THE number of masters hugging the leader board of Chelyabinsk Variant A Tournament at Chelyabinsk in Russia was reduced to eight at the halfway mark of the event, with GMs Anton Shomoev, Dmitry Frolyanov and Alexei Fedorov, IMs Andrey Drygalov, Rudik Makarian, Polina Shuvalova and Mikhail Bryakin, and WGM Olga Girya on top of the 96-player field sharing 1st to 8th places after Round 5. Each has four points.
The three grandmasters in the leaderboard – Shomoev, Frolyanov, and Fedorov – are seeded 6th, 8th, and 9th, respectively. The top seeds, however, are just a breath away from the eight leaders, though. Half-a-point behind are top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov, 3rd seed GM Igor Lysyj, and 4th seed GM Sergei Azarov who are in a pack of 11 players sharing 9th to 19th places with 3½ points apiece. Meanwhile, 2nd seed GM Anton Demchenko, 5th seed GM Nikita Petrov, and 7th seed GM Aleksej Aleksandrov are in a logjam with 20 other players with three points each and sharing 20th to 42nd places.
Demchenko, A (2610)-Gabrielian, A (2448) [B52]
Chelyabinsk (3.7) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 g6 8.h3 Nxd4 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Qxd4 Bg7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Qd3 a6 13.Bg5 b5 14.cxb5 axb5 15.e5 dxe5 16.Qxd7 Nxd7 17.Rfd1 Nb6 18.Nxb5 e6 19.Nc7 Ra7 20.Be3 Rb7 21.Rac1 e4 22.Rc6 Na4 23.b3 Nc3 24.Rd2 Be5 25.Na6 Ra8 26.Nc5 Rc7 27.Rxc7 Bxc7 28.Rd7 Nd5 29.Na4 Kf8 30.Nc3 Ke8 31.Rxd5 exd5 32.Nxd5 Be5 33.a4 Rd8 34.f4 Rxd5 35.fxe5 Rd3 36.Kf2 Rxb3 37.a5 Ra3 38.Bb6 Kd7 39.h4 Ke6 40.Bc7 Kd5 0-1
Girya, O (2432)-Kotsur, P (2517) [E15]
Chelyabinsk (3.12) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 c5 6.d5 exd5 7.cxd5 Bb7 8.Bg2 Nxd5 9.0-0 Be7 10.Rd1 Nc6 11.Qa4 Nc7 12.Ne5 d5 13.Nc3 b5 14.Nxb5 0-0 15.Bf4 Nxe5 16.Bxe5 Ne8 17.Nc3 Bf6 18.Bxd5 Qb6 19.Qe4 Bxd5 20.Nxd5 Qe6 21.Nf4 Qc8 22.Rac1 a5 23.Qe3 c4 24.Nd5 Qb7 25.Bxf6 Nxf6 26.Nxf6+ gxf6 27.Qd4 Rfe8 28.Rxc4 1-0
Ponkratov, P (2619)-Buksa, N (2419) [B30]
Chelyabinsk (4.8) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 Nf6 7.Ng5 0-0 8.f4 Bg4 9.Qe1 exf4 10.Bxf4 Nd4 11.h3 h6 12.Nxf7 Rxf7 13.hxg4 Nxc2 14.Qg3 Nxa1 15.g5 hxg5 16.Bxg5 Nc2 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.e5 Kf8 19.Qg6 Qe7 20.Qh5 g6 21.Qxg6 Nd4 22.Rxf6 d5 23.Bxd5 1-0
Shomoev, A (2563)-Gabrielian, A (2448) [B69]
Chelyabinsk (5.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f4 Be7 10.Nf3 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.f5 Qa5 13.Kb1 h5 14.Bd3 0-0-0 15.Qe3 Kb7 16.Ne2 Qb6 17.Qd2 h4 18.Nf4 h3 19.Nxh3 e5 20.Nf2 Bc8 21.Ng4 d5 22.exd5 Rxd5 23.Qe2 Ka7 24.Ne3 Rd7 25.Be4 Nd4 26.Nxd4 exd4 27.Nd5 Qc5 28.Qf3 Bd8 29.a3 Re8 30.Nb4 Bc7 31.Nc6+ Kb6 32.b4 Qd6 33.Rxd4 Qf4 34.Qxf4 Bxf4 35.Bf3 Rxd4 36.Nxd4 Be5 37.c3 Rd8 38.g4 Bxd4 39.cxd4 Rxd4 40.Rd1 Rf4 41.Rd6+ Kc7 42.Rd3 Bb7 43.Bxb7 Kxb7 44.h3 Kc6 45.Kb2 Rf2+ 46.Kc3 Re2 47.Kd4 Kd6 48.Re3 Rc2 49.Ke4 Rf2 50.Rd3+ Ke7 51.Kd4 Rc2 52.Rc3 Rd2+ 53.Kc5 Rd6 54.h4 Kd7 55.h5 Rc6+ 56.Kd4 Rd6+ 57.Ke4 Ke7 58.h6 Rd8 59.h7 Rh8 60.Rh3 Kd6 61.Kd4 Kc6 62.Rh6 Kd7 63.Kd5 Kc7 64.Kc5 Kd7 65.Kb6 1-0
Fedorov, A (2529)-Simantsev, M (2389) [B12]
Chelyabinsk (5.6) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nd2 e6 5.Nb3 Nd7 6.Nf3 c5 7.Be2 c4 8.Nbd2 b5 9.Nf1 h6 10.Ne3 Bh7 11.g3 Ne7 12.Nh4 Nc6 13.f4 Be7 14.Nhg2 Qa5+ 15.c3 b4 16.Bd2 bxc3 17.Bxc3 Bb4 18.Qd2 0-0 19.0-0 Rab8 20.f5 Bxc3 21.bxc3 Qa3 22.Bg4 exf5 23.Bxf5 Bxf5 24.Nxf5 Ne7 25.Qc1 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc7 2.Qxb6#; 1…Bxg7/e7+ 2.Q(x)e7#; 1…b5 2.Qc5#; 1…Re6/f7/xf5 2.Q(x)e6#; 1…Rg6 2.Rxg6#; 1…Rh6 2.Qxh6#; 1…b2 2.Qa3#; 1…Qxf2/e5 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…Qg3 2.Qxg3#; 1…Qf4 2.Qxf4#; 1…Rd2 2.Qxd2#; 1…Rd3 2.Qxd3#; 1…Rd4 2.Qxd4#; 1…Rd5 2.Rxf6#./PN
