The 73rdRussian Championship Superfinal in Moscow took a dramatic turn after tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi was beaten by Daniil Dubov in Round 9 action on Dec. 14.
The loss enabled Sergey Karjakin, who drew with Vladimir Fedoseev, to catch the seemingly tiring Nepo on top of the standings, with both having a half-point lead over Dubov and Mikhail Chigaev. Dubov credited the win to his second GM Alexander Riazantsev who prepared the Gruenfeld line he used against over Nepomniachtchi, who absorbed his first loss in the event.
The other winners of Round 9 were Andrey Esipenko, who outmaneuvered Aleksey Goganov in 78 moves of a Ruy Lopez Berlin; and Maxim Matlakov whose turn it was to get an unearned point versus Mikhail Antipov who withdrew from the event earlier. Nikita Vitiugov and Chigaev drew, as did Peter Svidler versus Vladislav Artemiev.
Standings after Round 9: 1-2. Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi, 6; 3-4. Chigaev, Dubov, 5½; 5-6. Artemiev, Fedoseev, 5; 7-8. Esipenko, Vitiugov, 4½; 9. Svidler, 4; 10. Matlakov, 3½; 11. Goganov, 2½; 12. Antipov, 2.
Fedoseev, V (2674)-Karjakin, S (2752) [E25]
Moscow (9.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.e4 Nf6 10.Be3 0-0 11.Qb3 Nfd7 12.Bb5 Na6 13.Bxa6 Qxa6 14.a4 Ne5 15.Qb5 Qxb5 16.axb5 Bd7 17.Rb1 Rfc8 18.Ne2 Nd3+ 19.Kd2 Nxc5 20.c4 b6 21.Bxc5 Rxc5 22.Rb4 a5 23.bxa6 Rxa6 24.Nc3 Kf8 25.Rhb1 f6 26.Kd3 Rc6 27.f4 Be8 28.g4 Ke7 29.h4 Ra8 30.Nb5 Rd8+ 31.Ke3 Rc5 32.Nd4 Bd7 33.Nb3 Rc7 34.g5 e5 35.gxf6+ gxf6 36.fxe5 fxe5 37.Rg1 b5 38.Nd2 Kf6 39.Rf1+ Ke7 40.Rg1 Kf6 ½-½
Dubov, D (2702)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [D85]
Moscow (9.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bb5+ c6 8.Ba4 b5 9.Bb3 a5 10.Nf3 0-0 11.0-0 a4 12.Bc2 c5 13.Rb1 Nc6 14.d5 Ne5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.Bh6 Ba6 17.Bxf8 Kxf8 18.f4 Bxc3 19.Rf3 Qa5 20.e5 Kg8 21.Kh1 Rd8 22.e6 fxe6 23.Bxg6 hxg6 24.Qc2 Bg7 25.Rg3 g5 26.Qg6 Qd2 27.Rxg5 Qc3 28.Qxe6+ Kf8 29.Re1 Qxe1+ 30.Qxe1 Bf6 31.Qh4 Rd6 32.Qh7 Ke8 33.Qg8+ Kd7 34.Qa8 Bxg5 35.fxg5 c4 36.h4 b4 37.Qa7+ Ke8 38.Qb8+ Kf7 39.Qxb4 Rxd5 40.Qxa4 1-0
Esipenko, A (2686)-Goganov, A (2594) [C65]
Moscow (9.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Ne2 Bd6 8.Ng3 Nd7 9.Nf5 Nc5 10.g4 Ne6 11.h4 c5 12.Rg1 b5 13.Be3 a5 14.h5 a4 15.a3 b4 16.Nd2 Ra6 17.Nc4 Ng5 18.Rg3 bxa3 19.Rxa3 Be6 20.Qd2 h6 21.Qc3 f6 22.Bxg5 hxg5 23.Ke2 Qd7 24.Rg1 Rfa8 25.Rga1 Bf8 26.f3 Qc6 27.Nfe3 Kh7 28.Qe1 Qb7 29.Kf2 Kh8 30.R1a2 Bd7 31.Nd5 Be6 32.Nc3 Qc6 33.Qa1 Bxc4 34.dxc4 Qd7 35.Nd5 c6 36.Ne3 Qd2+ 37.Kg3 Rd8 38.Qg1 Qb4 39.Qc1 Ra7 40.c3 Qb8 41.Rxa4 Rad7 42.Ra6 Qb7 43.Qa1 Rd2 44.Ra8 Kg8 45.Rxd8 Rxd8 46.Qc1 Rd3 47.Kf2 Rd8 48.Ke2 Qd7 49.Qc2 Qb7 50.Ra1 Rb8 51.Rb1 Qa6 52.Rd1 Qa2 53.Rd2 Rb7 54.Kf2 Rb6 55.Kg3 Rb8 56.Qc1 Rb7 57.Kf2 Rb8 58.Rc2 Rd8 59.Qe1 Rd7 60.Rd2 Rb7 61.Qe2 Qb1 62.Nd1 Be7 63.Ne3 Rb8 64.Kg2 Rb7 65.Nd1 Kf8 66.Kh3 Kf7 67.Qf2 Kg8 68.Ne3 Qh1+ 69.Kg3 Qb1 70.Qf1 Qa2 71.Qe2 Bf8 72.Kh2 Qb1 73.Kg2 Qa1 74.Qd1 Qa2 75.b4 Qa3 76.b5 cxb5 77.Rd8 Rf7 78.Qd5 1-0
Chigaev, M (2619)-Vitiugov, N (2720) [B97]
Moscow (9.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Nc6 11.fxe6 Bxe6 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Rxb7 Be7 14.Rb3 Qc5 15.Be3 Qe5 16.Bf4 Qc5 17.Be3 Qe5 18.Bf4 Qc5 19.Be3 ½-½
Svidler, P (2723)-Artemiev, V (2711) [B40]
Moscow (9.6) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Ne4 Bb7 9.Be2 c5 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Nd6+ Bxd6 12.exd6 Qc6 13.f3 c4 14.Qd4 0-0 15.Bxc4 Qxd6 16.Be2 e5 17.Qf2 Qg6 18.c4 Nb4 19.Be3 Rfd8 20.Rad1 e4 21.f4 f6 22.Rd6 Nd3 23.Qg3 Qxg3 24.hxg3 Rac8 25.b3 Rc6 26.Rd4 Ra6 27.Bxd3 exd3 28.Rf2 Re8 29.Rxd3 Re7 30.Rfd2 Be4 31.Rc3 Bf5 32.Kf2 h5 33.a4 Kf7 34.Bc5 Re8 35.Re3 Rb8 36.Rd5 Kg6 37.Bd4 Rc8 38.Rc5 Ra8 39.Rc7 Rd6 40.Bxa7 Bg4 41.a5 Rd2+ 42.Kg1 Rb2 43.Bb6 Rb1+ 44.Kh2 Rb2 45.c5 Ra2 46.b4 Rb2 47.Ra7 Rxa7 48.Bxa7 Rxb4 49.Ra3 Bf5 50.c6 Rc4 51.Bc5 Rxc5 52.a6 Rxc6 53.a7 Rc8 54.a8Q Rxa8 55.Rxa8 Be6 56.Ra5 Bg4 57.Kg1 Bf5 58.Kf2 Be4 59.Rc5 Bc6 60.g4 hxg4 61.g3 f5 62.Ke3 Kf6 63.Ra5 g5 64.Rc5 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nb3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sb7 2.Sd2#; 1…Sxe4 2.Sa5#; 1…Kb4 2.Qb5#./PN
