Nikita Vitiugov and Valentina Gunina become new Russian champions
The Russian Championships Superfinals finished in Ufa on the 20th of October. Both events were 12-player round-robins with classical time control. In the last 11th round of the open tournament, Vladimir Fedoseev, who needed a win to catch up with the leader, lost to Pavel Ponkratov in a dramatic fight. The games Chigaev – Alekseenko, Goryachkina – Andreikin, Predke – Motylev, Rakhmanov – Vitiugov, and Esipenko – Matlakov were drawn. Grandmaster Nikita Vitiugov scored 7 points out of 11 to become the Russian champion for the first time in his career. “When the game was about to finish, I was confident that this was going to be a tie-break. It was a difficult moment: on the one hand, the tournament is over, and on the other hand, the fight for the first place is not yet out of the question. I already have experience finding myself in a similar situation and going down to Peter Svidler in a tie-break. I went for a walk because I simply wanted to be as fresh for the game as possible. I relaxed only when the situation clarified after the last move in the Esipenko – Matlakov game,” said the tournament winner. “As for my participation, this is my 15th Russian championship; I have played in as many superfinals as all other participants put together, and maybe even more. I was lucky in some games, but the opposite happened to me as well. The evaluation bar’s sudden spikes towards one or the other player happened in nearly every game. I would not give up and keep on fighting, but it was not without lucky strikes for me either. You will never win such a tournament without them.” he added. Maxim Matlakov won silver with 6½ points. Vladimir Fedoseev and Dmitry Andreikin tied for third place with 6 points each, but the bronze goes to Fedoseev thanks to more victories. It is worth mentioning that all three prize-winners are from Saint Petersburg. Final standings: 1 GM Vitiugov, Nikita 2727 7 2 GM Matlakov, Maxim 2682 6½ 3 GM Fedoseev, Vladimir 2704 6 4 GM Andreikin, Dmitry 2728 6 5 GM Predke, Alexandr 2666 5½ 6 GM Esipenko, Andrey 2720 5½ 7 GM Motylev, Alexander 2624 5½ 8 GM Ponkratov, Pavel 2659 5½ 9 GM Alekseenko, Kirill 2710 5½ 10 GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra 2602 4½ 11 GM Rakhmanov. Aleksandr 2657 4½ 12 GM Chigaev, Maksim 2639 4 In the women’s tournament, the critical game of the final round between Valentina Gunina and Polina Shuvalova ended in a draw. Having scored 8 points out of 11 without a single loss, Valentina Gunina (Moscow) became the four-time Russian Women’s champion. “Of course, I am very happy, but the final game was a nail-biter. I’d been preparing for one thing, but Polina chose the line, which she had never played before. Of course, it is hard to play against an unexpected variation. I thought that I did OK, but it isn’t easy to assess it without due analysis. Actually, I’ve been exhausted for the previous three days, so in such a case, one’s brain can generate interesting reactions; that’s why I’m glad that it all ended this way,” said Gunina after the game. Evgenija Ovod (Saint Petersburg) drew against Alina Bivol and took silver place with 7½ points, edging out Polina Shuvalova (Moscow), who also scored 7½ points but had to settle for bronze due to fewer games with Black. The games Galliamova – Guseva, Pogonina – Garifullina, Voit – Kashlinskaya, and Bodnaruk – Girya were drawn. Final standings: 1 GM Gunina, Valentina 2462 8 2 IM Ovod, Evgenija 2331 7½ 3 IM Shuvalova, Polina 2509 7½ 4 IM Kashlinskaya, Alina 2493 6½ 5 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2467 6 6 WGM Garifullina, Leya 2409 6 7 IM Galliamova, Alisa 2421 5½ 8 GM Girya, Olga 2410 4½ 9 IM Guseva, Marina 2394 4 10 WGM Voit, Daria 2357 3½ 11 IM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 2415 3½ 12 IM Bivol, Alina 2392 3½ The Superfinals are a part of the Chess in Museums international programme realised by the Chess Federation of Russia and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation. The total guaranteed prize fund was 11 million rubles: 7 million rubles in the open section and 4 million rubles in the women’s tournament. The Superfinals were organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with the support of the Russian Ministry of Sport, the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation. The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. Partners: Aeroflot, Art Russe, Chess Federation of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Bashkortostan State M.V. Nesterov Art Museum. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
Wesley So and Carissa Yip clinch U.S. Championship titles
Wesley So and Carissa Yip are the new U.S. Champions. The 2021 U.S. Championship & U.S. Women’s Championship took place from October 6-19 in St-Louis, featuring 24 of the country’s top players contesting for two national titles. After a dramatic final round, the three leaders of the 2021 U.S. Championship (GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Wesley So, and GM Sam Sevian) battled for the title in a rapid playoff tiebreak on October 19. While Caruana was the only one with chances to secure the title outright (he failed to convert a decisive advantage in the game with Shankland), all three players drew their final round games to finish with 6½/11. So managed to defeat both Caruana and Sevian in the rapid round-robin, earning him the $50,000 first-place prize and his third national title. The first playoff game saw Caruana and So trade queens early on to reach a balanced endgame, where a mistake by Wesley gave Fabiano a chance to sacrifice a piece for a powerful initiative. Although So was forced to immediately give back the extra piece, he managed to keep the position playable, and as Caruana got down into time-trouble, the game quickly turned in Black’s favour. In an already winning endgame for So, Caruana ran out of time and lost the game. Having lost the first game, Caruana was in a must-win situation heading into the second round of the playoff. Playing Black against Sevian, Caruana gained a small edge on the board as he forced a queen trade to head into a pleasant endgame. After slowly building up the pressure, Caruana eventually found a winning tactical shot to decide the game. The third game saw Wesley just needing a draw to clinch the title, while Sevian was in a must-win situation. Essaying the King’s Indian, Sevian played in an offbeat style to create some imbalance in the position, but at the cost of weakening his own kingside. This allowed So to exploit Black’s weaknesses to seize the initiative and win an exchange, giving him a decisive edge. Sevian tried to put up resistance and keep the game complicated, but Wesley remained calm and slowly converted his advantage, winning the playoff. IM Carissa Yip clinched victory in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Championship with a round to spare after defeating IM Nazi Paikidze in the penultimate round. Yip scored 8½/11 and made history by becoming the first woman ever to defeat four former champions in a U.S. Women’s Championship. WGM Begim Tokhirjonova secured a clear second place with 7.0/11 after scoring three straight victories in the second part of the event and drawing her last-round game to jump ahead of GM Irina Krush, who finished in clear third. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Livestream:USChessChamps.Com Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClubInstagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClubYouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub#USChessChamps #STLChessClu Press Contact:Rebecca Buffingtonrbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)