakin is half a point behind, and Nikita Vitiugov, with 6 points, holds the third place.
In the women's contest, Alexandra Goriachkina retains leadership with 7.5 points, Alexandra Kosteniuk has 7 points, and Anastasia Bodnaruk 6.5 points.
If two participants share the 1st place, an additional match is held between them.
Standings after round 10:
Men:
1. Tomashevsky – 7; 2. Karjakin – 6.5; 3. Vitiugov – 6; 4. Artemiev – 5.5; 5-7. Dubov, Jakovenko, Khismatullin – 5 each; 8-9 Bukavshin, Svidler – 4.5 each; 10. Lysyj – 4; 11-12. Khairullin, Motylev – 3.5 each.
Women:
1. Goriachkina – 7.5; 2. Kosteniuk – 7; 3. Bodnaruk – 6.5; 4-6. Lagno, Kovalevskaya, Gunina – 5.5 each; 7. Girya – 5; 8. Savina – 4.5; 9. Pogonina – 4; 10-11. Ovod, Pogonina – 3.5 each; 12. Guseva – 2.
Round 11 pairings:
Men:
Tomashevsky – Svidler, Jakovenko – Karjakin, Khismatullin – Bukavshin, Lysyj – Artemiev, Vitiugov – Khairullin, Dubov – Motylev
Women:
Lagno – Goriachkina, Kovalevskaya – Kosteniuk, Bodnaruk – Girya, Ovod – Savina, Guseva – Kashlinskaya, Pogonina – Gunina
The final round will begin at 13:00 local time (8:00 Moscow time).
The Russian Championship Superfinals are held by the Russian Chess Federation, the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation and the Zabaykalsky Krai Chess Federation, with support from the government of the Zabaykalsky Krai. The competition partners are Norilsk Nickel and the Baikalsk Mining Company.
