Ukraine GM Vitaly Bernadskiy seized the solo leadership after the halfway mark of the 6th Vergani Cup now ongoing at Cattolica in Rimini, Italy,
Bernadskiy defeated Greek IM Evgenios Ioannidis in Round 4 and held erstwhile co-leader and top seed GM Anton Korobov in Round 5 to stay in front as his closest pursuers could only draw their games. The 8-year old Ukrainian now has 4½ points, half-a-point ahead of ten players hotly breathing down his neck.
Sharing 2nd to 11th places with 4 points apiece are GMs M. Amin Tabatabaei, Lorenzo Lodici, Vasilios Kotronias, Jesper Sondergaard Thybo, Maxime Lagarde, Daniel Alsina Leal and IM Subramaniyam Bharath and untitled Vuppala Prraneeth.
With four rounds left in the 9-round Swiss event, it’s still anybody’ ball game as these 10 players sharing 2nd to 11th places are followed half-a-point behind by 18 more players sharing 12th to 29th slots. Looks to me like an exciting photo finish in the offing.
Bernadskiy,V (2599)-Ioannidis,E (2454) [B27]
Cattolica (4.3) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 Be6 10.Bb3 Nd7 11.Nd5 Nc5 12.c3 Nxb3 13.axb3 h6 14.b4 a6 15.Re1 Kh7 16.Qe2 Ne5 17.Nxe5 Bxe5 18.Be3 Bxd5 19.exd5 Qd7 20.Rad1 Qb5 21.Bd4 Qxd5 22.Bxe5 Qxe5 23.Qxe5 dxe5 24.Rxe5 e6 25.Rd7 b5 26.Rxe6 Kg8 27.Rb6 Rfe8 28.g4 Re1+ 29.Kg2 Kg7 30.h4 Rae8 31.Rxa6 R8e4 32.Kf3 g5 33.hxg5 hxg5 34.Rd4 R4e2 35.Rd5 Rxb2 36.Rxg5+ Kf8 37.Rf5 Rc1 38.Ra7 Rxc3+ 39.Kg2 Rxb4 40.Rfxf7+ Kg8 41.f3 Rb2+ 42.Kg3 Rb1 43.Rg7+ Kh8 44.Rh7+ Kg8 45.Rag7+ Kf8 46.Rb7 Kg8 47.Rhd7 Rc8 48.Rd5 b4 49.Rdb5 Rc4 50.Kh4 Rf4 51.Rg5+ Kf8 52.Rc5 Rf7 53.Rc8+ Kg7 54.Rxf7+ Kxf7 55.Kg5 b3 56.Rb8 b2 57.f4 Ke6 58.f5+ Ke7 59.Rb7+ Ke8 60.f6 1-0
Niemann,HM (2645)-Salimova,N (2353) [D30]
Cattolica (4.8) 2022
1.c4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nbd2 c5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.a3 Be7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 Nc6 11.Nb3 Ne4 12.Nfd2 Ng5 13.Nb1 Ne4 14.Nc3 Nxc3 15.bxc3 Bf5 16.Ra2 Be4 17.f3 Bf5 18.Rd2 Qc7 19.Rxd5 Rad8 20.Rxd8 Rxd8 21.Nd4 Bd6 22.f4 Nxd4 23.cxd4 Be4 24.Bd3 Qc6 25.Bxe4 Qxe4 26.Qf3 f5 27.Qxe4 fxe4 28.Bd2 Rc8 29.Rb1 Rc2 30.Bb4 Bxb4 31.Rxb4 Rc3 32.Rxb7 Rxa3 33.Kf2 Ra2+ 34.Kf1 Ra1+ 35.Ke2 Ra2+ 36.Ke1 Ra1+ 37.Kd2 Ra2+ 38.Kc3 Re2 39.d5 Rxe3+ 40.Kd4 Re2 41.Ke5 e3 42.Ke6 h6 43.Rb8+ Kh7 44.Rb3 a5 45.d6 a4 46.Rd3 Re1 47.d7 e2 48.d8Q Rf1 49.Re3 1-0
Thybo,Jesper Sondergaard (2590) – Pantzar,Milton (2420) [E16]
Cattolica (5.4) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.d4 b6 5.c4 Bb7 6.Qa4+ Nbd7 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Nc3 c6 9.Bf4 Be7 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.Bxe5 0-0 12.0-0 Re8 13.b4 Nd7 14.Bf4 b5 15.Qb3 a5 16.a3 Qb6 17.e4 axb4 18.axb4 Rxa1 19.Rxa1 Qxd4 20.exd5 cxd5 21.Rb1 Nf6 22.Be3 Qc4 23.Qxc4 bxc4 24.b5 Ne4 25.Nxe4 dxe4 26.Rc1 Bd5 27.b6 f5 28.Bf1 Rc8 29.Rd1 Be6 30.Bf4 1-0
Prraneeth V (2377)-Niemann,HM (2645) [C84]
Cattolica (5.5) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5 10.h3 Nc6 11.d4 cxd4 12.cxd4 Bb7 13.Nc3 Rc8 14.Be3 0-0 15.Rc1 exd4 16.Nxd4 Nxd4 17.Bxd4 b4 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.exd5 Bf6 20.Qd3 g6 21.Ba4 Rxc1 22.Rxc1 Bg5 23.Rd1 a5 24.Qb5 Qa8 25.Bb6 Bd8 26.Bxd8 Rxd8 27.Qb6 Rc8 28.Qxd6 Rd8 29.Qf6 Rxd5 30.Re1 Rd8 31.Bb3 Rf8 32.Rd1 Qe8 33.Rd8 Qxd8 34.Bxf7+ Rxf7 35.Qxd8+ Kg7 36.Qxa5 1-0
Pasti,A (2377)-Lagarde,M (2638) [B33]
Cattolica (5.7) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Ne7 9.c4 Ng6 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qb4 Qb8 12.h4 h5 13.Be2 a6 14.Nc3 Be7 15.g3 b5 16.a4 bxc4 17.Qxb8+ Rxb8 18.Bxc4 Bc8 19.a5 f5 20.Rb1 Rb4 21.b3 e4 22.Ba3 Rb8 23.Na4 f4 24.Nb6 Bg4 25.Bxa6 0-0 26.Be2 Ne5 27.gxf4 Nd3+ 28.Bxd3 exd3 29.Bc1 Bf6 30.Kd2 Bd4 31.f3 Bxf3 32.Rh3 Bg4 33.Rxd3 Bxb6 34.axb6 Bf5 35.Bb2 Bxd3 36.Kxd3 Rxb6 37.Bd4 Rb7 38.Be3 Rfb8 39.Kc4 Rb4+ 40.Kc3 Kf7 41.Bd4 Kg6 42.Rg1+ Kf5 43.Bxg7 Rxb3+ 44.Kc2 R3b5 45.Rg5+ Ke4 46.Rxh5 Rc8+ 47.Kd2 Rbc5 48.Rg5 Rc1 0-1
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qb4 2.d5#; 1…Qb3 2.dxc5#; 1…Qd6 2.Nb6#.
