13 August 2015
Goryachkina Wins and Breaks Into the Clear First
After four rounds Tomashevsky and Artemiev are on top of the men's event.
On August 12, games of round 4 of the 68th Men's and the 65th Women's Russian Championship Superfinal were played in Chita.
Peter Svidler, after dodging the main variations, produced quite an original interpretation of the Sicilian as White, and the Dragon Variation with both white bishops fianchettoed emerged on the board. The decision by Russia's seven-time champion to castle long appears to be dubious, to say the least, since Black's attack on the queenside developed very quickly. Obviously, Svidler expected that a breakthrough in the center would allow him to snatch the initiative, but Khismatullin responded in a strong and aggressive way: he sacrificed an exchange, obtaining a good compensation for it. It seems that White underestimated the hazards of his position: Black's advance soon grew into a dangerous attack. Black played very ingeniously, finding strong continuations every time, and White's king was checkmated as soon as on move 29.
Vladislav Artemiev, the youngest participant in the race, scored the second win in a row, and again not without some luck. His opponent Ildar Khairullin, who played White, gained a slight edge in a branch of the Slav Defense with a symmetrical pawn structure and gradually stepped up the pressure. In order to intensify the tension, Black made a breakthrough in the center; White responded inappropriately, lost all his advantage and gave the initiative away to his opponent. White's problem was his open king whose weakness finally resulted in White's blundering by missing a checkmate in two.
The games Vitiugov – Tomashevsky, Dubov – Karjakin, Motylev – Bukavshin, and Lysyj - Jakovenko were drawn.
Valentina Gunina, who played against Olga Girya, scored her third consecutive win – and again in her trademark style. Black got a promising position in the opening and took over the initiative. Being in a very difficult position, Valentina resorted to some smart tricks at a great risk for herself. Again, luck was on the side of Russia's reigning champion: amid the nervous battle fought in time trouble, the black king got into a mating net.
Natalia Pogonina and Alexandra Kosteniuk had a debate in the Ruy Lopez. Black got a very comfortable game, whereas White's pieces turned out to be scattered across the board. Alexandra mounted a vigorous attack on the kingside and soon shattered the white king's defenses.
The game Goriachkina – Bodnaruk proved to be the round's longest encounter. Anastasia Bodnaruk got a decent position in the opening, but then made a positional mistake by letting a white knight into her camp. Alexandra Goriachkina, the young player from Salekhard, is very strong at such positions with clear strategic landmarks, so she dominated the rest of the game. White attacked on both flanks, captured space and won a pawn. Anastasia defended very tenaciously, however, so the conversion stage was quite lengthy. Nevertheless, Goriachkina brought the point home at the sixth hour of the game and became the sole leader in the women's tournament.
A draw was the outcome in the games Ovod – Kovalevskaya, Kashlinskaya – Savina, and Guseva – Lagno.
Standings after round 4:
Men:
1-2. Artemiev, Tomashevsky – 3 each; 3-4. Karjakin, Vitiugov – 2.5 each; 5-7. Khairullin, Jakovenko, Dubov – 2 each; 8-11. Bukavshin, Khismatullin, Lysyj, Svidler – 1.5 each; 12. Motylev – 1.
Women:
1. Goriachkina – 3.5; 2. Gunina – 3; 3-5. Girya, Kosteniuk, Lagno – 2.5 each; 6. Savina – 2; 7-10. Kovalevskaya, Bodnaruk, Guseva, Pogonina – 1.5 each; 11-12. Kashlinskaya, Ovod – 1 each.
Round 5 pairings:
Men:
Artemiev – Svidler, Bukavshin – Khairullin, Karjakin – Motylev, Tomashevsky – Dubov, Jakovenko – Vitiugov, Khismatullin – Lysyj.
Women:
Savina – Goriachkina, Girya – Kashlinskaya, Kosteniuk – Gunina, Lagno – Pogonina, Kovalevskaya – Guseva, Bodnaruk – Ovod.
The Russian Championship Superfinals are held by the Russian Chess Federation, the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation and the Zabaykalsky Krai Chess Federation, with support from the government of the Zabaykalsky Krai. The competition partners are Norilsk Nickel and the Baikalsk Mining Company.
The games will be played at the Megapolis-Sport Youth Palace. The rounds will begin at 15:00 (10:00 Moscow time), while the last round will start at 13:00 (08:00 Moscow time). The playing days are August 9-14 and 16-21. A day off will be provided on August 15. The tournaments' total prize fund is 8 million rubles.
