4 May 2016
Bronze and Lucky
Round two of the Russian Club Championship, venued in the Zhemchuzhina hotel, in the review of Vladimir Barsky.
The first sensation from the Premier League key matchup as posted by Dmitry Kryakvin in his blog. The second matchup, in which the renowned Bronze Horseman was opposed by Zhiguli of the Samara region, turned out very exciting as well.
Sjugirov – Svidler
Black has successfully handled his opening problems and is completely OK in this position. However, there followed 17…f5 - a move which does not readily lend itself to understanding. Why opening up the big diagonal for the b2-bishop? What was it the Peter Svidler missed, underestimated or overestimated?
After 18.Ne2 Nxe2+ 19.Qxe2 Qd6 20.Qe3 Rae8 21.Qg3 Rf7 22.Raf1 Ref8 23.R1f2 the initiative was seized by Sanan Sjugirov. Then Black sort of quenched it at the cost of a pawn, but it was not the end of the story yet. Being already in a bad position Black successfully managed to introduce complications, but when salvation was in a relatively close proximity, Peter committed an error yet another time and Sanan, as opposed to his opponent, went on to play very precisely during the final stage of the game and brought the point home.
Meanwhile, a big disappointment was in store for the members of the Samara team on the last board.
Fedoseev – Geller
Queen’s Gambit
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 h6 6.Bh4 Be7 7.Qc2 c5 8.Nc3 0-0 9.Be2
White plays in a very unsophisticated manner. The classics taught us that a tempo struggle in similar positions is essential and recommended taking on c4 at one go by testing such continuations as а2-а3, Rd1. Capturing on c5 or d5 first, followed by continuation of development, was also an option, after all.
9…dxc4 10.Bxc4 a6 11.dxc5 Nxc5 12.Rd1 Qa5
Black has overtaken the initiative, and in the case of 13.0-0 b5 14.Be2 Bb7 the events could have unfolded in the spirit of the famous 21st game of the Capablanca - Alekhine match. The engine naturally suggests a non-human 13.Rb1!?, although after 13…Nce4 14.0-0 Nxc3 15.bxc3 b5 16.Bd3 Bb7 17.c4 Rac8 White is still far from equality. Vladimir Fedoseev attempted to complicate the game with the aid of a pretentious rook lift.
13.Rd4!? b5 14.b4 Qxb4 15.Bxb5 Qa5 16.Bc6 Bb7 17.Ne5?
This careless move results in the white minor pieces getting heavily exposed to all kind of pins. White should have preferred 17.Bxb7 Nxb7 18.Ra4 Qc7 19.0-0 Rfc8 20.Qb1, gradually fighting out of his problems.
17...Rac8 18.Nc4 Qc7 19.Bxb7 Nxb7 20.Bg3 Qc6 21.0-0 Rfd8 22.Rfd1
22…Rxd4?!
The immediate 22...Nd5! was very strong. White cannot trade on d5, whereas after 23.Ne4 Nb6 24.Rxd8+ Bxd8 25.Ned2 Na5 White loses a piece to a pin.
23.Rxd4 Nd5
Winning was 23...Nh5!, for example: 24.Be5 f6 25.Bg3 e5 26.Rg4 Nf4! 27.exf4 Qxc4.
24.e4 Nb6 25.Nxb6 Qxb6 26.Rd3 Qb4 27.h3
27…Nc5
“The remnants of former luxury” were to be preserved via 27...Rc4 28.Qb3 Nc5 29.Qxb4 Rxb4, and White’s e4-pawn is doomed since after 30. Re3 Bf6 there is no 31. f3? in view of 31...Bd4.
28.Rf3 Bf6 29.e5 Bg5 30.h4 Be7 31.Rf4 Qb7 32.Rc4 Rd8 33.Kh2 Nd3 34.f3 Qd7 35.Ne4 Nb4 36.Qb3 Nd5 37.a4 Rc8 38.Nd6 Rxc4 39.Qxc4 a5 40.Qb3 f5 41.h5
The time control is over and the position is level. On purely visual grounds White is more active, but with such a powerful knight on d5 Black can rest assured about the fate of the game. However, at this moment there happened some sort of a mental blackout, and Jakov Geller lost the game in just two moves.
41…Qc6?!
Overlooking an unpleasant but not yet fatal check along the home rank. It was more prudent, of course, to make some accurate in-between move such as 41...Kh7.
42.Qb8+ Kh7??
This is a bad blunder. Position was kept together by 42...Bf8 43.Qa7 Qc7!, since after 44. Qxc7 Nxc7 45. Be1 Na6 46. Bxa5 Nc5 Black wins his pawn back. Although White is capable of keeping the black knight sidelined – 47. Bb6 Nxa4 48. Bd4, but after 48…Be7 the hobbled knight is most likely to break free after all.
43.Nf7, and Black resigns due to an inevitable mate.
The match outcome was sealed by the “honorary citizen of Saint-Petersburg” Leinier Dominguez, who outwitted Igor Lysyj in a slightly better endgame.
Dominguez – Lysyj
Black has been confidently maintaining his defensive lines in the opposite-colored bishops ending for almost fifty moves now. It goes without saying that White’s pieces are more active, but the amount of material remaining on the board is both equal and of a very limited quantity at that. However, at this moment Black let his guard down for a brief spell.
67…Bc8
More cautious was 67...Kd7, keeping His Majesty as closely involved in protecting his borders as possible.
68.Kd5 Bb7 69.Rf5!
It is always physiologically challenging to abandon your king exposed to potential discovered checks, but in this position there are no dangerous discoveries that the black rook is capable of capitalizing upon.
69…Rb6+?
This is a totally harmless one. The position was kept together by 69...Kf7 70.e5 Kg6! 71.Rf1 Kf7.
70.Kxc4 Re6 71.Rxh5 Bxe4 72.Bxf6!
Black was perhaps willing to bail out with one pawn only, but now the second one goes under. A helpless rook ending arises after 72…Rxf6 73.Re5, while after 72…Kf7 73.Bd4 Black did not last long either.
For the second day in a row our column “Position of the day” is replenished with repeated theme examples taken from the Woman’s championship: each time the game reaches its climax the black knight gobbles up the f2-pawn. Girls, watch out for similar tactics!
Belenkaya – Kashlinskaya
21…Nxf2! 22. Re1
Alas, 22. Kxf2 runs into 22…Rxd2+! 23. Rxd2 Ne4+ with a gorgeous family check!
22... Ncd3 23. Ba3 Qc6 24. Re3 Qg6 25. Kh2 Qg5 26. Re2 Qf4+ 27. g3 Qh6 28. Bc1 Qc6 29. Ne4 Nxe4 30. Qc2 Nef2 White resigns. This is not just a nice game, but a very important one at that: thanks to this victory the Moscow club defeated his competitors from St. Petersburg. Let us note that this is Alina Kashlinskaya’s second victory already.
On the day of the second round there was held a traditional meeting of captains that was chaired by Sergey Smagin and Alexander Tkachev. Minor technical issues were subjected to discussions among other things (on the one hand the food service has improved significantly if compared to the previous year, but on the other hand there were experienced certain problems with accommodation), as well as strategic development plans for the tournament. As is well known, only the classical chess tournaments will be carried out during this year’s May holidays, while rapid and blitz tournaments, both in the individual and team sections, will be held in October also in Zhemchuzhina. The October program will be most likely enlarged with a handicap tournament that will be open for both and professionals and amateurs to take part in.
Grand opening of the first All-Russian tournament among orphanage and boarding schools took place later in the evening. This tournament includes 22 teams and is carried out by RCF with the support of a group of construction companies Don and the charity foundation Severnaya Korona. Besides the chess-dedicated activities there is also a substantial recreational program in store for children such as tours of the Olympic Park and Krasnaya Polyana, exploring arboretum and visiting circus.
