7 October 2023

Vladislav Artemiev Extends his Winning Streak at Russian Superfinal

Olga Badelka has taken the sole lead in the Women's section.

Friday, October 6, Round 6 games of the Russian Championships Superfinals were at Tsarskoe Selo State Museum and Heritage Site (Pushkin, Saint Petersburg). The symbolic first move in Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. Artyom Timofeev game was made by Igor Vlashchenko, Executive Director of Setl City, a partner of the Russian Championships Superfinals. Igor Vlashchenko is a candidate master; he actively supports the St. Petersburg Chess Federation.

Open section:

Ponkratov – Esipenko 1:0
Najer – Matlakov 1/2
Goryachkina – Timofeev 1:0
Artemiev – Murzin 1:0
Tomashevsky – Lagno 1/2
Sychev – Rozum 1/2

Vladislav Artemiev, “As far as I remember, Volodar has never played the Queen’s Gambit in its pure form. I tried to understand where my opponent wanted to steer the game and, accordingly, take him by surprise, if possible. I seem to have mastered the second point. I surprised both my opponent and myself! Volodar has little experience with such structures and I was happy with the way the game went. To be honest, I didn't like 15...Bb5 with the exchange of light-squared bishops, because Black's bishop was superior to mine. Earlier, 11...exd5, which creates hanging pawns, might have been stronger.

Then I took a practical decision to transpose into the endgame because I thought that White had a comfortable advantage. I don't know if Volodar's move 20...f5 is good, but it is an active one. 20...c4 was also worth considering. But I could never find a way for Black to save himself. White pressed in all lines and today I was satisfied with the course of the game. I think a blunder in the time trouble was 32...g6?. Volodar had a second left on his clock at that moment. Obviously Volodar didn't keep track of the time and had to make any move. Instead, he could have transposed into the rook ending, where I could have captured the a7-pawn; but I'm not sure that this endgame is won. It was his best chance, perhaps. After the time control move I thought White was winning already".

Aleksandra Goryachkina: "I feel a bit uncomfortable that the game ended with the opponent's flag falling. I have a bitter feeling that the game was not won positionally. But for the flag, we would have played for another two hours! I think that the position after 68...f5 gives me good practical chances. As for the opening, I was a bit shocked because I played the same line as Ponkratov vs. Esipenko did and they knew what to do. When I saw Esipenko's 10...Qc8 I was upset because I knew that it was a good move. I was lucky that my opponent didn't know the move and didn't see it on the adjacent board. I was in a promising position, but under time pressure I was unsure what to do and transposed to the two minor pieces vs. rook and pawn ending just to be on the safe side. I probably could have kept the a-pawn, but I was afraid of making a mistake and it would have been an immediate draw. The way it happened in the game gave me the opportunity to go on playing for quite some time yet".

Pavel Ponkratov: "I was somewhat better prepared in the opening today than Andrey. However, my idea with 12.dxc5 and 13.b3 is on the surface and is the first line. Unfortunately, my reaction to Andrey's first inaccurate move was just as bad and, in my opinion, I let go of any advantage I could have gained. And then, under mutual time pressure, I offered a draw. I realized that I was losing the thread of the game. Andrey refused because he smelled blood, but went a little overboard and lost - his king walked into the "mating net".

Standings after Round 6:

1. Vladislav Artemiev – 5.5 points
2-3. Aleksandra Goryachkina, Evgeniy Najer – 4
4. Pavel Ponkratov – 3.5
5-6. Maxim Matlakov, Evgeny Tomashevsky – 3
7-8. Aartyom Timofeev, Andrey Esipenko – 2.5
9-12. Kateryna Lagno, Volodar Murzin, Ivan Rozum, Klementy Sychev – 2.

Round 7 pairings:

Rozum – Ponkratov, Lagno – Sychev, Murzin – Tomashevsky, Timofeev – Artemiev, Matlakov – Goryachkina, Esipenko – Najer.

Women’s section:

Gunina – Bivol 1:0
Shukhman – Shuvalova 0:1
Badelka – Kovanova 1:0
Goltseva – Yakimova 1:0
Garifullina – Korneva 0:1
Matveeva – Pogonina 1:0

Marina Korneva, "Overall, I have two main responses to 1.e4 – 1...c6 and 1...c5. A year ago I decided that I should also look into 1.e4 e5, because it's a gigantic layer of positions that I've never studied. The dream, of course, is to start playing 1.e4, but it's quite difficult, it's easier to start as Black with e7-e5. Since last autumn I've been watching and playing the move 1...e5, but I would not dare to employ it my tournament games. To be honest, I wasn't planning on using it here either, because I'm not ready for it yet, to put it mildly. However, I had already lost twice after 1...c6, although in the second game it was not because of the opening. I realised that Garifullina would prepare for 1...c6 and 1...c5, and she didn't see any of my games with 1...e5 . We've been working on this for a year for a reason, so I felt I had to try! And, secondly, I noticed that her results there were not so good.

Of course, I was taking risks, but Leia didn't seem to remember the lines. When my knights arrived at e4 and b4, I evaluated the position as equal and perhaps with a chance to take over at that. I think her passive play was not to the point despite many promising continuations that White had. When I got a big advantage, my task was not to go wrong in the last moment like Goltseva did yesterday. I was up to the challenge!"

Standings after Round 6:

1. Olga Badelka – 5 points
2-3. Baira Kovanova, Leya Garifullina – 4.5
4-5. Polina Shuvalova, Marina Korneva – 3.5
6. Valentina Gunina – 3
7-9. Alina Bivol, Anna Shukhman, Ekaterina Goltseva – 2.5
10. Olga Matveeva – 2
11. Natalija Pogonina – 1.5
12. Mariya Yakimova – 1.

Round 7 pairings:

Pogonina – Gunina, Korneva – Matveeva, Yakimova – Garifullina, Kovanova – Goltseva, Shuvalova – Badelka, Bivol – Shukhman.

Saturday, October 7 is a rest day for the tournament. Round seven is scheduled for Sunday, October 8.

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