THE 28th Russian Team Championship Premier League started May 1 at the Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina in the resort city of Sochi with nine teams from various Russian cities and regions competing.
The competing teams and their Elo rating averages are: Bronze Horseman (Elo 2682), Moscow Chess (Elo 2662), KPRF (Elo 2637), Gogolevsky 14 (Elo 2566), Ladya (Elo 2560), Wildberries Youth (Elo 2463), M. Botvinnik School (Moscow, Elo 2463), SSHOR (Elo 2458), and Cimmeria (Elo 2238). They will play a single round robin with six boards each with a time frame of 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds increment for each move.
After three rounds of play, top seed Bronze Horseman led by GM Nikta Vitiugov (2715) and Gogolevsky 14 led by GM Alexander Motylev (2641) are leading the event after three consecutive match victories.
Incidentally, the 22nd Russian Women’s Team Championship and the All-Russian Team Championship Higher League are being held simultaneously in the same venue. We’ll report on them later.
Standings after Round 3 (in match points): 1-2. Bronze Horseman, Gogolevsky 14; 3. Ladya; 4-5. KPRF, Wildberries Molodezhka; 6. M. Botvinnik School; 7. Moscow Chess; 8. Cimmeria; 9. SSHOR.
Motylev, A (2641)-Petrov, N (2550) [C48]
Sochi (1.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bc5 5.d3 0-0 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Ne2 Re8 8.Ng3 Nd7 9.Nf5 Nf8 10.g4 Ne6 11.h4 Bd6 12.h5 c5 13.Be3 a5 14.a4 b6 15.b3 Nd4 16.Kf1 Bf8 17.N3xd4 cxd4 18.Bd2 g6 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.Nh6+ Bxh6 21.Bxh6 Qf6 22.Kg2 c5 23.f3 Ra7 24.Qd2 Rf7 25.Raf1 Qe6 26.Kg3 Qd7 27.Rh4 Ree7 28.Rh2 Re6 29.Qg5 Ref6 30.Rhf2 Qc7 31.Qh4 Qd7 32.Bg5 Re6 33.f4 exf4+ 34.Rxf4 Qd6 35.Kg2 Rxf4 36.Bxf4 Qd7 37.Bh6 Re8 38.Qf6 Qxg4+ 39.Kf2 Qd7 40.Ke1 1-0
Vitiugov, N (2715)-Predke, A (2690) [E49]
Sochi (3.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 c5 9.Ne2 Qc7 10.Ba2 b6 11.0-0 Rd8 12.Ng3 Bb7 13.Bb2 Nbd7 14.Qe2 Nf8 15.e4 Ng6 16.f3 Rac8 17.Rad1 h5 18.Qe3 h4 19.Ne2 Bxe4 20.fxe4 Qxh2+ 21.Kxh2 Ng4+ 22.Kg1 Nxe3 23.Rc1 Nxf1 24.Kxf1 b5 25.Kf2 Ne7 26.Bb1 cxd4 27.cxd4 Rxc1 28.Nxc1 Nc8 29.Nb3 Nb6 30.Bc3 Nc4 31.Bb4 Rc8 32.d5 Rd8 33.Na5 Nxa5 34.Bxa5 Rd7 35.Ba2 exd5 36.exd5 Kf8 37.d6 Ke8 38.Bc7 a5 39.Kf3 Rxc7 40.dxc7 Kd7 41.Bxf7 Kxc7 42.Kg4 Kd6 43.Kxh4 1-0
Zakhartsov, V (2496)-Paravyan, D (2647) [D85]
Sochi (3.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nxc3 7.Bxc3 0-0 8.Qd2 c5 9.d5 Bxc3 10.bxc3 e6 11.Be2 exd5 12.exd5 Nd7 13.Nf3 Nf6 14.c4 Ne4 15.Qf4 Qa5+ 16.Kf1 Re8 17.h4 Bf5 18.g4 Nc3 19.Qh6 Qb6 20.Ng5 Qf6 21.Qxh7+ Kf8 22.Qh6+ Qg7 23.Qxg7+ Kxg7 24.gxf5 Nxe2 25.fxg6 Kxg6 26.Re1 Nd4 27.Rg1 Rxe1+ 28.Kxe1 Kf6 29.Kd2 Rh8 30.Rg4 b6 31.Rf4+ Nf5 32.Nxf7 Rxh4 33.Rxh4 Nh4 34.Nd8 Nf5 35.Nc6 Nd6 36.Kd3 a5 37.a4 Kf5 38.Na7 Ke5 39.Nb5 Ne4 40.Ke3 Kf5 41.f4 Nf6 42.Nd6 Kg4 43.Nc8 b5 44.cb5 Nxd5 45.Kd3 Kf4 46.b6 Ke5 47.b7 Nb4 48.Kc4 Na6 49.Kb5 Nb8 50.Kxc5 Ke6 51.Kb6 Kd7 52.Ka7 Kc7 53.Ne7 Nd7 54.Nd5 Kc6 55.Nf6 1-0
Alekseenko, K (2699)-Sjugirov, S (2663) [B12]
Sochi (3.3) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nd2 e6 5.Nb3 c5 6.Bb5+ Nc6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.Nxc5 Qa5+ 10.c3 Qxc5 11.Ne2 Ne7 12.0-0 a5 13.Be3 Qb5 14.a4 Qxb2 15.Bc5 Qc2 16.Qxc2 Bxc2 17.Nd4 Bg6 18.Ra2 Nf5 19.Rb2 Nxd4 20.cxd4 Kd7 21.Bd6 Ra7 22.Rc1 Rd8 23.h4 Bd3 24.Bc5 Rc7 25.Rc3 Bc4 26.Rg3 g6 27.Rf3 Ke8 28.h5 gxh5 29.Rg3 Kd7 30.Rg7 Kc8 31.Bd6 Rb7 32.Rxb7 Kxb7 33.Rxf7+ Ka8 34.Re7 Bb3 35.Rxe6 Bxa4 36.Rf6 Kb7 37.Rf7+ Ka6 38.f4 Bc2 39.f5 Be4 40.e6 1-0
Sarana, A (2649)-Esipenko, A (2701) [E20]
Sochi (3.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxc4 7.Bxc4 c5 8.Nge2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.dxc5 Ne5 11.Ba2 Nd3+ 12.Kf1 b6 13.c6 Bc5 14.c7 Qd7 15.Bxc5 bxc5 16.Qc2 Ba6 17.Rd1 Rfc8 18.Na4 Qb5 19.Nac3 Qxb2 20.Qa4 Qb6 21.Rb1 Qd6 22.Rd1 Nd7 23.f4 Rxc7 24.Bc4 Bxc4 25.Qxc4 Nb2 26.Rxd6 Nxc4 27.Rd3 Nxa3 28.Kf2 Nb6 29.Rhd1 Rcc8 30.Ra1 Nc2 31.Ra5 Nb4 32.Rd1 a6 33.e5 Nc4 34.Raa1 a5 35.Rd7 Rd8 36.Rb7 h6 37.Ne4 Nd3+ 38.Kf3 a4 39.g4 a3 40.g5 Rab8 41.Rxb8 Rxb8 42.gxh6 Rb3 43.Rg1 Ndxe5+ 44.Kf2 Rf3+ 45.Kg2 Re3 46.fxe5 Rxe4 47.Kf3 Nd2+ 48.Kf2 g6 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bh4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Na8/e8/a6/e6/b5/d5 2.N(x)e6#; 1…Nc8/g8/g6/d5/f5 2.Nxc6#; 1…c5 2.Rd3#; 1…e4 2.Bf6#; 1…Rb1/a1/d1/e1/f1 2.Nxc2#; 1…Bf2/h2 2.B(x)f2#; 1…Be3 2.Rc4#./PN
