Retirement has not dulled the chessic skills of former world champion GM Vladimir Kramnik at all.
Kramnik, who retired from chess in January 2019 to focus on projects relating to chess for children and education, came out of retirement and took part in the strong Category 18 (average Elo: 2676) online blitz tournament dubbed the 2020 Yuri Razuvaev Memorial hosted by the chess.com server. The eight-player, all-GM, single round robin event was organized by the Russian Chess Federation and featured Kramnik, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Boris Gelfand, Joel Lautier, Alexander Motylev, Mikhail Kobalia and Vladimir Potkin.
A preliminary round to determine the top two finishers who will dispute the championship was initially held from which Tomashevsky ended on top while Kramnik and Nepomniachtchi wound up tied for second to third places. Better tiebreaks, however, gave Kramnik the second championship slot. In the final two-game playoff for the crown, the 2000-2007 world champion defeated Tomashevsky, 1½-½, to take the champion’s belt. The event was held in honor of trainer-coach-author GM Yuri Razuvaev (1945-2012).
Final standings (prelims): 1. Tomashevsky, 6; 2-3. Kramnik, Nepomniachtchi, 5; 4. Gelfand, 3½; 5. Kobalia, 3; 6. Motylev, 2½; 7. Lautier, 2; 8. Potkin, 1.
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Kramnik, V (2753) [A13]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.Bb2 b6 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.h4 Ba6 9.Be2 c5 10.Qb1 Nb4 11.Bxa6 N8xa6 12.Ke2 f5 13.a3 Nc6 14.g4 fxg4 15.Ng5 Rxf2+ 16.Kxf2 Qxd2+ 17.Kg1 Bxg5 18.Rh2 Qxe3+ 19.Kh1 Bf4 20.Ne4 Qf3+ 21.Rg2 Qh3+ 22.Kg1 Be3+ 23.Nf2 g3 24.Qe4 Bxf2+ 25.Kf1 Rc8 26.Rd1 Bd4 27.Bxd4 Nxd4 28.Kg1 Qf5 29.Qxf5 exf5 0-1
Tomashevsky, E (2706)-Motylev, A (2641) [A06]
chess.com (3.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.b3 Bg4 3.e3 Nd7 4.Bb2 e5 5.h3 Bh5 6.g4 Bg6 7.Nxe5 Nxe5 8.Bxe5 Be4 9.Rg1 Qe7 10.d4 0-0-0 11.Nd2 f6 12.Bg3 Qb4 13.c3 Qb6 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Qc2 Ne7 16.Qxe4 Nd5 17.Bc4 Nxc3 18.Qe6+ Kb8 19.Qxb6 axb6 20.Bd3 Ba3 21.Kd2 Nd5 22.Ke2 b5 23.Kf3 Nc3 24.h4 h6 25.Rh1 b4 26.Bf4 g5 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Bg3 Bb2 29.Rag1 Nxa2 30.Rh5 Rxh5 31.gxh5 Rh8 32.Rh1 Rh6 33.Kg4 Nc3 34.f4 gxf4 35.Bxf4 Rh8 36.Bc4 Ne4 37.Kf5 Nd6+ 38.Bxd6 cxd6 39.h6 1-0
Tomashevsky, E (2706)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [A06]
chess.com (5.2) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 a6 5.b3 Bd6 6.Bb2 0-0 7.g3 c6 8.d4 Nbd7 9.Bg2 Ne4 10.0-0 f5 11.Ne2 g5 12.Ne5 Qe8 13.f3 Nef6 14.Nc1 g4 15.Ncd3 gxf3 16.Bxf3 Ne4 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Nf4 Nf6 19.Kh1 b5 20.Rg1 Bxe5 21.dxe5 Ng4 22.Qe2 Ra7 23.h3 Nh6 24.Ba3 Rff7 25.Qh5 b4 26.Bxb4 Qd8 1-0
Gelfand, B (2676)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [A41]
chess.com (7.3) 2020
1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Bg4 5.Be2 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.d5 Nb8 8.Qc2 Na6 9.h3 Bd7 10.Nb1 Nb4 11.Qb3 a5 12.Nc3 e6 13.0-0 0-0 14.Be3 b6 15.dxe6 Bxe6 16.Nd4 Nd7 17.Qd1 Ne5 18.b3 Nec6 19.Rc1 Re8 20.Qd2 Bd7 21.Ndb5 Na6 22.f4 Nc5 23.Bf3 a4 24.Rb1 axb3 25.axb3 Nb4 26.e5 Rc8 27.exd6 c6 28.Nc7 Rxe3 29.Qxe3 Bf5 30.Rbd1 Nc2 31.Qd2 Nxb3 32.Qf2 Bxc3 33.Qxb6 Bd4+ 34.Rxd4 Nbxd4 35.c5 Nxf3+ 36.Rxf3 Nd4 37.Re3 Ne6 38.Nxe6 Qxb6 39.cxb6 Bxe6 40.Ra3 Rb8 41.Ra7 c5 42.d7 Kg7 43.Rc7 c4 44.b7 c3 45.Rc8 c2 46.d8Q c1Q+ 47.Rxc1 Rxd8 48.Kf2 Rb8 49.Rb1 Bd5 50.Rb5 Be4 51.Rb4 f5 52.g4 Rxb7 53.Rxb7+ Bxb7 0-1
Tomashevsky, E (2706)-Kramnik, V (2753) [C10]
chess.com (1) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Be3 Bd6 8.Bd3 b6 9.Qe2 Bb7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.Ne5 c5 12.h4 Qc7 13.Bg5 Nd5 14.Rhe1 cxd4 15.Qe4 f5 16.Qxd4 Bc5 17.Qa4 Bxf2 18.Re2 Bg3 19.Nf3 Nf4 20.Re3 Nxg2 21.Rxe6 Bxf3 22.Re7 Bf4+ 23.Kb1 Bxd1 24.Rxc7 Bxc7 25.Qd7 Bf4 26.Be7 Ne3 27.Qd4 Bh6 28.Bxf8 Rxf8 29.a4 Bh5 30.a5 bxa5 31.Qxa7 f4 32.Qxa5 Bg6 33.Qa2+ Kh8 34.Qa3 Rg8 35.Bxg6 hxg6 36.Qb3 f3 37.Qf7 Nf5 38.Qxg6 Rf8 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1Qg1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…d6 2.Sb6#; 1…c5 2.Qg8#; 1…f5 2.Re5#; 1…Sa7/c7/d4/a3/c3 2.Q(x)d4#./PN
