Alexander Grischuk Starts Superfinal in Barnaul with Win
Lagno, Girya and Garifullina won first games in the women's event.
Saturday, August 17, Round 1 of the Russian Championships Superfinal was played in Barnaul. Natalya Kuvshinova, Senator of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Altai Krai Chess Federation, greeted the participants and made a symbolic first move in the Goryachkina vs. Shuvalova game.
In the open section, the only decisive game was Alexander Grischuk vs Artyom Timofeev. The grandmasters opened the game with the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence. The chosen line is not the trendiest one nowadays; the game quickly transposed into the endgame with White's positional pressure. Black sacrificed an exchange for a pawn, hoping to build a fortress. However, Grischuk managed to intrude into the enemy's camp with his rook and gradually smashed Timofeev's defence.
The games Grebnev – Matlakov, Esipenko – Ponkratov, Markarian – Dubov, Dreev – Nesterov, and Artemiev – Najer were drawn.
Tournament standings after Round 1:
1. Alexander Grischuk – 1
2-11. Vladislav Artemiev, Rudik Markarian, Aleksey Grebnev, Andrey Esipenko, Aleksey Dreev, Arseniy Nesterov, Pavel Ponkratov, Maxim Matlakov, Daniil Dubov, Evgeniy Najer – 0.5
12. Artyom Timofeev – 0.
Round 2 pairings:
Najer – Nesterov, Timofeev – Dreev, Ponkratov – Grischuk, Matlakov – Esipenko, Dubov – Grebnev, Artemiev – Markarian.
In the women’s section, Kateryna Lagno confidently outplayed Baira Kovanova as White. According to the Moscow chess player, her opponent’s opening was unsuccessful as she got a passive position and allowed White to grab space with 13. d5. “Such a position is both unpleasant to play and worse in general. That was just the beginning of her problems and I felt that I was playing logically and didn't give her any counterplay," Kateryna said after the game.
Playing Black, Valentina Gunina’s opening against Olga Girya was a failure. The Ugra player, who is taking part in a major tournament after a long break due to the birth of a child, won a pawn, meticulously thwarted her opponent's attempts to complicate the game, and then converted her advantage.
Leya Garifullina, playing black against Natalija Pogonina, achieved comfortable game out of the opening, won an exchange and got a decisive advantage.
The games Goryachkina – Shuvalova, Karmanova – Charochkina, and Voit – Goltseva ended in a draw.
Tournament standings after Round 1:
1-3. Olga Girya, Kateryna Lagno, Leya Garifullina – 1
4-9. Daria Voit, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Olga Karmanova, Daria Charochkina, Polina Shuvalova, Ekaterina Goltseva – 0.5
10-12. Natalija Pogonina, Baira Kovanova, Valentina Gunina – 0.
Round 2 pairings:
Gunina – Charochkina, Shuvalova – Karmanova, Garifullina – Goryachkina, Goltseva – Pogonina, Kovanova – Voit, Girya – Lagno.
The Russian Championship Superfinals are played separately for men and women in a round robin system in 11 rounds with one rest day. Game days: August 17-22 and 24-28. All rounds start at 3 PM local time (11 AM Moscow time). In case of a tie for the 1st place, an additional competition will be held.
Five best players of the open event will qualify for the FIDE World Cup, while three best players of the women's tournament will get the right to play in the FIDE Women's World Cup.
The Superfinals are organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with support of the Russian Ministry of Sport and Timchenko Foundation in cooperation with the Government of the Altai Territory and the Chess Federation of the Altai Territory.
The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. The CFR partners are Aeroflot and Sima-land.
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Photo credits: Eteri Kublashvili and Vladimir Barsky
