GM Mikhail Chigaev hanged on to his half-point lead by drawing his last three games and watched while his closest pursuers were being beaten to win the 73rd Russian Championships Higher League which ended over the weekend at the Zhemchuzhina Grand Hotel in Sochi, Russia.
We forgot to mention last time that this event is a qualifier for the Superfinals of the tournament slated later this year.
The top five finishers in the competition get slots in the Superfinals where the top Russian grandmasters are seeded outright. Thus, beside Chigaev, the other qualifiers to the Superfinals are Alexei Goganov, Andrey Esipenko, Mikhail Antipov and Vladimir Fedoseev who all finished with six points. Three others also finished with six points, but GMs Alexandr Predke, Konstantin Sakaev and David Paravyan all had lower tiebreak quotients to miss the cut and contented themselves with sharing second to eighth places.
In the women’s division, GM Valentina Gunina emerged the convincing winner, scoring eight points – 1½ points clear of second placer IM Marina Guseva who tallied 6½ markers.
Artemiev, V (2716)-Chigaev, M (2598) [A25]
Sochi (8.1) 2020
1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 e5 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.e3 d6 6.Nge2 h5 7.h4 Nge7 8.d3 Bg4 9.b4 a6 10.Rb1 0-0 11.a4 Qd7 12.b5 axb5 13.axb5 Nd8 14.Qb3 Ra5 15.Ba3 b6 16.Kd2 Ra7 17.Ra1 Nb7 18.Bb4 Nc5 19.Bxc5 Rxa1 20.Rxa1 dxc5 21.Ra8 Rxa8 22.Bxa8 Be6 23.Qa4 Qd8 24.Bb7 f5 25.Qa8 Qxa8 26.Bxa8 Kf8 27.Ng1 Bf6 28.Nf3 Kg7 29.Ng5 Bg8 30.Bb7 Kh6 31.f4 Kg7 32.Nf3 e4 33.Ne5 exd3 34.Kxd3 Bxe5 35.fxe5 g5 36.Bd5 gxh4 37.gxh4 Ng6 38.e6 Kf6 39.e7 Nxe7 40.Bxg8 Nxg8 ½-½
Yuffa, D (2583)-Sakaev, K (2596) [B90]
Sochi (8.7) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 h5 9.Nd5 Bxd5 10.exd5 Nbd7 11.Qd2 Be7 12.0-0-0 Qc7 13.Kb1 Nb6 14.Qa5 Rc8 15.c3 Bd8 16.Bxb6 Qxb6 17.Qa4+ Kf8 18.g3 g6 19.f4 exf4 20.gxf4 Rc7 21.h4 Ng4 22.Re1 Re7 23.Be2 Qf2 24.Nc1 Qg2 25.f5 gxf5 26.Bd3 Rxe1 27.Rxe1 Bxh4 28.Re8+ Kg7 29.Rxh8 Kxh8 30.Bxf5 Bg5 31.Qd4+ Kg8 32.Bc2 Qf1 33.Qd1 Qxd1 34.Bxd1 Bxc1 35.Kxc1 Kg7 36.b4 Kf6 37.a4 Ke5 38.a5 Nf6 39.Bf3 h4 40.Kd2 Nxd5 41.Ke1 b5 42.axb6 Nxb6 43.Bb7 Nd5 44.Bxa6 Nxc3 45.b5 Kd5 46.b6 Kc6 47.b7 Kc7 48.Kf2 Ne4+ 49.Kf3 h3 50.Bb5 Kxb7 0-1
Sjugirov, S (2675)-Paravyan, D (2653) [C43]
Sochi (8.9) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Bd6 6.0-0 0-0 7.c4 Bxe5 8.dxe5 Nc6 9.Bf4 Be6 10.Re1 Nxf2 11.Kxf2 Qh4+ 12.Bg3 Qd4+ 13.Re3 f5 14.cxd5 f4 15.Bxh7+ Kxh7 16.Qxd4 Nxd4 0-1
Riazantsev, A (2638)-Predke, A (2676) [D37]
Sochi (9.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Bb4 7.Qc2 0-0 8.e3 c5 9.Bd3 Qa5 10.0-0 c4 11.Bf5 Re8 12.Nd2 g6 13.Bxd7 Nxd7 14.a3 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Nb6 16.f3 f6 17.Bh6 Bd7 18.h4 Ba4 19.Qb2 Bc6 20.Qc2 Re6 21.Bf4 Rae8 22.Rfe1 Na4 23.Rac1 Qd8 24.Nf1 Qe7 25.Ra1 g5 26.Bg3 b5 27.Bf2 Qf7 28.Rad1 Qg6 29.Qc1 g4 30.Ng3 gxf3 31.gxf3 Kh8 32.Kh2 Rg8 33.Rg1 Ree8 34.e4 Qf7 35.Nf5 Qe6 36.Qh6 dxe4 37.Ng7 Qd6+ 38.Bg3 Qf8 39.Nf5 Nxc3 40.Be5 Qxh6 41.Nxh6 Rg6 0-1
Paravyan, D (2653)-Ponkratov, P (2628) [D02]
Sochi (9.6) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.Nbd2 Bd6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e4 Qd8 8.c3 c5 9.Bb5+ Nc6 10.exd5 exd5 11.Qe2+ Qe7 12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.Nb3 Qxe2+ 14.Kxe2 Bb6 15.Rhd1 a6 16.Bxc6+ bxc6 17.Ne5 Bb7 18.Kf1 f6 19.Ng6 Rg8 20.Re1+ Kf7 21.Re7+ Kxg6 22.Rxb7 Rgb8 23.Rd7 Rd8 24.Re7 a5 25.Rae1 a4 26.Nc1 Bc5 27.Rc7 Rac8 28.Rb7 Rb8 29.Rxb8 Rxb8 30.Nd3 Bf8 31.Re6 c5 32.Ra6 c4 33.Nf4+ Kf5 34.Ne6 a3 35.b4 cxb3 36.axb3 Rc8 37.Nxf8 Rxf8 38.Rxa3 Rc8 39.b4 Ke4 40.Ke2 d4 41.f3+ Kd5 42.Kd3 dxc3 43.Rxc3 Rb8 44.Rb3 Rb5 45.Kc3 h5 46.Ra3 Kc6 47.Ra6+ Kb7 48.Ra5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…exd6 2.Qe4#; 1…Kf5 2.Qf4#; 1…Kxd6 2.Sf7#./PN
