5 May 2016

Just Wait Till Kramnik Arrives

Round three of the Russian Club Championship in the review of Vladimir Barsky.

The All-Russian tournament among orphanage and boarding schools has started this morning. The tournament includes 22 teams, each team consisting of 4 players and the last board is to be a female player at that. However, the chess level of many players is very modest and we have already seen a number of scholar’s mates declared, but the young folks are trying hard and similar tournament experience is very likely to draw further attention to chess in their orphanage schools. Increase of attention means increase of rivalry for eligibility to be part of a team’s lineup, thus leading to improvement in chess proficiency in general. The Russian Chess Federation will keep supporting these children’s institutions and is looking forward to getting ongoing backup from sponsors - a group of construction companies “Don” and the charity foundation “Severnaya Korona”. The recreational program was launched the very first day of the tournament with a bus trip to Krasnaya Polyana.

The mountain trip

The day of round three the wealth of Siberia was additionally enriched by Kramnik’s arrival. The 14th World Champion is truly capable of adding up to those teams he is sided with in terms of self-confidence, solidity and tranquility. He is a true leader indeed! While “Siberia” was faced off with Zhiguli, Vladimir was countered by Sanan Sjugirov - an energetic young grandmaster with an excellent opening repertoire and a graduate of the RCF grand master center in Togliatti at that. However, he has always been doomed to play Kramnik with the Black pieces and these black games have not gone at all well for Sjugirov. Vladimir’s second move has shown his not being in a mood to holding tense opening debates that day, and here is what has come of it.

Kramnik – Sjugirov

Queen's Pawn Game

1. Nf3 c5 2. e3

I have a picture (alas, not of a very good quality) that shows Sanan gazing down at the position arising after the humble pawn advance. Although his gaze is no match to Yuri Meshkov’s from the episode described previously by my colleague Dmitry Kryakvin, it is also not without the raised eyebrows’ effect. While it goes without saying that Kramnik makes no moves off the top of his head, does it means that he has it all analyzed here as well?

2…Nf6 3. d4 g6

It looks as though Sjugirov has decided to unsettle the opponent out of his home preparation. 3...e6 or 3...d5 look to be the most logical continuations here; Black could as well trade on d4 and then advance with d7-d5, reducing the game into the exchange variation of the Caro-Kann, which is considered fairly harmless for Black.

4. d5 Bg7 5. Nc3 0-0 6. Bc4

It is both simple and strong as White has grabbed space in the center and has dispatched his pieces to bolster the pawn that has overcome the “river crossing”.

6...d6 7. 0-0 Re8 8. e4 e6?!

Black’s play is overly straightforward, whereas his attempts to contest the d5 aren’t obviously working out well for him. Worth paying attention to was 8... Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nbd7, although Kramnik would have been very happy about his position anyway.

9. Re1 exd5 10. Nxd5 Nc6 11. Bg5 Be6 12. c3 Bxd5 13. Bxd5 Qc7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Nd2 Rad8 16.Qb3

White has reached a dream position! His bishop is dominating the board, whereas his counterpart is blocked off by the c3-pawn. Having tried to launch counterplay on the queenside, Black has only aggravated his situation.

16… a6 17. a4 Rb8 18. Nc4 Ne5 19. a5 Nxc4 20. Qxc4 b5 21. axb6 Rxb6 22. Re2 Reb8 23. Ra2 Rb5 24. g3

White is in no hurry and Kramnik makes up his mind to guard himself against any surprises along the first rank.

24…Kg7

25. Rxa6 Rxb2 26. Rxb2 Rxb2 27. Qa4!

White seizes the open file, using it to penetrate into the penultimate rank of his opponent’s camp. As for the black rook, it is incapable of retreating to b7 and it is the d5-bishop that is to blame for it.

27…Qd8 28. Ra7 Be7 29. Rd7 Qe8 30. Qa7 Kf8 31. Kg2 h6 32. Bc6

The position is reminiscent of one of Alekhine’s games, which was used by Nimzowitsch to provide the following description, “He treats us as though we were spring chicken!”

32… Bg5

This move leads to an immediate finale. Although the computer offers 32...g5 33. Qc7 f6 as a more resistant continuation, it is made of iron and is incapable of going red with embarrassment...

33. Rc7 Qe6 34. Bd5 Black resigns.

This match has seen yet another nice offensive involving the opposite-colored bishops.

Rublevsky – Frolyanov

22. Bd4 Qd5 23. Re5 Qd6 24. f5!

White has already ditched two pawns along the way , sacrificing yet another one to get at his opponent’s king.

24… gxf5

Both taking and not taking is equally bad.

25. Rxf5 e5 26. Rg5+ Kf8 27. Rxh5 Ba6

27... Qxd4+ 28. Qxd4 exd4 29. Rh8+ Ke7 30. Re1+ wouldn’t have brought any relief either.

28. Rh8+ Ke7

Or 28... Kg7 29. Bxe5+ Rxe5 30. Qxd6.

29. Qg5+ f6 30. Qg7+ Black resigns.

Yet another victory for Siberia was fetched by Evgeny Tomashevsky over Grigoriy Oparin, while a consolation point was secured by Alexander Predke over Dmitry Jakovenko, the latter having been performing unsuccessfully until this moment. The Novosibirsk team finally won the match with the 4-2 score.

Even more convincing victory was scored by the team of Moscow over the Kazan “Rook” - 4.5-1.5. It should be added that this match saw only first players winning their encounters: the game Najer - Artemiev was commented by Dmitry Kryakvin on his blog, and the finale of the Dubov - Yandemirov fight has graced the “Position of the day” column. Finally, Ivan Popov left no stone undisturbed in the royal castle of his younger opponent Maksim Samusenko.

In the women’s section of the tournament the Moscow team has continued its winning streak thanks to the “hitting force” in the person of Alina Kashlinskaya, who has won her third victory in a row. Even though the opponents of Muscovites, Bukavushki, were not the most famous players, but very persistent indeed. Highly praiseworthy is the performance of the team leader Polina Maslova, who has tied her game as Black against Kateryna Lagno. This is the third draw of the young chess players from Samara, as she has drawn Anna Ushenina and Anastasia Travkina in her previous games.

Getting ahead of myself, I would like to note that on the day of round four the leading team ShSM will receive reinforcements in the person of the 12th world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, who arrives from the Grand Prix in Batumi. It seems that this is the last “ace from up the sleeve“ since all declared athletes have already joined the play in all sections.

The most stubborn encounter Donchanka – Boavishta of round three ended in a 2-2 draw without a single draw. Ugra clobbered Ladya with a 3.5-0.5 score, while SDYUSSHOR SHSH defeated the “University” from Belorechensk with the same score.

Without trying to grasp the immensity, let us pay attention to one more game from the veterans’ tournament.

Vasiukov – Sveshnikov

Sicilian Defense

1. e4 c5 2. a3

Evgeny Ellinovich would put this flank advance a question mark at best, but Evgeny Andreevich has recently played it quite regularly and not without a certain amount of success.

2…Nc6 3. b4

Sveshnikov’s recommendation in this position, given in his book “The Sicilian Defense. Roadside Picnic”, is 3...Nf6 4. b5 Nd4, and bad is 5. e5 due to 5...Qc7! Better is 5. c3 Ne6 6. e5, although after 6…Nd5 Black has nothing to complain about. However, as was shared by Evgeny Ellinovich, he decided to try another worthy continuation “just for a change”.

3… e5!? 4. b5 Nd4 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Nc3

In the case of 6. Nxe5 Black has a pleasant choice between 6…Nxe4 and 6... Qe7.

6... d6

6... d5!? is perhaps even stronger.

7. h3 Be7 8. Bc4 Nxe4 9. Nxe4 d5 10. Ba2 dxe4 11. Nxe5 0-0 12. c3