16 September 2022

Marina Guseva Grabs Lead in Women's Superfinal

Three players are ahead in the open section.

Round five games of the Russian Championships Superfinals among men and women finished in Cheboksary.

Playing White, Maksim Chigaev defeated Arseniy Nesterov. The Tyumen grandmaster said after the game that he had managed to surprise his opponent in the opening.

"There arose a strange position reminding both the Catalan and Queen's Indian, said Chigaev. – It started as a double fianchetto, and later transposed into the Catalan without the d4-pawn. I was seemingly better versed in the opening plans than my opponent. In general, Arseniy misplayed by opting for 10. Re8 and 11. Bf8 and, I think, he could have defended more stubbornly later on. His sacrificing a piece was, perhaps, a key moment of the game. Had he not gone for it, Black's drawing chances would have been higher than in the game. I just grabbed material cold-heartedly, and all I needed to do was not to blunder anything, which I am very much capable of, but not this time around".

Rakhmanov – Esipenko, Murzin – Tomashevsky, Dubov – Sjugirov, and Najer – Matlakov have drawn their games.

In the longest game of the round, Vladislav Artemiev "probed" Ilya Iljiushenok well into the ending, but didn't find subtle nuances leading the the victory, and a draw followed on the 65th move.

Standings after Round 5:

1-3. Maksim Chigaev, Daniil Dubov, Vladislav Artemiev - 3 points
4-11. Evgeniy Najer, Maxim Matlakov, Sanan Sjugirov, Ilia Iljiushenok, Andrey Esipenko, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Volodar Murzin, Aleksandr Rakhmanov - 2
12. Arseniy Nesterov - 1.

Round 6 pairings:

Iljiushenok – Matlakov, Nesterov – Najer, Sjugirov – Chigaev, Esipenko – Dubov, Tomashevsky – Rakhmanov, Artemiev – Murzin.

In the women's competition, Valentina Gunina won her second game in a row, defeating Leya Garifullina with the white pieces. In a position of dynamic balance, the four-time Russian champion followed her opponent's careless manoeuvre by organising a swift attack on the king and celebrated a victory as soon as move 35.

The game between Yana Zhapova and Ekaterina Goltseva was even shorter and lasted only 21 moves. White turned out unprepared for a theoretical dispute in a sharp variation with a piece sacrifice and committed a mistake, upon which her king, stuck in the centre, fell victim to a series of precise blows. This is a spectacular victory by Goltseva.

Daria Charochkina and Marina Guseva opted for a not quite orthodox opening variation (1.d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5. 3. Bxf6 gxf6), which resulted in a position with kings castled on opposite flanks. Black succeeded in attacking the opponent's monarch via the kingside. Charochkina resigned in a hopeless position four moves prior to the time control move.

Bivol – Yakimova was a lengthy and interesting manoeuvering battle with approximately equal chances. At one point, White lowered her guard and allowed Black to mount very unpleasant threats. Superfinal's first-timer, Mariya Yakimova, grabbed a pawn, obtaining an overwhelming advantage via threats against the white king and celebrating her first victory.

Galliamova - Ovod and Girya - Pogonina ended in a draw (the latter duel lasted as many as 110 moves).

Standings after Round 5:

1. Marina Guseva – 3.5 points
2-4. Olga Girya, Valentina Gunina, Ekaterina Goltseva – 3
5-7. Alisa Galliamova, Natalija Pogonina, Daria Charochkina – 2.5
8-12. Leya Garifullina, Evgenija Ovod, Alina Bivol, Maria Yakimova, Yana Zhapova – 2.

Round 6 pairings:

Garifullina – Ovod, Yakimova – Galliamova, Guseva – Bivol, Pogonina – Charochkina, Goltseva – Girya, Gunina – Zhapova.

***

The Russian Championship Superfinals among men and women take place in Cheboksary as part of the Chess in Museums project, jointly organised by the Chess Federation of Russia and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation. The tournament venue is the Chuvash State Art Museum.

Tournaments are held to a round-robin system in 11 rounds. Game days: September 11-16 and 18-22. Rest day – September 17. Each round begins at 15:00.

The total guaranteed prize fund makes 11 million rubles: 7 million rubles in the open and 4 million in the women's section.

The Superfinals are organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with support of the Russian Ministry of Sport, the Government of the Chuvash Republic, and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation.

The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. The tournament partners are Aeroflot, Akkond, Gazprombank, and Locko-Bank.

Tournament on Chess-Results (Open)

Tournament on Chess-Results (Women)

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