12 October 2021

Valentina Gunina and Evgenija Ovod Lead Russian Women's Superfinal

Four players are ahead in the open section.


The fourth round of the Russian Championships Superfinals was played in Ufa on the 12th of October.  

In the open tournament, Dmitry Andreikin crushed the leader Kirill Alekseenko with the white pieces. Black didn't manage to solve his opening problems in the Catalan, while White organised a breakthrough in the centre. Soon Andreikin's well-coordinated forces directed fire against his opponent's king. Alekseenko resigned on the 22nd move. 

Maxim Matlakov celebrated an equally whirlwind victory against Maksim Chigaev as White. The rivals discussed the Najdorf Variation with 6. Bc4 with opposite castling. White was attacking on the kingside, while Black tried to create counterplay on the opposite part of the board. Matlakov was more successful in his assault than Chigaev: he implemented a typical breakthrough with his g- and h-pawns and then sacrificed a piece on g7. Black admitted defeat on the 35th move. 

Alexander Motylev beat Pavel Ponkratov as Black. He made a mistake in a complex double-edged position prior to the time control; however, his opponent blundered himself on the next move, having missed Motylev's beautiful tactical blow. The white king got into a deadly attack, and Ponkratov laid down his arms after Black's 35th move. 

The games Fedoseev - Esipenko, Goryachkina - Vitiugov, and Predke - Rakhmanov were drawn.

Standings after Round 4:

1-4. Kirill Alekseenko, Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov, Dmitry Andreikin - 2.5
5-8. Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Andrey Esipenko - 2
9-12. Maksim Chigaev,  Alexandr Predke, Alexander Motylev, Pavel Ponkratov - 1.5.

Round 5 pairings:

Motylev - Matlakov
Alekseenko - Ponkratov
Vitiugov - Andreikin
Esipenko - Goryachkina
Rakhmanov - Fedoseev
Chigaev - Predke.  

In the women's event, Marina Guseva defeated Olga Girya as Black. The latter sacrificed a pawn in the opening and got a decent compensation. However, then Girya was acting inaccurately, and gradually, Guseva converted her material edge. 

Evgenija Ovod outplayed Daria Voit in the endgame: Black was defending for a long time, but then she made a mistake after five hours of play and didn't hold her position. 

The games Bodnaruk - Bivol, Galliamova - Pogonina, Gunina - Garifullina, and Shuvalova - Kashlinskaya ended in a draw.

Standings after Round 4:

1-2. Valentina Gunina, Evgenija Ovod - 3
3-4. Polina Shuvalova, Leya Garifullina - 2.5
5-7. Alina Kashlinskaya, Alisa Galliamova, Marina Guseva - 2
8-11. Daria Voit, Olga Girya, Alina Bivol, Natalija Pogonina - 1.5
12. Anastasia Bodnaruk - 1.

Round 5 pairings:

Guseva - Ovod
Kashlinskaya - Girya
Garifullina - Shuvalova
Bivol - Gunina
Pogonina - Bodnaruk
Voit - Galliamova.

The tournament is a part of the Chess in Museums international programme realised by the Chess Federation of Russia and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation. 

An exhibition featuring the chess sets from the Chess Museum is organised at the venue. The Museum's curator, Cand. Sc. History Dmitry Oleinikov conducts tours around the exposition for everyone.

The spectators are not allowed in the playing hall due to the anti-Covid measures. However, the chess fans are welcome in the commentating area where they can listen to GM Sergey Shipov in Russian. 

GMs Evgenij Miroshnichenko and Alexandr Shimanov are commentating on the tournament in English. 

Tournament on Chess-Results

Tournament page 

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili