Polina Shuvalova Takes Early Lead at Russian Women’s Championship Superfinal

The second round of the Russian Championships Superfinals was played on December 6 in the Central Chess Club in Moscow.  

A principal theoretical duel took place in the Chigaev vs. Dubov game in the open tournament. Black sacrificed a pawn in the Rossolimo Sicilian, hoping to use the might of his two bishops in the open position. White, in return, offered the exchange sacrifice to establish control over the a1-h8 diagonal. Probably, Black should have returned the exchange at some point and shift to an endgame, where he had good chances for a draw. However, Daniil tried to complicate the game as much as possible and sacrificed more material. Black had to give a bishop for the opponent’s passer in tactical complications around move 30, and soon Dubov resigned. 

The Black’s dark-squared bishop had a bright but short life in the Matlakov vs. Fedoseev encounter in the Scotch Game. At first, the bishop was on the queenside, then moved to the opposite flank; later Vladimir sacrificed it for two pawns, and the position became quite sharp. The defence and attack were in balance for a long time, but White started to make mistakes in the time trouble, and the scales tilted to the Black’s favour. Fedoseev won the queen with the help of a small combination and secured the victory on move 34. 

The games Karjakin – Esipenko, Svidler – Nepomniachtchi, Artemiev – Goganov, and Antipov – Vitiugov were drawn. Mikhail Antipov was very close to win; however, he missed a seemingly simple way to the victory in the time trouble and then a complicated tactical way. Eventually, the game ended with a perpetual check.  

Standings after Round 2:

1-4. Maksim Chigaev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi – 1.5
5-9. Peter Svidler, Vladislav Artemiev, Nikita Vitiugov, Daniil Dubov, Aleksey Goganov – 1
10-11. Andrey Esipenko, Mikhail Antipov – 0.5.
12. Maxim Matlakov – 0.

Round 3 pairings:

Vitiugov – Karjakin, Goganov – Antipov, Nepomniachtchi – Artemiev, Fedoseev – Svidler, Dubov – Matlakov, Esipenko – Chigaev. 

Polina Shuvalova took the sole lead at the women’s tournament, having defeated Alina Kashlinskaya as Black. The latter sacrificed a piece in the middlegame, hoping to get to the opponent’s king, but missed a mighty counterblow. Black managed to regroup her forces, counter all the threats, and convert her advantage.  

The Kosteniuk vs. Galliamova game saw a similar scenario. The White’s attack seemed very threatening, and the piece sacrifice logical, but Galliamova demonstrated remarkable defending skills and cold blood. White’s attacking resources were exhausted after the time control, and Kosteniuk resigned.  

Olga Girya, who had the white pieces against Valentina Gunina, acted very strongly in the first part of the game and achieved an edge after a mighty breakthrough in the centre. But she had to decide on a complicated and unobvious piece sacrifice to develop her advantage. Girya opted for another line, and Gunina stole the initiative and then got a significant advantage after another Girya’s inaccuracy. White resigned on move 44. 

Leya Garifullina bested Yulia Grigorieva, Tatyana Getman lost to Marina Guseva, while Aleksandra Goryachkina and Natalija Pogonina made a draw. 

Standings after Round 2:

1. Polina Shuvalova – 2
2-5. Alisa Galliamova, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Natalija Pogonina, Leya Garifullina – 1.5
6-7. Valentina Gunina, Marina Guseva – 1
8-11. Alexandra Kosteniuk, Olga Girya, Alina Kashlinskaya, Tatyana Getman – 0.5
12. Yulia Grigorieva,  – 0.

Round 3 pairings:

Shuvalova – Kosteniuk, Getman – Kashlinskaya, Gunina – Guseva, Pogonina – Girya, Garifullina – Goryachkina, Galliamova – Grigorieva. 

Total prize fund is 10 million rubles.

The medalists well be given tickets to the legendary CHESS musical. 

The tournament is a part of the Chess in Museums programme, which has been carried out by the Chess Federation of Russia and the Elena and Gennady Foundation since 2012.   

The organisers are the Chess Federation of Russia and the Timchenko Foundation. The tournament is supported by the Russian Ministry of Sports. The general sponsor of the Russian national teams is the Federal Grid Company Unified Energy System (FGC UES). The CFR general partner is PhosAgro.   

Tournament on Chess-Results

Tournament information

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili  

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