Superfinals: Andrey Esipenko and Vladislav Artemiev Lead with One Round to Go
Kateryna Lagno is ahead in women's section.
Round 10 of the Russian Championships Superfinals was played in Barnaul on 27 August. The symbolic first move in the A. Esipenko vs A. Nesterov game was made by the Director of the State Museum of History of Literature, Art and Culture of Altai Igor Korotkov.
The open tournament was the most competitive of all the previous rounds, with four out of the six games being decisive.
The duel of the young leaders – Andrey Esipenko against Arseniy Nesterov – was one of the key matchups. Playing White in the QGD Carlsbad, Esipenko first gained a positional advantage by taking space in the centre and then got a material advantage as he managed to capture the isolated d5-pawn. But then White's indecisive play allowed Black to defend himself. The queen endgame soon arose with White having an extra doubled pawn. It was a theoretical draw, but Black needed to defend very precisely. In time trouble, Nesterov made a mistake and Esipenko created a passed pawn and his advantage became decisive.
Vladislav Artemiev defeated Maxim Matlakov with the white pieces and thus did not allow Esipenko to grab the sole lead. The opponents opted for the Queen's Gambit, in which Black gave up a pawn and got a decent compensation in the middlegame. However, Artemiev then managed to successfully regroup his forces and simultaneously fend off all of his opponent's threats, and his advantage became tangible as he approached the time control limit. White pressed his advantage home with precise execution.
Daniil Dubov scored his first tournament victory. Playing Black, he defeated Evgeniy Najer in the sharp line of the Sicilian Dragon. Black sacrificed two pawns and an exchange and created the most dangerous threats to the enemy king. White's mistake on move 25 was a decisive one, and after that there was no saving of his position. What a wonderful creative achievement by Daniil Dubov!
Playing Black against Alexander Grischuk, Aleksey Dreev stayed true to his trademark c6-c5 in the Caro-Kann Defense. He also came up with an interesting idea that proved to be an unpleasant surprise for his opponent. Faced with a must-win situation in terms of his tournament standings, Grischuk invested a lot of time in his opening. Grischuk did not want to settle for any drawish continuations, but in the end Dreev managed to force the transition to a better endgame. White put up a stubborn defence, but gradually Black overcame his resistance and won.
The games Grebnev vs Timofeev and Makarian vs Ponkratov ended in a draw.
Tournament standings after Round 10:
1-2. Andrey Esipenko, Vladislav Artemiev – 6.5 points
3-5. Daniil Dubov, Evgeniy Najer, Arseniy Nesterov – 5.5
6-7. Aleksey Grebnev, Rudik Makarian – 5
8-9. Aleksey Dreev, Alexander Grischuk – 4.5
10-11. Maxim Matlakov, Artyom Timofeev – 4
12. Pavel Ponkratov – 3.5 points.
Round 11 pairings:
Dreev – Najer, Nesterov – Grischuk, Timofeev – Esipenko, Ponkratov – Grebnev, Matlakov – Makarian, Dubov – Artemiev.
In the women's section, the Olga Girya vs Ekaterina Goltseva game was a sharp Vienna Variation of the Queen's Gambit. White took the "poisoned" e6-pawn out of the opening, upon which her position immediately became very dangerous due to her lag in development. Black attacked vigorously. Goltseva gained a decisive material advantage and celebrated victory on move 27.
Valentina Gunina, playing White against Baira Kovanova, got a very promising position in the opening with a spatial advantage. However, she then lost the thread of the game. Kovanova first equalised, and then delivered a nice tactical blow to win two pawns and convert her extra material.
The games Lagno vs Garifullina, Voit vs Shuvalova, Goryachkina vs Karmanova, and Pogonina vs Charochkina were drawn.
Tournament standings after Round 10:
1. Kateryna Lagno – 6.5 points
2-3. Alexandra Goryachkina, Daria Charochkina – 6
4. Leya Garifullina – 5.5
5-9. Valentina Gunina, Polina Shuvalova, Natalija Pogonina, Daria Voit, Ekaterina Goltseva – 5
10-11. Olga Girya, Baira Kovanova – 4.5
12. Olga Karmanova – 2 points.
Round 11 pairings:
Karmanova – Gunina, Charochkina – Goryachkina, Shuvalova – Pogonina, Garifullina – Voit, Goltseva – Lagno, Kovanova – Girya.
The Russian Championships Superfinals are played separately for men and women in a round robin system in 11 rounds with one rest day. Game days: August 17-22 and 24-28. All rounds start at 3 PM local time (11 AM Moscow time). In case of a tie for the 1st place, an additional competition will be held.
Five best players of the open event will qualify for the FIDE World Cup, while three best players of the women's tournament will get the right to play in the FIDE Women's World Cup.
The Superfinals are organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with support of the Russian Ministry of Sport and Timchenko Foundation in cooperation with the Government of the Altai Territory and the Chess Federation of the Altai Territory.
The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. The CFR partners are Aeroflot and Sima-land.
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Photos by Eteri Kublashvili and Vladimir Barsky
