70th Russian Chess SuperFinal 2017
St. Petersburg, Russia
Dec. 3-15, 2017
Final Standings
1-2 Peter Svidler 2765, Nikita Vitiugov 2722, 7.0/11
3-4 Daniil Dubov 2683, Vladimir Fedoseev 2718, 6.5/11
5-7 Vladimir Malakhov 2686, Evgeny Tomashevsky 2713, Alexander Riazantsev 2650, 6.0/11
8-9 Sanan Sjugirov 2650, Ernesto Inarkiev 2689, 5.0/11
10 Maxim Matlakov 2735, 4.5/11
11 Evgeny Romanov 2626, 3.5/11
12 Sergey Volkov 2645, 3.0/11
Ave ELO 2690 Category 18
Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds added after every move starting move 1.
Two St. Petersburg natives Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov tied for first in the tournament proper and then Svidler defeated Vitiugov, 2-0, in the tie-break match to capture his 8th Russian Championship. With this victory GM Peter put some more distance between his record and “the rest of the world,” — Mikhail Tal and Mikhail Botvinnik had won it six times while the attacking fanatic Rashid Nezhmetdinov had done it five times.
Why do they call it SuperFinals? Well, two reasons. Aside from the fact that this is the strongest national champion in the world, the term came into use in 2004 when Garry Kasparov took part for the first time (some of our readers may point out that as a teenager Kasparov tied for first twice in the USSR Championships of 1981 and 1982, but that was for the USSR championship, not Russia) and with his participation it paved the way for moneyed sponsors to come in and give good prizes. For his victory in this tournament Svidler won the first prize of one million roubles (around P850,000) and also a motor vehicle — a Renault Captur.
The venue is the State Museum of Political History of Russia. The Web site of St. Petersburg avers that the “building which houses the museum itself played a significant role in history. This attractive art nouveau mansion was originally built for Mathilda Kshesinskaya, the prima ballerina at the Mariinskiy before the Revolution, and Nicholas II’s mistress before he became Emperor. “In 1917 the building was seized by the Bolsheviks and turned into their headquarters in the city. It became the center of their revolutionary activities, and Lenin made an historic speech from one of the balconies after his arrival in the city. It was later passed through a number of organizations, before eventually becoming the Museum of the Revolution in 1957.”
Playing chess among such history must have inspired the players to fight hard. Unlike the London Classic where only two games in the first five rounds were decisive (Caruana beat Karjakin in the fourth and Anand in the fifth, all other games were drawn), here in the SuperFinals two of the youngsters, Fedoseev and Daniil Dubov sprinted out of the starting line with 4/4 and 3.5/4 (including a win against Svidler), respectively.
Svidler, Peter (2765) — Dubov, Daniil (2683) [A37]
70th RUS-ch SuperFinal Men 2017 St. Petersburg (2), 04.12.2017
1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.0–0 Bf5 7.h3 Qc8 8.Kh2 Nf6 9.d3 0–0 10.e4 Bd7
A bit of a strange setup. White has the Botvinnik English formation but with his knight on f3 instead of e2. It is generally considered that e2 is a better square for the knight, as he does not block White’s f-pawn and can himself go to f4 on occasion.
11.Be3 a6 12.Rc1 Rb8 13.Nd5 Qd8 14.b3 e6 15.Nc3 e5 16.Ng1 Nd4 17.Nge2
See what I told you?
17…b5 18.f4 exf4 19.gxf4 b4 20.Bxd4 cxd4 21.Nb1 Nh5 22.Nd2 f5 23.c5 dxc5 24.e5 g5 25.Rxc5 Qe7!
Black can win a pawn with 25…Nxf4 26.Nxf4 gxf4 because now White can’t take the pawn because of 27.Rxf4 Qe7 with …Bxe5 follow. This was probably what Svidler was trying to egg on Dubov to go for, because now 27.Qf3! (instead of 27.Rxf4) and it is White with the advantage.
26.Qc2
If the rook retreats then 26.Rc2 Nxf4 followed by 27…Bxe5.
26…Rbc8 27.Qc4+?
Svidler didn’t like 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.Nc4 Nxf4 29.Nxf4 Bxe5 but in jumping out of the frying pan he fell into the fire!
27…Be6 28.Qxe6+ Qxe6 29.Bd5 Rxc5 30.Bxe6+ Kh8 31.Bc4 Nxf4 0–1
And still Black carries out the combination with …Nxf4 and …Bxe5. Completely disgusted with himself Svidler resigns.
In the second half of the tournament Fedoseev lost three games and Dubov went down in two games and it was Svidler (who finished with four wins) and Vitiugov (who played a calm tournament with no defeats and three wins) who finished tied for first at the end of 11 rounds.
Svidler’s exploits in the Internet Chess Club and also Chess.Com speedplay made him a heavy favorite to win the active tie breaks (15 minutes for the whole game with 10 seconds added to your time after every move), which he duly won.
I think this is Svidler’s best game.
Svidler, Peter (2765) — Malakhov, Vladimir (2686) [C49]
70th RUS-ch SuperFinal Men 2017 St. Petersburg (11), 14.12.2017
Malakhov is known for his deep positional style. Beating him is never easy.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Nc3
Aha! Everybody has grown so used to the Berlin Wall with 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 that it is always a surprise for White to trot out the 4 Knights Defense.
4…Bb4
Black also has the Rubinstein line with 4…Nd4 and 4…a6. Another possibility is 4…Bc5. I remember back in 1999 when we were preparing for GM Joey’s stint in the Las Vegas World KO Championship. His opponent sometimes uses the 4 Knights and just to be on the safe side we prepared something for it. It turns out that the Four Knights is a very rich opening with lots of opportunities for attack or positional play. You should study it!
5.0–0 0–0
From one of my old chess books I remember this game, played at 10 seconds per move during the great international tournament in Carlsbad 1911. 5…Nd4 6.Nxd4 exd4 7.e5 dxc3 8.dxc3 Be7 9.exf6 Bxf6 10.Re1+ Kf8 11.Bc4 d6 (11…c6) 12.Qh5 g6 13.Bh6+ Bg7 14.Qf3 Qd7 15.Qf6 Rg8 16.Bxg7+ Rxg7 17.Bxf7! 1–0 (17) Nimzovitch-Tartakover Calsbad 1911.
6.d3 Bxc3 7.bxc3 d6 8.Bg5 Bd7
GM Victor Mikhalevsky suggests that Black play 8…Qe7 9.Re1 Nd8 10.d4 Ne6 11.Bc1 (11.Bd2!? is rare, but may be even stronger, see Cheparinov,I. — Jakovenko,D./Jermuk ARM 2009.; 11.Bh4 Nf4 followed by …h6 and …g5.) 11…c5 12.Bf1 Rd8 13.d5 Nf8 and Black is completely ok. Gallagher, J. (2521)-Lane, G. (2409) Scarborough 1999 1/2 24.
9.Rb1 a6 10.Ba4 Rb8 11.Bb3 h6 12.Bh4 b5 13.h3 Re8 14.Qc1 Na5 15.Re1 Nxb3 16.cxb3 Bc6 17.c4 bxc4 18.Qxc4 Bb5 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Qxc7 Rec8 21.Qa7 Bxd3 22.Rbd1 Bb5 23.a4 Ra8 24.Qb6! Bc6 25.Rc1 Bd7 26.Rxc8+ Bxc8 27.Qc6 Rb8 28.Qc7 Ra8 <D>
POSITION AFTER 28…RA8
Now that Svidler has immobilized Black’s pieces of the queenside he goes for the kill.
29.Qc6 Rb8 30.Qc7 Ra8 31.Re3!
Transferring the rook to the kingside.
31…Qg6 32.Nd2 Qe6 33.Qd8+ Kh7 34.Rd3 Bb7 35.Qc7 Qc8 36.Qxf7 Qc6 37.Nc4 Qxe4 38.Rg3 Rg8 39.Nxd6 Qb1+ 40.Kh2 Be4 41.Ne8 1–0
Vitiugov is not very well known but he has been 2700+ since 2010. As a sign of his very high class he was fourth in the 2007 SuperFinals and third in the 2009 edition. Nikita Kirillovich has written two books on the French Defense and is a much sought-after second.
His opponent in the next game was Russian Champion in 2000 and bronze medalist in the European Championships twice (2002 and 2008). Also an expert in the French Defense, Volkov is a creative and aggressive player whose games are always enjoyable to follow.
Volkov, Sergey (2645) — Vitiugov, Nikita (2722) [E20]
70th RUS-ch SuperFinal Men 2017 St. Petersburg (11), 14.12.2017
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 c5
More usual is to open up the Black squares for him to operate against. 7…e5 8.d5 (8.dxe5 Qxd1+ 9.Kxd1 Ng4 regains the pawn with at least an equal game) 8…Bc5 9.Nf3 and now both 9…Bg4 or 9…Ng4 are playable.
8.d5 exd5 9.exd5
White has close to a 100% score with 9.cxd5 here and as a matter of principle I always frown on people taking with the e-pawn instead of the c-pawn in such formations. My take is that by taking with the c-pawn White opens up b5 and c4 for his bishop and maintains a strong center. Taking with the e-pawn forfeits these advantages.
9…0–0 10.Bf4?!
And now White should hurry up and castle.
10…Re8 11.Be2 Bg4 12.Qd2 Nh5 13.Be3 Bd6 14.0–0–0? Rxe3!
The obvious point here is that 15.Qxe3 is met by 15…Bf4. Volkov had foreseen this and prepared an ambush …
15.Bxg4 Rxc3+!
That’s right — Vitiugov had seen all of this as well and prepared an ambush to the ambush!
16.Qxc3
We are back to Black’s original idea if 16.bxc3? Bf4.
16…Qg5+ 17.Kb1 Qxg4 18.Nf3 Nd7 19.g3 a6 20.Rhe1 Nhf6 21.Nd2 b5 22.a4 bxa4 23.Qa5 Rb8 24.Ka2 Be5 25.Rb1 Qd4 26.Qc3 Nxd5! 27.cxd5 Qxd5+ 28.Qc4 Qxd2 29.Red1 Rxb2+ 30.Ka3 Qb4+ 31.Qxb4 cxb4+ 32.Kxa4 Nc5+ 0–1
We will try to squeeze in some more annotated games from this SuperFinals in the coming weeks.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
