24 October 2016

Riazantsev Leads the Field in Novosibirsk

Alexandra Kosteniuk increases her gap in the women's event.

The 8th round of the Russian Superfinal was played on October 24, and a sole leader has finally emerged in the men's tournament as well.

Alexander Riazantsev played White against Dmitry Kokarev. Black was defending a relatively rare branch of the Gruenfeld. Both players followed their preparation for a long time. Despite trading the queens, the resulting position remained very sharp. White had a strong initiative for the sacrificed pawn. Objectively Black could have defended, but he needed to find several only moves. After Kokarev's fatal mistake on the 27th move White created decisive mating threats to the enemy king, which resulted in winning a piece and a game. Thanks to this victory, Riazantsev moved to undisputed first place.

Nikita Vitiugov and Dmitry Bocharov discussed the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Nf3. Soon White obtained the bishop pair. Black opened the center, but it only played into White's hands: his bishops started to work full strength, while Black's pawns in the center became vulnerable. In the subsequent complicated game White won a knight thanks to various pins and tactical ideas, and Bocharov had to acknowledge defeat.

Ernesto Inarkiev outplayed Girgoriy Oparin in the double-edged Najdorf Sicilian, with both players castling to opposite flanks. Inarkiev demonstrated a new and very interesting idea – his pawn advanced to c6, and his knight established in the heart of Black's camp on b7. Using these group as a cover, White grabbed two black pawns on the queenside, neutralized Black's counterplay and converted into a nice victory.

Inarkiev: “I would like to note that this was my third game with Grigoriy, and all three times we played the Najdorf; this is a matter of principle. We played the first 15 moves very quickly, which suggests that we both had prepared it at home.”

Svidler-Jakovenko, Fedoseev-Grischuk, and Tomashevsky-Goganov ended in draws.

In the women's tournament, Alexandra Kosteniuk extended her lead, beating the defending champion Aleksandra Goryachkina in a highly principled encounter. Facing the Sicilian, Kosteniuk opted for a seemingly harmless but rather poisonous variation, which recently started to gain popularity. White's kingside attack developed faster than Black's counterplay. The former World Champion skilfully increased pressure, forced the opponent to bring both rooks into defense, and prior to the control swiftly shifted the focus on the queenside. Goryachkina's reaction was not ideal, and Kosteniuk opened a file and invaded the Black's camp with major pieces. Goryachkina resigned in a hopeless position.

Kosteniuk: “I got a good position after the opening and thought I had a big advantage when I started my attack. It is possible that I missed a concrete win at some point. Nevertheless, Black's position remained unpleasant, because both rooks had to cover the h-file. During the time trouble and perhaps with some help from the opponent I managed to open up the queenside and secure a win.”

Daria Charochkina outplayed Natalija Pogonina. After the opening, Black seized the initiative and started to advance on the queenside. In order to loosed the grip, White gave up a pawn, but it didn't help – black pieces approached the white king, and Pogonina resigned in view of large material losses.

Valentina Gunina, playing Black against Daria Pustovoitova, continued her streak of decisive games. Gunina sacrificed a piece for the attack quite early, but did not find the best continuation, allowing the opponent to parry the threats. White forced an exchange of queens and kept an extra piece. It looked like her victory was only a matter of time, but being under heavy time pressure, Pustovoitova committed a fatal mistake and lost.

Evgenija Ovod outplayed Olga Girya. Ovod, playing White, skilfully utilized Black's pawn weaknesses, winning a pawn, and then proved bishop's superiority over a knight in an open position. After White won another pawn, the rest was a matter of technique. Girya resigned on the 49th move.

Alisa Galliamova broke resistance of Ekaterina Ubiennykh in a lengthy rook ending with an extra pawn. Bodnaruk-Kashlinskaya ended in a draw.

Men's championship, standings after 8 rounds:

Riazantsev – 5

Grischuk, Jakovenko, Svidler, Fedoseev, Tomashevsky – 4.5

Goganov, Vitiugov – 4

Oparin, Kokarev, Inarkiev – 3.5

Bocharov – 2

Round 9 pairings:

Kokarev-Inarkiev, Goganov-Riazantsev, Grischuk-Tomashevsky, Jakovenko-Fedoseev, Bocharov-Svidler, Oparin-Vitiugov

Women's championship, standings after 8 rounds:

Kosteniuk – 6.5

Bodnaruk – 5