Ian Nepomniachtchi thrashed tournament tail-ender Mikhail Antipov in Round 4 of the ongoing 73rd Russian Championship Superfinal in Moscow to catch up with Sergey Karjakin on top of the leaderboard of the Category 18 (average Elo: 2689) single round robin event. Karjakin was held by Maksim Chigaev in the same round.
The only other decisive match of the round was authored by Nikita Vitiugov, who crushed Aleksey Goganov in just 28 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Ragozin, even as the rest of the round’s pairings ended peacefully. Peter Svidler tried hard to win his first point in the tournament, but Daniil Dubov proved to be a tough nut to crack and had to settle for a draw. Vladimir Fedoseev also tried to gain a second win just like Nepomniachtchi, but Vladislav Artemiev put up tenacious defense and capped it with a resourceful series of moves that ended the game in stalemate.
Standings after Round 4: 1-2. Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi, 3; 3-4. Chigaev, Fedoseev, 2½; 5-8. Svidler, Artemiev, Dubov, Vitiugov, 2; 9-10. Esipenko, Goganov, 1½; 11-12. Matlakov, Antipov, 1.
Karjakin, S (2752)-Chigaev, M (2619) [C88]
Moscow (4.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.c3 Rb8 11.Bc4 h6 12.d4 bxc3 13.Nxc3 Bg4 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Bxa6 Qxd1 16.Rxd1 Ra8 17.Bb7 Rxa5 18.Be3 Rxa1 19.Rxa1 Nd8 20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.Bxd5 Bxf3 22.gxf3 Ne6 23.b3 Bd6 24.Ra4 Rb8 25.Ba7 Rd8 26.Be3 Rb8 27.Ba7 Rd8 28.Be3 Rb8 ½-½
Matlakov, M (2698)-Esipenko, A (2686) [E06]
Moscow (4.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.b3 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Nc3 Nbd7 9.Bb2 c5 10.Ne1 Ne4 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Nc2 Ndf6 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.Ne3 Qc8 17.Qc2 Qe6 18.Rfd1 Rfd8 19.Qc4 Qxc4 20.Nxc4 f6 21.Kf1 Kf7 22.Na5 Bd5 23.Rac1 Rac8 24.Ba3 Ke6 25.Rd2 Rd7 26.Rdc2 Rdc7 27.Nc4 Bc6 28.Nd2 Bd5 29.Nc4 Bc6 30.Nd2 Bd5 31.Nc4 ½-½
Svidler, P (2723)-Dubov, D (2702) [C78]
Moscow (4.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.axb5 axb5 11.Qd3 0-0 12.Bg5 exd4 13.cxd4 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3 Nh5 16.Rc1 Ne7 17.Nc3 Kg7 18.Nxb5 Ng6 19.Nc3 Nhf4 20.Qd2 f5 21.Bc2 fxe4 22.Bxe4 g4 23.Ne1 Qg5 24.Rc2 Bf5 25.Bxf4 Nxf4 26.Nd3 Bxe4 27.Nxe4 Qf5 28.Nxf4 Qxf4 29.Qd3 Qf5 30.Rd2 Rbe8 31.Ng3 Qxd3 32.Rxd3 Kg6 33.Kf1 Re7 34.Re1 Rxe1+ 35.Kxe1 Ra8 36.Ne2 Ra2 37.Rb3 Ra4 38.Rd3 Ra2 39.Rb3 Ra4 40.Rd3 Ra2 ½-½
Artemiev, V (2711)-Fedoseev, V (2674) [A28]
Moscow (4.4) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.a3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qc2 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bd6 8.g3 Qe7 9.d3 0-0 10.Bg2 Bd7 11.0-0 Rae8 12.Nd2 Kh8 13.Bb2 f5 14.c4 f4 15.Ne4 Qf7 16.Rad1 Be7 17.Kh1 Bg4 18.Bf3 Bxf3+ 19.exf3 Rd8 20.Rd2 Rd7 21.Kg2 Qe6 22.Re1 Rfd8 23.Red1 b6 24.Qa4 Qg6 25.Qb5 Qe6 26.Qa4 a5 27.c5 Nd4 28.cxb6 cxb6 29.Qc4 Qg6 30.Bxd4 Rxd4 31.Qb3 a4 32.Qb2 h6 33.Rb1 Qe6 34.Qxb6 Qxb6 35.Rxb6 Bxa3 36.Ra6 Bb4 37.Rc2 a3 38.Rc7 R4d7 39.Rc4 Be7 40.Nc5 Rd5 41.Ne4 Rxd3 42.Rcc6 R3d5 43.Re6 Bb4 44.Reb6 Bf8 45.g4 Kg8 46.h4 Rd1 47.g5 h5 48.g6 Rc8 49.Ng5 Ra1 50.Rb7 Rcc1 51.Nh3 Rab1 52.Rf7 Rc8 53.Ng5 Rcc1 54.Nh3 Rb8 55.Ng5 Re8 56.Rfa7 Rec8 57.Ne6 R1c6 58.Nxf8 Kxf8 59.Rxc6 Rxc6 60.Rxa3 Rxg6+ 61.Kf1 Kf7 62.Ra7+ Ke6 63.Ra8 Rf6 64.Rh8 g6 65.Kg2 Kf5 66.Rg8 Rf7 67.Kg1 e4 68.Kg2 Re7 69.Rf8+ Ke5 70.fxe4 Kxe4 71.Ra8 Rd7 72.Ra6 Rd1 73.Rxg6 f3+ 74.Kh2 Rf1 75.Re6+ Kf4 76.Rf6+ Kg4 77.Rg6+ Kxh4 78.Rg4+ hxg4 ½-½
Antipov, MA (2611)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [B90]
Moscow (4.5) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a3 e5 7.Nf3 h6 8.Bc4 Be6 9.Bb3 Nc6 10.0-0 Rc8 11.h3 Be7 12.Nh2 0-0 13.Ng4 Nxg4 14.hxg4 Bg5 15.Nd5 Nd4 16.c3 Bxc1 17.Rxc1 Nxb3 18.Qxb3 Bxg4 19.Qxb7 Rb8 20.Qxa6 Rxb2 21.Rb1 Be2 22.Qc6 Rd2 23.Rfe1 Qg5 24.Rxe2 Rxe2 25.Qxd6 Re8 26.Qd7 Re6 27.g3 Qh5 28.Kg2 Kh7 29.Qd8 Qg4 30.Rb4 Rg6 0-1
Vitiugov, N (2720)-Goganov, A (2594) [D37]
Moscow (4.6) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.e5 Qd8 11.Ne4 0-0 12.Qe2 Be7 13.Rfd1 Qa5 14.a3 Rd8 15.b4 Qb6 16.Ng3 a5 17.b5 a4 18.Nh5 g6 19.Qd2 gxh5 20.Qxh6 Nd7 21.Bd3 f5 22.Qg6+ Kf8 23.Bc4 Nc5 24.Nxd4 Rxd4 25.Rxd4 Qc7 26.Re1 Nb3 27.Rf4 Bc5 28.Rd1 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxf6 2.Bf4#; 1…Rxb4+ 2.cxb4#; 1…Rxc3 2.Qxc3#./PN
