21 September 2022

Sanan Sjugirov Retains Lead Going into Final Round of Superfinal

Marina Guseva and Valentina Gunina are ahead in the women's event.



The penultimate round ten games of the Russian Championships Superfinals among men and women have finished at the Chuvash State Art Museum in Cheboksary. 
 
In the open section, Volodar Murzin bounced back after yesterday's defeat by beating Maksim Chigaev as White. The opponents opted for a rare Sicilian line, in which Black was the first to step away from the trodden path. In a very sharp position (the White king reached the c4-square, and Black remained down a rook), Chigaev made a mistake and had no compensation for the sacrificed material. The Tyumen grandmaster put up a stubborn resistance, but White's colossal advantage took its toll and he won on move 48. 
 
The games Tomashevsky – Matlakov, Iljiushenok – Sjugirov, Rakhmanov – Dubov, Esipenko – Nesterov, and Artemiev – Najer ended in a draw.
 
Standings after Round 10:
 
1. Sanan Sjugirov – 6.5 points
2. Daniil Dubov – 6
3-5. Ilia Iljiushenok, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Vladislav Artemiev – 5.5
6-7. Evgeniy Najer, Volodar Murzin – 5
8-11. Maxim Matlakov, Maksim Chigaev, Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Andrey Esipenko – 4.5
12. Arseniy Nesterov – 3.
 
Round 11 pairings:
 
Dubov – Iljiushenok, Chigaev – Rakhmanov, Najer – Murzin, Matlakov – Artemiev, Nesterov – Tomashevsky, Sjugirov – Esipenko.
 
In the women's event, Marina Guseva defeated Leya Garifullina as Black. The latter blundered prior to the time control in an approximately equal position and resigned after opponent's move 40.
 
Valentina Gunina shares points with Guseva after defeating Alisa Galliamova as White. The grandmaster admitted after the game that 4...Nbd7 in the Queen's Gambit had taken her by surprise and she decided to go creative. «There followed an interesting fight. Nowadays everyone plays h4 in any openings, and I thought: why not?” said Gunina. The chess players battled in a position with opposite side castles with White attacking on the kingside and Black on the opposite flank. Galliamova acted risky and remained down an exchange; besides, she spent much time calculating complex lines. When prosecuting her advantage, White was precise and would not give any chances to her opponent.
 
Evgenija Ovod outplayed Ekaterina Goltseva in an endgame with rooks and same-coloured bishops. 
 
Pogonina – Yakimova, Girya – Charochkina, and Zhapova – Bivol have drawn their games.
 
Standings after Round 10:
 
1-2. Marina Guseva, Valentina Gunina – 7 points
3. Olga Girya – 6
4-7. Alisa Galliamova, Alina Bivol, Evgenija Ovod, Daria Charochkina – 5
8-9. Natalija Pogonina, Ekaterina Goltseva – 4.5
10-11. Leya Garifullina, Yana Zhapova – 4
12. Mariya Yakimova – 3. 
 
Round 11 pairings:
 
Charochkina – Garifullina, Bivol – Girya, Galliamova – Zhapova, Ovod – Gunina, Yakimova – Goltseva, Guseva – Pogonina. 


***

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)

Tournament page 


Photos by Eteri Kublashvili