21 October 2016

Pogonina Catches Up With Kosteniuk

Six players remain on top in the men's Superfinal.

The 6th round of the Russian Superfinal was played on October 21 in Novosibirsk.

Ernesto Inarkiev celebrated his first victory, beating Dmitry Bocharov. Black failed to solve opening problems; the European champion outplayed his opponent on the queenside and won a pawn. In the subsequent game White was up to the technical task and converted the extra material into a victory.

The St. Petersburg derby Svidler-Goganov ended in a draw. Vitiugov-Grischuk was also drawn after a lively battle with neither king having time to castle.

Fedoseev-Kokarev ended peacefully in an endgame with opposite-colored bishops and an extra pawn to White.

Dmitry Jakovenko had a winning position as Black against Grigoriy Oparin, however this game also ended in a draw after Jakovenko misplayed on the control move. Thus Dmitry missed a very real chance to become a sole leader coming into a rest day.

Evgeny Tomashevsky had White against Alexander Riazantsev and did not manage to break Black's defense. The game was drawn on the move 44.

The women's championship was much more entertaining for spectators. The game between Evgenija Ovod and Valentina Gunina developed originally from the very beginning, with both sides happily heading into wild complications on the kingside. White went all out, but her threats very not strong enough: Gunina calmly collected two sacrificed pawns and then won a piece. Her execution of the technical stage was far from flawless (Gunina admitted it more resembled a circus), but in the end Black prevailed.

Natalija Pogonina outplayed Alisa Galliamova, and with this victory caught up with Alexandra Kosteniuk on top of the leaderboard. In a rook and knight ending Black sacrificed an exchange for a pawn, and her drawing chances look very realistic. However, Pogonina was adamant, and in a lengthy maneuvering game acquired enough pluses to earn a victory.

Alexandra Kosteniuk, playing White against Olga Girya, was close to another win, however, shortly before the time control, in a position with two rooks and a knight for a queen, Kosteniuk made an inaccurate move, and Girya found the way to make a draw.

Daria Pustovoitova got an opening advantage against Ekaterina Ubiennykh. Desperate for complications, Black sacrificed a rook, and it nearly worked, but after mutual errors in the time trouble White ended up a piece up, and converted this advantage in the endgame. “I made a mistake at some point, and during the time trouble just tried to avoid blunders. Black might have had a draw, but she missed it, and I suddenly found the winning resource”, said Pustovoitova.

Anastasia Bodnaruk had an advantage against Daria Charochkina, but failed to covert it, allowing Black an incredible drawing finale with a desperado rook.

Aleksandra Goryachkina and Alina Kashlinskaya also made a draw.

Saturday, October 22, is a rest day.

Men's championship, standings after 6 rounds:

Grischuk, Jakovenko, Svidler, Fedoseev, Riazantsev, Tomashevsky – 3.5

Oparin, Goganov, Kokarev – 3

Vitiugov – 2.5

Inarkiev – 2

Bocharov – 1.5

Round 7 pairings:

Riazantsev-Inarkiev, Kokarev-Tomashevsky, Goganov-Fedoseev, Grischuk-Svidler, Jakovenko-Vitiugov, Bocharov-Oparin

Women's championship, standings after 6 rounds:

Pogonina, Kosteniuk – 4.5