|
|
|
| 21 Декември 06, 19:05
/ Автор: ICC
|
| GM Evgeny Alekseev, Russian Champion |
|
|
The 59th edition of the Russian Championship, the strongest national championship in the world, took place in Moscow at the famed Central Chess Club on Gogolevsky Boulevard, from December 2nd to December 15th. Second seed GM Alexander Morozevich dropped out at the last minute and was replaced by young IM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Morozevich has also decided not to play at Corus Wijk aan Zee, probably in an effort to prepare better for the Linares-Morelia tournament, where he has been invited for the first time.
The average tournament rating was 2622, making the event Category XV. Many of the best Russian players are not participating this year - apart from Morozevich, Kramnik was playing Deep Fritz and Grischuk also withdrew - and instead the old guard of Peter Svidler and Sergey Rublevsky had to contend with some promising new young blood looking to make their mark in Russian chess circles.
GM Evgeny Alekseev, 21, won the Russian championship "superfinal", beating GM Dmitri Jakovenko, 23, in rapid tiebreaks after the duo finished tied on +4. GM Ernesto "Che" Inarkiev, 21, pride of Kalmykia, won his last three games to take clear third place.
Four-time champion GM Peter Svidler was the only undefeated player but showed little ambition to achieve his +2 score. El Svid is obviously a class act, but he's not been firing on all cylinders of late. Of course when all the youngsters seemed content to offer him draws on move 20 it's hard to blame him for taking them.
On the other hand, since there were more wins with black than white (17 to 13 and 38 draws), maybe he should have gone for more. He did at least have a fun queen sac draw against GM Evgeniy Najer in round nine.
| FINAL CROSSTABLE after Round 11 |
| N |
NAME |
TIT |
ELO |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
PTS |
| 1 |
Nepomniachtchi, Ian |
IM |
2545 |
|
0 |
1 |
1 |
= |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
= |
= |
= |
5.0 |
| 2 |
Khairullin, Ildar |
IM |
2543 |
1 |
|
= |
= |
= |
1 |
= |
0 |
0 |
= |
= |
= |
5.5 |
| 3 |
Najer, Evgeniy |
GM |
2648 |
0 |
= |
|
= |
= |
0 |
= |
0 |
0 |
= |
0 |
0 |
2.5 |
| 4 |
Rublevsky, Sergei |
GM |
2688 |
0 |
= |
= |
|
= |
= |
= |
= |
= |
= |
1 |
= |
5.5 |
| 5 |
Vitiugov, Nikita |
IM |
2596 |
= |
= |
= |
= |
|
0 |
= |
0 |
0 |
= |
0 |
= |
3.5 |
| 6 |
Jakovenko, Dmitry |
GM |
2671 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
= |
1 |
|
= |
= |
1 |
1 |
= |
= |
7.5 |
| 7 |
Svidler, Peter |
GM |
2750 |
1 |
= |
= |
= |
= |
= |
|
1 |
= |
= |
= |
= |
6.5 |
| 8 |
Khismatullin, Denis |
GM |
2583 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
= |
1 |
= |
0 |
|
0 |
= |
0 |
= |
5.0 |
| 9 |
Inarkiev, Ernesto |
GM |
2628 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
= |
1 |
0 |
= |
1 |
|
0 |
= |
= |
7.0 |
| 10 |
Tomashevsky, Evgeny |
GM |
2595 |
= |
= |
= |
= |
= |
0 |
= |
= |
1 |
|
0 |
1 |
5.5 |
| 11 |
Alekseev, Evgeny |
GM |
2639 |
= |
= |
1 |
0 |
1 |
= |
= |
1 |
= |
1 |
|
1 |
7.5 |
| 12 |
Grigoriants, Sergey |
GM |
2582 |
= |
= |
1 |
= |
= |
= |
= |
= |
= |
0 |
0 |
|
5.0 |
|
 Related information
|
|
![Svidler, P (2750) - Khismatullin, D (2583) [B90]](http://www.chessclub.com/xid/200612c/$id/mailing/2006/12c/diag1.gif) |
|
Position after 28... Rxc7
|
Svidler, P (2750) - Khismatullin, D (2583) [B90]
ch-RUS Superfinal Moscow RUS (3), 2006.12.05
[Annotations by IM Rahal,M]
In this position, world class player and cricket aficionado GM Peter Svidler is a clear pawn up. However, he is facing certain technical difficulties to clarify his advantage: the black king is coming to e7, the black knight to f4. Svidler finds the main weakness in Black's position: the pawn on h4! 29.Nb3! The knight heads over to the kingside. 29...Ke7 30.Nd2 Nh5 31.Nf3 And the pawn falls. Still, White has to regroup. 31...Kf6 32.Nxh4 Kg5 33.Nf3+ Kf4 34.Kb2! Controlling the c3 square. 34...f6 35.Nd2 Kg3 36.Re2 Bc6 37.Nf1+ Kh4 38.Re3 Rd7 39.Nd2 White finishes regrouping and the Black king is in danger of being mated. 39...Rd6 40.Nf3+ Kg3 41.Nxe5+ Kf4 42.Ng4 1-0 |
![Nepomniachtchi, I (2545) - Rublevsky, S (2688) [B43]](http://www.chessclub.com/xid/200612c/$id/mailing/2006/12c/diag2.gif) |
|
Position after 20... Ra5
|
Nepomniachtchi, I (2545) - Rublevsky, S (2688) [B43]
ch-RUS Superfinal Moscow RUS (4), 2006.12.06
[Annotations by IM Rahal,M]
At first glance it looks as of Black is doing well: he has opened up White's queenside castled king position and the knight on c5 has no squares. 21.Nd7!! The knight can't be captured by any of the three black pieces because of the pins. GM Sergei Rublevsky tries to bail out by exchanging a few pieces, but sixteen year old IM Ian Nepomniachtchi has calculated a long way ahead. 21...Nh5 22.Bxe7 Nxg3 23.Bb4! The key move. If the knight captures the bishop it is replaced by the c3 pawn which also attacks the rook. 23...Ra7 24.Bc5 Ra5 25.Bb4 Ra7 26.Nc5! Nh5 27.Bb5 A new pin. Now the knight on c5 is very strong. 27...Nf4 28.g3! Well played. White gives up the h3 pawn to win tempi, and leave the knight out of play. 28...Nxh3 29.f4 Raa8? A weak move in a difficult position 30.Nxb7 Rec8 31.Nd6 Nf2 32.Nxc8 Rxc8 33.Rd2 Ne4
|
![Nepomniachtchi, I (2545) - Rublevsky, S (2688) [B43]](http://www.chessclub.com/xid/200612c/$id/mailing/2006/12c/diag3.gif) |
|
Position after 33... Ne4
|
Black threatens 34...Nxb4 35.cxb4 Nc3+ winning the knight on b5. Nepomniachtchi finds an elegant solution. 34.Rxe4! dxe4 35.Bxc6 e3 The rook can't be captured because of the mate on d8, but this pawn looks dangerous. 36.Rd4 e2 37.c4! Controlling e1 with the bishop, but now ...Rb8 looks good... 37...Rb8 38.Kc1! And White wins a piece, again there is mate on d8 if the bishop is taken. 1-0 |
|
|
|
