Sergey Karjakin and Ian Neapomniachtchi Lead Russian Championship Superfinal
Polina Shuvalova wins the fifth game in a row.
The fifth round of the Russian Championships Superfinals was played on December 9 in the Central Chess Club in Moscow.
It was another peaceful day at the open event with only one decisive result: Maxim Matlakov defeated Maksim Chigaev as Black. The opponents played a solid line of the Najdorf Sicilian. White prepared a minor assault on the kingside, but Matlakov was well-prepared for it. Soon a more or less equal position with the opposite-colored bishops appeared.
Maxim Matlakov: "I think that Maksim started to play quite ambitiously trying to push c4, and his plan didn't work out at some point. He miscalculated, and I got a pawn out of the blue and good winning chances".
Matlakov successfully used his chance: he pushed his pawns in the centre and then organised the attack on the kingside. Chigaev resigned on the 47th move.
Daniil Dubov was acting quite risky with the white pieces against Vladislav Artemiev: he put his king on the queenside in the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence, and soon his monarch found himelf under direct fire. Artemiev implemented a typical exchange sacrifice on c3, after which he had to calculate precisely rather complex lines to find a forced way to win. He didn't manage to do it, and the line he chose led only to the perpetual.
The games Goganov - Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi - Vitiugov, Fedoseev - Antipov, and Esipenko - Svidler were also drawn.
Standings after Round 5:
1-2. Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi - 3.5
3. Vladimir Fedoseev - 3
4-8. Maksim Chigaev, Vladislav Artemiev, Peter Svidler, Nikita Vitiugov, Daniil Dubov - 2.5
9-11. Andrey Esipenko, Maxim Matlakov, Aleksey Goganov - 2
12. Mikhail Antipov - 1.5.
Round 6 pairings:
Karjakin - Matlakov, Svidler - Chigaev, Artemiev - Esipenko, Antipov - Dubov, Vitiugov - Fedoseev, Goganov - Nepomniachtchi.
The women's tournament, vice versa, saw five decisive games out of six. Polina Shuvalova sensationally won the fifth game in a row by defeating the three-time Russian women's champion Valentina Gunina as Black.
Polina Shuvalova: "We opted for quite a sharp line in the Rogozin Defence, which had been played by Magnus Carlsen among others. Quite difficult and unusual positions arise in this actual variation, and I think we both made mistakes. The endgame was probably quite good for me, and it is important that there was Ne7 after Rb5. I wasn't happy with myself after 24. e4 fxe3 25. fxe3 since I wanted to play 25...Bxh2 but for some reason rejected it and chose 25...h6. I saw 26. Rb5, but I forgot to calculate it, and perhaps, here my advantage, or at least its bigger part just vanished. I suppose that Valentina should have played 28. Rxd5 Nxd5 29. Nf7+ instead of 28. Nh3, and her position would have been better. After 28. Nh3, I regained the advantage and managed to convert it step by step".
Aleksandra Goryachkina is on second place after beating Yulia Grigorieva in a long and nervous struggle.
Alexandra Kosyeniuk bested Tatyana Getman, Leya Garifullina won against Maria Guseva, while Olga Girya lost to Alisa Galliamova. Natalija Pogonina and Alina Kashlinskaya made a draw.
Standings after Round 5:
1. Polina Shuvalova - 5
2. Aleksandra Goryachkina - 4
3-4. Leya Garifullina, Natalija Pogonina - 3.5
5. Alisa Galliamova - 3
6. Alexandra Kosteniuk - 2.5
7-9. Marina Guseva, Valentina Gunina, Alina Kashlinskaya - 2
10. Olga Girya - 1.5
11-12. Yulia Grigorieva, Tatyana Getman - 0.5.
Round 6 pairings:
Kosteniuk - Goryachkina, Girya - Grigorieva, Guseva - Galliamova, Kashlinskaya - Garifullina, Shuvalova - Pogonina, Getman - Gunina.
Total prize fund is 10 million rubles.
The medalists well be given tickets to the legendary CHESS musical.
The tournament is a part of the Chess in Museums programme, which has been carried out by the Chess Federation of Russia and the Elena and Gennady Foundation since 2012.
The organisers are the Chess Federation of Russia and the Timchenko Foundation. The tournament is supported by the Russian Ministry of Sports. The general sponsor of the Russian national teams is the Federal Grid Company Unified Energy System (FGC UES). The CFR general partner is PhosAgro.
Tournament on Chess-Results
Tournament information
