Chess Wednesday December 20th 2006

Annotated Games in PGN

The younger generation took over in the 2006 Russian Chess Championship Super Final held at Moscow. Post the retirement of Garry Kasparov and in the absence of the world champion Vladimir Kramnik and world number five Alexander Morozevich, the contest was won by 21 year old Evgeny Alekseev who overcame Dmitry Jakovenko, 23, in a nervy error ridden Rapid Chess play off.

Neither player is particularly well known but both are rated in the world’s top 100. The old guard, represented by Peter Svidler the world number four and by Sergei Rublevsky the defending champion won just three games between them. Svidler was the only unbeaten player but his ‘+2’ score of 6.5/11 was a full point behind the winners who each registered five victories and suffered one defeat.

Jakovenko led for most of the tournament but towards the end Alekseev won two games with black and caught him.

Tomashevsky,E (2595) - Alekseev,Evgeny (2639) [A30]
ch-RUS Superfinal Moscow RUS (9), 13.12.2006
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.g3 Qb6 This active development gives Black many chances to complicate the play. 6.Nb3 Ne5 7.e4 To defend c4. Also possible is [7.N1d2 Qc6 8.e4 Bb4 9.Qe2] 7...Nf6 8.Qe2 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ [9...a5 10.Nc3 a4 11.Nb5 Be7 12.N3d4 Bc5 13.Bc3 0-0 14.0-0-0 Nxc4 15.e5 Nxe5 16.Qxe5 d6 17.Qe2 e5 18.Nc2 Ng4 19.f4 Nf2 20.Bg2 Bg4 21.Bf3 Bxf3 22.Qxf3 Nxd1 23.Rxd1 Qxb5 24.fxe5 dxe5 25.Bxe5 Rad8 26.Re1 Rfe8 27.Qg4 Be3+ 0-1 Gross,S (2290)-Kahn,E (2315)/Budapest HUN 1996] 10.N1xd2 d6 11.f4 Nc6 12.0-0-0 White is also playing aggressively. 12...0-0 13.Kb1 White would have liked to attack now but if [13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Nd7 15.Nf3 Qc7 16.Re1 b5! and White cannot capture because there will be a deadly discovered check.] 13...e5 14.f5 The position resembles a line of the Sicilian Defence with 1. e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 where Black plays Bc5 and an exchange of dark squared bishops takes place. However White could without a pawn on c4 here and would prefer one of his knights to be on c3. 14...a5! 15.g4 a4 16.Nc1 Nd4 17.Qg2

17...Qc6!? [17...Bd7 18.g5 Nh5 19.Nd3 a3 20.b3 Qa5 gives Black the option of b7-b5 and leaves the game unclear.] 18.Ne2 Nxe2 [18...a3 19.b3 Nxe2] 19.Bxe2 Nd7 20.Rc1 White spends three moves getting this rook to h3 but to no great effect [20.g5 Nc5 21.f6 was sharper when Black is under pressure.] 20...b6! 21.Rc3 Nc5 22.Rh3 Bb7 Black has the initiative. Re3 was possible now but retreating is clearly not part of the plan. 23.Bf3 Nd3 24.g5 [24.Qg3 Qc5 25.Qh4 h6 26.g5 Qd4 and Black is quicker.] 24...Qc5 25.Qg1 Nf2 Black just grabs the offered material. 26.Rg3 Qd4 27.Qc1 Nxh1 28.Bxh1 Rfc8 29.Qc3 The endgame is lost for White but if [29.g6 fxg6 30.fxg6 hxg6 31.Rxg6 Rf8] 29...Qxc3 30.Rxc3 Ba6 31.Bf3 b5 Black just needs to open a file for his rooks to force the win. 32.Be2 bxc4 33.Bxc4 Kf8 34.Kc2 Ke7 35.Kd3 Rc5 36.Ke3 Bxc4 37.Nxc4 Rac8 38.b3 axb3 39.axb3 d5 In the final position White presumably lost on time but the endgame is an easy win for example [39...d5 40.exd5 Rxd5 41.Rc1 f6 42.gxf6+ Kxf6 and the f5 pawn falls.] 0-1