The ceremonial first move in A. Esipenko vs A. Nesterov was made by the Director of the State Museum of History of Literature, Art and Culture of Altai, Igor Korotkov in round ten of the Russian Superfinal in Barnaul.
The men’s tournament was the most competitive of all the previous rounds. Four of the six games were decisive.
The duel of the young leaders – Andrey Esipenko (photo above) against Arseniy Nesterov – was one of the key matchups. Playing White in the QGD Carlsbad, Esipenko first gained a positional advantage by taking space in the center and then a material advantage as he managed to capture the isolated d5-pawn. But then White’s indecisive play allowed Black to defend himself. The queen ending soon arose with White having an extra doubled pawn. It was a theoretical draw, but Black needed to defend very precisely. In time trouble, Nesterov made a mistake and Esipenko created a passed pawn and his advantage became decisive.
Vladislav Artemiev (above right) defeated Maxim Matlakov with the white pieces and thus did not allow Esipenko to grab the sole lead. The opponents opted for the Queen’s Gambit, in which Black gave up a pawn and got a decent compensation in the middlegame. However, Artemiev then managed to successfully regroup his forces and simultaneously fend off all of his opponent’s threats, and his advantage became tangible as he approached the time control limit. White pressed his advantage home with precise execution.
Daniil Dubov (photo above) has scored his first tournament victory. Playing Black, he defeated Evgeniy Najer in the sharp line of the Sicilian Dragon. Black sacrificed two pawns and an exchange and created the most dangerous threats to the enemy king. White’s mistake on move 25 was a decisive one, and after that there was no saving of his position. What a wonderful creative achievement by Daniil Dubov!
Playing Black against Alexander Grischuk, Alexey Dreev (photo above) stayed true to his trademark c6-c5 in the Caro-Kann Defense. He also came up with an interesting idea that proved to be an unpleasant surprise for his opponent. Faced with a must-win situation in terms of his tournament standings, Grischuk invested a lot of time in his opening. Grischuk did not want to settle for any drawish continuations, but in the end Dreev managed to force the transition to a better endgame. White put up a stubborn defense, but gradually Black overcame his resistance and won.
Grebnev vs Timofeev and Makarian vs Ponkratov ended in a draw.
Tournament standings after round 10:
1-2. Andrey Esipenko, Vladislav Artemiev – 6.5 points; 3-5. Daniil Dubov, Evgeniy Najer, Arseniy Nesterov – 5.5, 6-7. Aleksey Grebnev, Rudik Makarian – 5, 8-9. Alexey Dreev, Alexander Grischuk – 4.5; 10-11. Maxim Matlakov, Artyom Timofeev – 4; 12. Pavel Ponkratov – 3.5 points.
Pairings of round 11:
Dreev – Najer, Nesterov – Grischuk, Timofeev – Esipenko, Ponkratov – Grebnev, Matlakov – Makarian, Dubov – Artemiev.
In the women’s section, Olga Girya vs Ekaterina Goltseva (photo above) was a sharp Vienna variation of the Queen’s Gambit. White took the “poisoned” e6-pawn out of the opening, upon which his position immediately became very dangerous due to his lag in development. Black attacked vigorously. She gained a decisive material advantage and celebrated victory on move 27.
Valentina Gunina, playing White with Baira Kovanova (photo above), got a very promising position in the opening with a spatial advantage. However, she then lost the thread of the game. Kovanova first equalized, and then delivered a nice tactical blow to win two pawns and convert her extra material.
Lagno vs Garifullina, Voit vs Shuvalova, Goryachkina vs Karmanova, and Pogonina vs Charochkina ended in a draw.
Tournament standings after round 10:
- Kateryna Lagno – 6.5 points, 2-3. Alexandra Goryachkina, Daria Charochkina – 6; 4. Leya Garifullina – 5.5; 5-9. Valentina Gunina, Polina Shuvalova, Natalija Pogonina, Daria Voit, Ekaterina Goltseva – 5; 10-11. Olga Girya, Baira Kovanova – 4.5, 12. Olga Karmanova – 2 points.
Pairings of round 11:
Karmanova – Gunina, Charochkina – Goryachkina, Shuvalova – Pogonina, Garifullina – Voit, Goltseva – Lagno, Kovanova – Girya.
