Second Round of Nutcracker Generation Tournament Played in Moscow

Kings are leading 9-7.

The second round of the Nutcracker Generation Tournament was played in the Central Chess Club on March 5. 

Evgeniy Najer and Daniil Yuffa opted for a classical system of the Caro-Cann Defence, which had been chosen by Chigorin, Alekhine, Euwe, Spassky and other great chess players.  White, who left beaten track around move 20, grabbed the initiative and space. In the middlegame, mass exchanges followed and the endgame with a white knight and a black bishop appeared by the 30th move. Evgeny Najer had a stable edge but, in all likelihood, he missed 35...b5+! after which Black managed to improve his pawn structure sufficiently.  The rivals agreed to a draw on the 41st move. 

Alexei Shirov and Semyon Lomasov discussed the French Defence with 3.e5, where White sacrificed two pawns for a development advantage and initiative. Black had to be very precise but he didn't demonstrate it. White deprived his opponent of castling and literally viced him on both sides of the board. Lomasov tried to buy off with an exchange sacrifice but it didn't save him. The Latvian grandmaster was implacable in converting and celebrated victory on the 31st move. 

A nonabstract play in the English Opening started quite early in the Sarana - Tomashevsky game. Black managed to solve his opening problems: he concluded his development and created an isolated pawn on d4 to his rival. However, it didn't make it to certain actions around this weakness as Sarana pushed the pawn to d5. Then mass exchanges happened and the position simplified a lot. A draw was agreed in an equal rook endgame. 

Another variation of the English Opening happened in the Esipenko - Gelfand game. The opponents were leading a sharp struggle, where the price of each move was very high. The Israeli grandmaster sacrificed a pawn, however, he made an inaccuracy soon and then had to give up the second pawn to untie his pieces. After it, Gelfand parted with a piece but the compensation wasn't enough. Step by step, Esipenko neutralised all the threats; he gave up a queen for a rook and two minor pieces and got a mighty passer on d7. Black didn't manage to confuse the opponent and resigned on move 36. 




The score is 9-7 in favour of Kings. 

Round 3 pairings:

Esipenko - Najer, Yuffa - Shirov, Tomashevsky - Lomasov, Gelfand - Sarana. 

The event is held in accordance with the FIDE rules in two disciplines: classical chess (March 4-7) and rapid chess (March 8-9). 

In classical chess, players are awarded 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a lost game. Rapid chess: players get 1 point for a win, 0.5 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.

GM Sergey Shipov commentates on the games in Russian, while GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko is working for the English-speaking audience.

The organizers are Chess Federation of Russia and the Ladya Foundation for supporting social, educational, innovative and sports projects.  

Tournament page

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili