1 July 2015
Sole Reigning Begins
Round Six review of the Russian Championship Higher League by Eteri Kublashvili.
Having stayed a whole week in Kaliningrad, especially after a day off, the participants of the Higher League have got completely used to the city. You gradually begin to like Kaliningrad more and more, to top it off with the weather being so nice. Some of the participants managed to get as far as the sea near Svetlogorsk, and even take a bath in the cool Baltic waters. Another group spent time exploring the Kaliningrad Zoo, one of the biggest in the country. The reader can take a look at it in my photographic report.
And yet, the main attraction for us is still the Higher League battles. After the round six both tournaments have their sole leaders defined: Alexander Motylev and Alina Kashlinskaya collected 5 points each.
Motylev – Malakhov
Alexander Motylev finds an interesting way to transfer his queen to take part in the kingside onslaught: 25. Qd1!
After 25…Ne7 26. Qh5 g6 27. e6! Black resigned.
Kashlinskaya – Matveeva
The black king feels rather uncomfortable in the middle of the board, so the knight had to do the courtesy of sacrificing himself to shield the monarch by 23...Nc3. However, Svetlana preferred a more conservative approach – 23...Ne7, upon which Black's position becomes completely passive.
24. Rae1 Ra7 25. g4 h6 26. f4 d3 27. Be3+ Kd5 28. Bxa7 d2 29. Rxe7 dxe1Q+ 30. Rxe1, and White remained a piece up.
Ivan Popov, Daniil Dubov, Ildar Khairullin, Dmitry Frolyanov, Vladislav Artemiev and Vadim Zvjaginsev are trailing half a point behind the leader in the men's section of the tournament.
Ponkratov – Dubov
In this position with unbalanced material shortly prior to the time control White launches an attack on the black pawns – 38.Rb1. However, it soon became clear that the plan was wrong, as it allowed Black to carry out 38...c4.
39. Ne5 Bf5 40. Rc1 Bxe5 41. fxe5 Bd3, and Black has gradually converted his advantage.
Demchenko – Popov
White comes up with the idea of sacrificing a pawn for the sake of maintaining his attack: 24. hxg6?! Qxe4+, but the attempt proves to be unjustified: 25. Ka1 hxg6 26. Qc5 Qd5 27. Qxd5 Rxd5. Anton’s attack failed to pan out, and as a result, the Black’s extra pawn had its say in the endgame. Ivan Popov has thus joined the pack of the pursuers.
In the women’s section trailing a half-step behind Alina Kashlinskaya are Anastasia Savina, Marina Guseva, and Daria Pustovoitova. On the second board Nastya and Marina have settled for a peaceful agreement, whereas Dasha has defeated Baira Kovanova.
Kovanova – Pustovoitova
In a better position Black starts playing on both flanks, as in the best traditions of chess classics.
18…b5 19. Nd2 b4 20. axb4 Bxb4 21. Qc2 g5 22. Rf1 Be7 23. Bh3 Qh6 24. Bg2 Nb4
25. Qa4 f4 26. Bxf4 gxf4 27. Nxe4 Qe6, and the game ended in Black’s favor.
In round seven of the men’s sections we are in for some interesting pairings: Popov–Motylev, Dubov-Khairullin, Frolyanov-Artemiev, Zvjaginsev-Fedoseev and Kobalia-D. Bocharov.
No less exciting games are expected to take place in the women’s section: Savina-Kashlinskaya, Guseva-Pustovoitova, Bodnaruk-Bivol, Drogovoz-Ovod and Kovalevskaya-Balaian.
