Four Players Emerge as Leaders at Russian Championship Higher League
Five participants are heading the women's event.
The second round of the Russian Championships Higher League was played in Sochi on October 9.
Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Aleksey Goganov, Mikhail Antipov, and Maksim Chigaev have taken the lead in the open event with 2 points scored. Thirteen participants are half a point behind.
Below you will see some examples from today's round.
Rakhmanov - Yuffa
15. Nexf7! Rf8
15...Bxf7 is bad because of 16. Nxf7 Kxf7 17. Bc4+ with a win.
16. Nh6+! Kh8
16...Bxh6 would have been more tenacious. An approximate continuation is as follows: 17. Ne6 Qd6 18. Bxh6 Bxe6 19. Qxe6+ Qxe6 20. Rxe6 Nc5 21. Bc4 Nxe6 22. Bxe6+ Kh8 23. Bxf8 Rxf8 24. cxd4, so Black has to defend a worse endgame.
17. c4 Bxh6 18. cxd5 Bxg5 19. Bxg5 Nxd5 20. Qe4 Qd6 21. Qxd4+, and White skillfully converted the advantage of two bishops using the weak position of the black king.
Gaifullin - Artemiev
Inaccuracies are punished immediately: White had to move his king to f3 instead of playing 36. Kh1?. Black successfully used his chance in the game.
36...Bxe5 37. Rxd8+ Qxd8 38. Bxe5 Qg5! 39. Qd3 Bb7 40. Bc7 Qg4 41. Qd8+ Kh7 42. Qd3+ Kh6. White resigned.
Esipenko - Murzin
In cold blood: 38. Bg2!. It turns out that the black pieces are tied up completely.
38...Re8 39. cxd5 Ne2+ 40. Kh1 Qg4 41. Re1 h4 42. gxh4 Qa4 43. d6, and Black resigned.
In the women's event, the leaders with a perfect score are Valentina Gunina, Zarina Shafigullina, Yulia Grigorieva, Ekaterina Nasyrova, and Dina Belenkaya. Six players are trailing be half a point.
Tournament on Chess-Results
Tournament page
Information & photos by Eteri Kublashvili
