[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[Annotator "Havasi,G"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 {This allows Black the possibility of ...e5.} (3. Nf3
{is the main move.}) 3... e5 (3... Nf6 4. Bxc4 e6 5. Nf3 {would transpose to
normal lines.}) 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4 Bd6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. O-O (7. Qe2+ {is
another option} Qe7 8. Qxe7+ Bxe7 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 {a recent game went} a6
11. Re1 Bd6 12. Ne5 Nbd7 13. Bb3 Nb6 14. Bg5 $14 {1-0 (61) Sargissian,G (2686)
-Moradiabadi,E (2586) Dubai UAE 2014}) 7... O-O 8. h3 Nc6 9. Nc3 {This is an
important position, Black can choose from several moves.} Bf5 (9... h6 {
is the main move} 10. Re1 Re8 11. Rxe8+ Qxe8 $132 {0-1 (33) Moskalenko,V (2564)
-Navara,D (2708) Barcelona 2011}) 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 g5 (11... Re8 {hasn't
been played} 12. Qd2 {with unclear play.}) (11... Be7 12. Re1 Nd7 13. Bg3 Nb6
14. Bb3 $14 {1-0 (28) Muzychuk,M (2495)-Ozturk,K (2254) Kragujevac 2013}) 12.
Nxg5 $146 (12. Bg3 {is definitely simpler and better} Bxg3 13. fxg3 Bg6 14. Ne5
Nxe5 15. dxe5 Nh5 16. Kh2 $14 {1-0 (25) Liiva,R (2454)-Huebner,R (2595)
Puhajarve EST 2013}) 12... hxg5 13. Bxg5 Re8 $1 {The best.} (13... Be7 14. Re1
$44) 14. Qd2 $2 (14. Nd5 {is a very interesting forced line} Be7 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6
16. Qh5 Be6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. d5 Qe5 $1 19. Qxe5 Nxe5 20. dxe6 Nxc4 21. Rfc1
Na5 22. exf7+ Kxf7 23. Rxc7+ Re7 24. Rxe7+ Kxe7 $15) 14... Nxd4 $1 (14... Re4 {
was also interesting.}) 15. Rad1 c5 16. b4 {White obviously wants to
complicate the game.} b6 17. bxc5 bxc5 18. Rfe1 (18. Nd5 Ne4 $1 {was the plan.}
) 18... Rxe1+ 19. Qxe1 Be6 $4 (19... Be7 $1 $17 {is a very good defensive move.
}) 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. Rxd4 Bh2+ 22. Kxh2 Qxd4 23. Qxe6+ Kg7 24. Ne2 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. a3 Bc5 7. Nb3 Bb6 8.
Bf4 e5 9. Bg3 d6 10. e3 Be6 11. Bh4 h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Be2 (13. Ne4 $5 Qe7
14. Nxd6+ $14) 13... O-O 14. O-O Rad8 15. Nd2 Qe7 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. cxd5 Nb8 18.
b4 Nd7 19. Nc4 a6 20. Rc1 $14 {Diagram [#] White has a very pleasant edge
thanks to his very strong knight on c4 and also the space advantage due to the
d5-pawn.} Ba7 21. Rc2 f5 22. Qd3 g6 23. Rfc1 Nf6 24. Na5 (24. a4 $5 {with the
idea of a5 and Nb6 could have been much better than the game continuation.})
24... Rd7 25. Qb3 Qf7 26. b5 axb5 27. Bxb5 Re7 {Black has a very compact
structure on the kingside and if White is not careful he can launch a very
dangerous attack. This is what happens in the game.} 28. Rc8 $2 {How can we
explain this mistake? Well first of all, the rook on f8 was not doing much.
The rook on c2 goes out of his way to exchange himself for the c8 rook. After
the exchange the black king is absolutely under no pressure because he has a
nice home on g7. Besides a lone white rook cannot cause much damage. Due to
all these reasons Rc8 turns out to be a mistake.} Rxc8 29. Rxc8+ Kg7 $17 30.
Bf1 f4 $1 {When the attack is calling, Khismatullin doesn't miss his chance.
With this move the bishop on a7 comes to life.} 31. Nc4 (31. h3 {trying to
stop Ng4 is met with} fxe3 32. fxe3 Ne4 $1 $19) 31... Qxd5 32. a4 fxe3 33. fxe3
Qe6 (33... Ng4 {would have been very strong. There is no good way to defend
the e3 pawn. Why Khismatullin didn't play this is a good question.}) 34. Ra8
Bc5 35. h3 Rf7 36. Rb8 d5 37. Nb2 (37. Rxb7 dxc4 38. Bxc4 Qxc4 39. Qxc4 Bxe3+
40. Kh1 Rxb7 $19) 37... Nd7 38. Rxb7 Qf5 39. Bb5 Qf2+ 40. Kh2 Bxe3 41. Qd1 Bf4+
42. Kh1 Qg3 43. Qg1 {Black is almost on the brink of victory.} Nc5 ({A much
simpler route to victory was} 43... Be3 44. Qd1 Nf6 45. Rxf7+ Kxf7 46. a5 (46.
Qf3 Qe1+ 47. Qf1 Qxf1+ 48. Bxf1 Bb6 $19) 46... Bf4 47. Qg1 Ng4 $1 $19) 44.
Rxf7+ Kxf7 45. a5 e4 46. Nd1 Ke6 47. a6 Bb8 48. Ne3 {White has erected some
sort of a blockade and it was important for Black to be patient with some move
like Qd6. Instead he starts pushing his pawns which gives White a lot of
counterplay.} d4 49. Nc2 $1 d3 50. Nd4+ $1 Kf6 51. Nc6 $1 {Artemiev must be
given praise for finding the only moves to keep the balance.} e3 {Diagram [#]
With two pawns in your face like the ones on e3 and d3 it is extremely
difficult to find the only way to draw the game.} 52. Nxb8 $2 (52. a7 $1 {
was the only way to draw the game and the reason is very beautiful. White
doesn't want to win a piece. He just wants to distract the bishop from the
b8-h2 diagonal!} Bxa7 53. Qf1+ $1 Kg5 $1 {only way to keep the balance.} (53...
Qf2 54. Qa1+ $1 Kg5 55. Qe5+ Qf5 56. Qxe3+ $18 {and it's White who emerges
victorius.}) 54. Bxd3 $1 Nxd3 55. Qxd3 Qe1+ 56. Kh2 Qf2 57. Nxa7 e2 58. Qd5+
Kh4 59. Qe4+ Kg5 60. Qd5+ $11) (52. Qf1+ Bf4 $19) 52... Ne4 $1 53. Qa1+ Kg5 $1
{Denis sees that his king is extremely safe on g5.} 54. Bxd3 Nf2+ 55. Kg1 Nxh3+
56. Kh1 Nf2+ 57. Kg1 Nxd3 {Both pawns are racing towards the queening square
but unfortunately the a-pawn is just too far away from the scene of action.}
58. a7 e2 59. Qa5+ Kh4 60. a8=Q e1=Q+ 61. Qxe1 Qxe1+ 62. Kh2 Ne5 $1 63. g3+ (
63. Qa4+ Ng4+ $19) 63... Qxg3+ 64. Kh1 Ng4 {If this were a real war scene then
the queen on a8 and the knight on b8 would have felt really stupid for leaving
'His Majesty' all alone on the other side! A great win for Khismatullin who
has now three wins in a row.} 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C49"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 Bxc3 7. bxc3 d6 8.
Bg5 Bd7 9. Rb1 a6 10. Ba4 Rb8 11. Qc1 h6 12. Bh4 Re8 13. Bb3 Na5 14. Re1 Nxb3
15. axb3 Qe7 16. d4 a5 17. Re3 Qe6 18. Qe1 Nh5 19. Qd1 exd4 20. Qxd4 Qg6 21.
Bg3 Nxg3 22. hxg3 Bc6 23. Rbe1 Qg4 24. Qc4 Qe6 25. Qd3 Qg6 26. Nd4 Bd7 27. Ne2
Bc6 28. Nd4 Bd7 29. Ne2 Bc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 b6 8. Qxc4
Bb7 9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. Bg5 Rc8 11. Nb5 Bd5 12. Qc2 Be4 13. Qc1 c6 14. Nc3 Bg6 15.
Rd1 Nd5 16. Bf4 Nxc3 17. Qxc3 Be4 18. Rac1 b5 19. Qe3 Bd5 20. Qd3 f5 21. Ne5
Nxe5 22. Bxe5 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Qd5+ 24. f3 a6 25. Qb3 Rfd8 26. Qxd5 Rxd5 27. Rd3
c5 28. Ra3 Rc6 29. e4 Rd8 30. dxc5 Rd2+ 31. Kh1 fxe4 32. fxe4 Re2 33. b4 Rxe4
34. Bc3 Bxc5 35. bxc5 b4 36. Bxb4 Rxb4 37. Rb3 Rd4 38. Rb6 Rxb6 39. cxb6 Rb4
40. Rc8+ Kf7 41. Rc7+ Kf6 42. b7 Rb2 43. a4 h5 44. Kg1 g5 45. Kf1 e5 46. Ke1
Ke6 47. Kd1 Kd6 48. Rh7 h4 49. Kc1 Rb4 50. gxh4 gxh4 51. a5 Kc6 52. Rxh4 Rxb7
53. Rh6+ Kc5 54. Rxa6 Rh7 55. Ra8 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. b3 g6 4. Bb2 Bg7 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3
Ne4 9. d4 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 d6 11. Rc1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Qc8 14. Nb5 Nd7
15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nc3 Nf6 17. e4 Qb7 18. Qd4 Rac8 19. Rc2 Rc5 20. b4 Rc7 21.
Rfc1 Rfc8 22. Nd5 e5 23. Qd3 Nxd5 24. exd5 Rd8 25. Qe4 Rcc8 26. Kg1 Qe7 27. Qe3
Rd7 28. Rc3 Rdc7 29. R1c2 h5 30. h4 Rd7 31. Kh2 Rdc7 32. a3 Rd7 33. Rc1 Rdc7
34. R1c2 Rd7 35. Rc1 Rdc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 dxc4 6. Bg2 b5 7. O-O O-O 8. a4
c3 9. Nb3 cxb2 10. Bxb2 bxa4 11. Ne5 Nd5 12. Rxa4 a5 13. Qa1 Ba6 14. Rc1 c6 15.
Ba3 Bxa3 16. Rxa3 Bxe2 17. Rxa5 Rxa5 18. Nxa5 Bb5 19. Naxc6 Nxc6 20. Nxc6 Bxc6
21. Rxc6 Qd7 22. Ra6 Nf6 23. Ra7 Qd6 24. Ra6 Qd7 25. Ra7 Qd6 26. Ra6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qb3 d5 6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. Nc3 Qxb3 8.
axb3 Bb7 9. Bg2 a5 10. O-O Na6 11. Bf4 Nd5 12. Rfc1 Nxf4 13. gxf4 Bd6 14. e3 f6
15. Nb5 Ke7 16. Nd2 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Rhc8 18. Ne4 Kd7 19. Kf3 Be7 20. h4 Nb4 21.
Rg1 Rg8 22. Rac1 c6 23. Na3 Rad8 24. Ke2 Ke8 25. Nc4 Nd5 26. Ncd2 Nb4 27. Nc4
Nd5 28. h5 Kf7 29. Rg2 Rd7 30. Rcg1 Rdd8 31. Ng3 Rge8 32. Ne4 Rg8 33. Ng3 Rge8
34. f5 Bf8 35. Kf3 Rd7 36. Rc1 Rb8 37. Rgg1 Nb4 38. Ke2 Rd5 39. fxe6+ Kxe6 40.
Nd2 Kf7 41. Nde4 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A85"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. b4 e6
9. Qb3 Kh8 10. Bb2 Qe7 11. a4 Nc6 12. Ba3 Nd8 13. a5 d6 14. c5 Ne4 15. Nxe4
Bxe4 16. Rac1 Nf7 17. b5 Bd5 18. Qb4 Rad8 19. Ne1 Ng5 20. cxd6 cxd6 21. axb6
axb6 22. f3 e5 23. dxe5 Qxe5 24. Nc2 f4 25. e4 Bb7 26. Rcd1 Rc8 27. Ne1 Qc5+
28. Kh1 Qe3 29. Bd3 Nf7 30. Nc2 Qc5 31. Qd2 Qg5 32. Nb4 Bc3 33. Qf2 Qc5 34. Nc2
Qxf2 35. Rxf2 Rfd8 36. Nb4 Ra8 37. Bb2 Bxb2 38. Rxb2 d5 39. exd5 Bxd5 40. Re1
Re8 41. Rxe8+ Rxe8 42. Kg1 Bb7 43. Kf2 Kg7 44. Rc2 Re7 45. Be2 Rd7 46. Nd3 g5
47. Nb2 Ne5 48. Na4 Rd6 49. Rc7+ Rd7 50. Rc1 Rd6 51. Rc7+ Rd7 52. Rc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D98"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Bg4 8.
Be3 Nfd7 9. Nd2 Nb6 10. Qc5 c6 11. f3 Be6 12. O-O-O f5 13. e5 N8d7 14. Qa3 Nd5
15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. h4 h6 17. Nb1 Nb6 18. Nc3 Be6 19. Kb1 Qd7 20. Bd3 Nd5 21.
Nxd5 Bxd5 22. Ka1 e6 23. Qc5 Rf7 24. Qc1 Kh7 25. Rh3 c5 26. dxc5 Qa4 27. Bb1
Bxe5 28. Bxh6 Rc8 29. Be3 Rc6 30. h5 g5 31. Rhh1 Bb3 32. Bxg5 Ra6 33. Rh4 Qa5
34. Bd2 Qd8 35. Re1 Rd7 36. Rb4 Bxa2 37. Bxa2 Qa5 38. Qc4 Rxd2 39. Rxb7+ Kh8
40. Rb5 Qa3 41. Rb8+ Kh7 42. Rb7+ Kh6 43. Qf4+ Bxf4 44. bxa3 Rxa3 45. Rb2 Kxh5
46. Rxd2 Bxd2 47. Rxe6 Be3 48. c6 Bd4+ 49. Kb1 Rc3 50. Bd5 Rc5 51. Bb3 Kg5 52.
Bd1 Kf4 53. g4 Be5 54. gxf5 Kxf5 55. Rh6 Kg5 56. Re6 Kf5 57. Rh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Black "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2
d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bf4 Nd7 11. Rc1 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc3 13. Rxc3 bxc5 14. Ne1 Nb6
15. b3 Rc8 16. Rc2 Re8 17. Nd3 Ba6 18. Bh3 Ra8 19. Bg4 c4 20. Ne5 Bf8 21. Nf3
Bc8 22. Bxc8 Rxc8 23. Be3 Bc5 24. Bxc5 Rxc5 25. Qd4 Qc8 26. Rfc1 Rc6 27. Qd1
Rf6 28. Rd2 h6 29. Rd4 Qa6 30. Rc2 Qa3 31. Rcd2 Rc6 32. Kg2 Rce6 33. e3 Re4 34.
Qc2 Qa5 35. Rd1 Qb4 36. Rc1 Qa3 37. Rcd1 Qb4 38. h3 Qa5 39. Nh4 Qc5 40. Nf5
Rxd4 41. Rxd4 Qf8 42. a4 g6 43. a5 Nd7 44. Nh4 cxb3 45. Qxb3 Nf6 46. Rb4 Qd6
47. Rb7 Qa6 48. Rb5 Rc8 49. Nf3 Rc1 50. Nd4 Kg7 51. Qb2 Rd1 52. g4 Kh7 53. Qb3
Rd2 54. Nf3 Ra2 55. Rb7 Qe2 56. Nd2 Kg8 57. Qxa2 Ne4 58. Rxf7 Nxd2 59. Qxd5 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Black "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E54"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. exd4
dxc4 9. Bxc4 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Ne5 h6 12. Bh4 Nbd7 13. Nxf7 Kxf7 14. Bxe6+
Kxe6 15. Qb3+ Kf5 16. Qc2+ Ke6 17. Qb3+ Kf5 18. Qc2+ Ke6 19. Qg6 Bxc3 20. bxc3
Re8 21. Rfe1+ Kd5 22. c4+ Kc6 23. Qg3 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Qg8 25. Rc1 Nc5 26. dxc5
Qe6 27. Qxg7 Nd7 28. Bg3 Rg8 29. Qc3 Nxc5 30. Re1 Qf5 31. Re7 Qb1+ 32. Re1 Qf5
33. Re7 Qb1+ 34. Re1 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14.
Rfd1 Qc5 15. c4 Qxc4 16. e4 Nb6 17. Rdc1 Qxb3 18. axb3 Bb5 19. Be3 Rfb8 20. Bf1
h6 21. Bxb5 cxb5 22. Ra5 Nd7 23. Rc7 Nf6 24. Raxa7 Rxa7 25. Bxa7 Rd8 26. Rb7
Rd7 27. Rb8+ Kh7 28. Be3 Nxe4 29. Rxb5 g5 30. Kg2 Kg6 31. Kf3 Nc3 32. Rb8 f5
33. Re8 Kf7 34. Rh8 Kg7 35. Re8 Kf7 36. Rh8 Kg7 37. Re8 Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Be2
dxc4 9. O-O g6 10. Ne4 Qe7 11. Ne5 Bg7 12. f4 Nb6 13. Qe1 O-O 14. h4 h5 15. Rf3
Bd7 16. Rc1 Be8 17. Qa5 Nd5 18. Bxc4 b6 19. Qe1 c5 20. dxc5 bxc5 21. Bxd5 exd5
22. Nxc5 Rc8 23. b4 a5 24. a3 axb4 25. axb4 Bb5 26. Rd1 Bxe5 27. fxe5 Qxe5 28.
Rd4 Ra8 29. Qg3 Rfe8 30. Qxe5 Rxe5 31. Nd3 Re4 32. Rxd5 Bc4 33. Rd4 Bxd3 34.
Rxd3 Rxb4 35. Rd4 Rb1+ 36. Kh2 Ra7 37. Rdf4 Re7 38. g4 hxg4 39. Rxg4 Rb3 40. h5
Rbxe3 41. Rxe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/Mokal,A"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 c5 6. Bg2 (6. d5 {is the much
more combative move which initiates a very theoretical pawn sacrifice. Dubov
plays a safer continuation but one which is supposed to give Black quite a
safe theoretical equality.}) 6... Nc6 7. dxc5 bxc5 (7... Bxc5 {is the other
option.} 8. O-O Rc8 9. Qa4 Bb7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Bf4 {with an interesting
position.}) 8. O-O Be7 9. e4 Rc8 $6 (9... e5 $5 {Though this move looks
positionally suspect, it gives Black excellent chances as his knight is the
first one to get to d4.} 10. Qa4 (10. Nc3 Bxc4 $15) 10... Bb7 11. Nc3 O-O 12.
Re1 d6 13. Bg5 Nd4 $15) 10. e5 $1 Ng4 11. Qe4 (11. Qe2 $1 f6 12. exf6 Bxf6 (
12... Nxf6 13. Nc3 Nd4 14. Nxd4 cxd4 15. Nb5 $14) 13. Bf4 O-O 14. Nc3 (14. h3
Nh6 15. Bxh6 gxh6 16. Nc3 Qe7 $15 {Black who has two active bishops has
absolutely no problems.}) 14... Nh6 15. Bxh6 gxh6 16. Ne4 $14) 11... f5 12.
exf6 Nxf6 13. Qe2 {Effectively White has lost a tempo as he went Qc2-e4-e2.}
O-O 14. Nbd2 Bb7 $11 {Black has absolutely no problems in the opening.} 15. b3
a5 16. Bb2 Qb6 (16... Rc7 {with the idea of Qa8 came into consideration.}) 17.
Rab1 Qa7 18. a3 Qa8 19. Rfe1 a4 20. bxa4 Nd4 (20... Qxa4 $2 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22.
Rxb7 $18) 21. Qd3 Nxf3+ $6 (21... Bd8 $1 {with the idea of re-routing the
bishop to a5 is pretty strong.} 22. Bxd4 cxd4 23. Qxd4 Bc6 $44 {Black has
excellent compensation.}) 22. Bxf3 {This lets White get a comfortable position.
} Bxf3 23. Nxf3 Qxa4 24. Rbd1 Qc6 25. Ng5 g6 26. h4 $1 (26. Bxf6 Bxf6 {and the
d7-pawn cannot be taken just yet as the g5-knight is hanging.}) 26... Rcd8 27.
Qc3 Rb8 28. Ba1 (28. h5 $5 {As the knight cannot move, this move is pretty
strong.} gxh5 29. Ba1 $40) 28... Qb7 29. Rd3 h6 {White gets a winning position
now.} 30. Rf3 $1 hxg5 31. hxg5 {The knight cannot move because of mate on h8.}
Bd8 32. gxf6 Kf7 33. Rd1 $6 (33. Qd3 Qc6 34. g4 Rh8 35. Rh3 $18) 33... Rh8 (
33... d6 $1 {The idea is to go ...Rh8 when Black has excellent counterplay.}
34. Rxd6 $4 Qb1+ $1 35. Kg2 Rh8 $1 $19) 34. Qd3 d5 35. Be5 ({Another way to
get an advantage is to play} 35. cxd5 exd5 (35... Qxd5 36. Kg2 Qxd3 37. Rfxd3
$18) 36. Re1 $18 {The black king is just too exposed for Black to have any
realistic chances of defending this position.}) 35... Rc8 36. cxd5 exd5 37. Rf4
(37. Qxd5+ $1 {Sometimes when attacking it is difficult to transpose into an
endgame. But here it would have been a trivial win after} Qxd5 38. Rxd5 Rh5 39.
g4 Rg5 40. Re3 Rxg4+ 41. Kf1 $18 {Rd7+ is going to be a bone crusher and there
is no good way to prevent it.}) 37... g5 38. Rg4 (38. Rb1 $1 Qc6 (38... Qxb1+
39. Qxb1 gxf4 40. Qf5 fxg3 41. Qd7+ Kg6 42. Qg7+ Kf5 43. Qxh8 $18) 39. Rg4 d4 (
39... Bxf6 40. Qf5 Qe6 41. Rb7+ $18) 40. f3) 38... d4 $1 39. Qc4+ $2 (39. f3 $1
{was a nice little way to avert all the difficulties. The point is that ...Qb2
looks very threatening now but can be met with a very strong defensive move.}
Qb2 $5 40. Rh4 $3 gxh4 41. Qc4+ Kg6 42. Qe6 $1 {f7 is a huge threat now.} Qc2
43. Qg4+ Kf7 44. Qd7+ Kg6 45. Qg7+ Kf5 46. Re1 $1 $18 {This entire variation
was not at all easy to see.}) 39... Kg6 40. Qd3+ Kf7 41. Re4 (41. f3 $1 $18)
41... Bxf6 (41... Qd5 $1) 42. Bxf6 (42. Qf3 Qc6 43. Rde1 $18) 42... Kxf6 43.
Qf3+ Kg7 44. Qf5 Rh5 {White holds the advantage here. But have a look at the
position. The rook on e4 cannot move as a mate is threatened on h1. The black
king is completely exposed on g7. In such positions the value of each move is
extremely high and there are high chances that even a natural move can turn
out to be a mistake.} 45. Rde1 $2 {Played just after 49 seconds of thought.
This natural move is a mistake which throws away all the advantage that White
had.} (45. Qe5+ $1 {is the correct move. The idea is to first place the queen
on the e-file and then bring the rook to e1. In this way Re8 would not be
possible.} Kg8 (45... Kg6 46. Qd6+ Kf7 47. Rde1 $18 {is just crushing.}) (45...
Kh7 46. Rde1 $18) 46. Qe6+ Kg7 47. Rde1 {Once the rooks have doubled on the
e-file, the black king has no defence.} d3 (47... Rch8 48. Qe5+ Kg6 49. Qd6+
Kf7 50. Re7+ $18) 48. Qg4 d2 49. Re7+ Qxe7 50. Rxe7+ Kf8 51. Qxh5 $18) (45. g4
{This move looks pretty natural but has the drawback of allowing the rook to
come to e8.} Re8 $1 46. gxh5 Qxe4 {All endgames are simply worse for White.
But if he doesn't exchange the queens what should he do? Qg4 picking up the d1
rook is a huge threat. Here White has a hidden resource which is both deep and
beautiful.} 47. h6+ $3 {This is not just a spite check. The idea is to block
the h-file.} (47. Qxg5+ Kh7 {only helps Black as ...Rg8 is coming up next.} 48.
f3 Qe6 49. Qg6+ Qxg6+ 50. hxg6+ Kxg6 $17 {Black has excellent winning chances
in the endgame.}) (47. Qxc5 {loses now because of} Qg4+ 48. Kh2 Qxh5+ 49. Kg2
Qg4+ 50. Kh2 Rh8# {Maybe after seeing this variation you can appreciate the
value of the move 47.h6!!}) 47... Kxh6 48. Qxc5 $1 (48. Qf6+ Kh5 $19) 48...
Qg4+ 49. Kh2 Qxd1 50. Qc6+ $11 {White wins back the rook and the game ends in
a draw. I just wanted to show that seeing 0.00 on your computer screens is
sometimes very misleading. The only way to maintain that equality is by making
loads of accurate moves, not an easy task when your clock is ticking.}) 45...
Re8 $1 {Jakovenko takes his opportunity and pins down the rook.} 46. Kg2 {
It seems highly counter-intuitive to place your rook in a pin. But White would
like to play Qf3.} (46. f3 Rxe4 47. fxe4 Qb2 48. Qd7+ Kg6 49. Qe6+ $11 {
with a perpetual check would have been the easier way to make a draw.}) 46...
d3 {I was watching the live game at this point and I decided to take five
minutes on the clock and tried to guess the move for White. I came up with the
same losing move that Dubov played in the game. There was just one narrow path
to achieving the half point which was not at all easy but it did exist.} 47.
Qf3 $2 (47. f3 $3 {This brilliant move is the only way to draw the game. The
two exclamation marks are for seeing that ...Qb2+ is not a win for Black but a
super draw for White.} Qb2+ (47... d2 48. Rd1 Reh8 49. Qe5+ $11) (47... Rxe4
48. fxe4 $11) 48. R1e2 $3 Qxe2+ (48... dxe2 49. Qd7+ Kh6 50. Qc6+ $11) 49. Rxe2
Rxe2+ 50. Kg1 d2 (50... c4 51. Qd7+ Kf6 52. Qd6+ Re6 53. Qf8+ $11) 51. Qd7+ Kf6
52. Qd6+ $11 {What a brilliant defence! This was extremely difficult to see
during the game with your time ticking down.}) (47. Kg1 d2 $19) (47. g4 d2 48.
gxh5 dxe1=N+ $19) 47... d2 $1 48. Qc3+ (48. Rxe8 dxe1=N+ $1 {A nice little
underpromotion which ends the game!} 49. Rxe1 Rh2+ $1 $19) 48... Kg8 {White
has one more check on c4 but after ...Kh7 he would be just lost. Quite a
heartbreaking loss for Dubov as he was better for the major part of the game.
But Jakovenko was alert for the tactics and never gave up! That's why he
emerged victorious in the end.} 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 e6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 d5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. d4 cxd4 11. Qxd4 O-O 12. Bg5 Bxg5 13. Qxd5 Bxd5 14. Nxg5
Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Nc6 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Red1 Ne5 18. Ne4 h6 19. h3 f5 20. Nd2 Rxc1
21. Rxc1 Rd8 22. Rc2 Rd6 23. Rc8+ Kf7 24. Nf3 Nxf3 25. Rc7+ Kf6 26. exf3 Rd2
27. Rxa7 Rxb2 28. a4 Rb4 29. a5 bxa5 30. Rxa5 g5 31. Ra7 h5 32. Rh7 Kg6 33. Re7
Kf6 34. Rh7 Kg6 35. Re7 Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D93"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 g6 5. Bf4 Bg7 6. e3 O-O 7. Nc3 c5 8. Rd1
Qa5 9. dxc5 Bf5 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 Na6 12. cxd5 Nxc5 13. Qb5 Qxb5 14. Nxb5
Rfd8 15. d6 exd6 16. O-O Ne8 17. Nfd4 Ne4 18. f3 a6 19. fxe4 axb5 20. Nxb5 Bxb2
21. Rf2 Be5 22. a3 Rac8 23. Rfd2 Rc5 24. Bxe5 Rxe5 25. Nxd6 Nxd6 26. Rxd6 Rxd6
27. Rxd6 Rxe4 28. Kf2 Ra4 29. Rb6 Rxa3 30. Rxb7 Kg7 31. Kf3 h5 32. h4 Ra6 33.
Rb4 f6 34. Rb7+ Kh6 35. Rb8 Ra4 36. Rb6 Kg7 37. Rb7+ Kh6 38. Rb6 Rxh4 39. Rxf6
Kg7 40. Ra6 Rb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.20"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Bxf3 Nd7 6. d3 Ngf6 7. O-O e5 8.
Nd2 Be7 9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 a5 11. a4 Qc7 12. e3 Rfe8 13. Qe2 Rad8 14. Bg2 Bb4
15. Nf3 Nf8 16. e4 Ng6 17. Rad1 h6 18. Nh2 Qb6 19. Ng4 Nxg4 20. hxg4 Nf8 21.
Kh1 dxe4 22. Bxe4 Nd7 23. f4 exf4 24. gxf4 Nc5 25. Qf2 Nxa4 26. Qxb6 Nxb6 27.
c3 Bd6 28. Ra1 Ra8 29. g5 hxg5 30. fxg5 Nd7 31. g6 Nf6 32. c4 Be5 33. Bxe5 Rxe5
34. Rf5 Rxf5 35. Bxf5 c5 36. Kg2 b6 37. Kf3 Re8 38. Rd1 Rd8 39. Rg1 Rd4 40.
gxf7+ Kxf7 41. Bg6+ Ke7 42. Re1+ Kd8 43. Re6 Kc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd2 e6 7. Qb3 Qc7 8. Nh4
Be4 9. f3 dxc4 10. Qxc4 Bg6 11. Rc1 b5 12. Qe2 c5 13. g4 Nc6 14. dxc5 Rd8 15.
Nxg6 hxg6 16. g5 Nd7 17. Ne4 Nce5 18. b4 f5 19. gxf6 Nxf6 20. Nxf6+ gxf6 21.
Qg2 Qc6 22. Bc3 Rh5 23. Bxe5 Rxe5 24. Qxg6+ Ke7 25. Qh7+ Ke8 26. Qg6+ Ke7 27.
Qh7+ Ke8 28. Qg6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. O-O Nbc6 7. Nb3 g6 8. c4
Bg7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Bg3 Ne5 13. Be2 N7g6 14. Qd2 b6 15. f3
Bb7 16. Bf2 Nf4 17. Na4 Nxe2+ 18. Qxe2 Nxc4 19. Qxc4 b5 20. Qb4 bxa4 21. Na5
Bc6 22. Nxc6 dxc6 23. Qxa4 Bxb2 24. Rab1 Be5 25. Qxc6 Qd2 26. Qc5 Bf6 27. Qa3
Rfd8 28. Qa4 Rac8 29. Rbd1 Qe2 30. Rxd8+ Rxd8 31. Re1 Qb2 {Diagram [#] Black
is slightly better here thanks to his activity but after a move like Qb3 he
has decent chances to hold. Instead Jakovenko went for a pawn grab that turned
out to be really bad.} 32. Qxa6 $2 (32. Qb3 Rd2 (32... Qxb3 33. axb3 Rd3 34.
Rb1 {should be holdable.}) 33. Qxb2 Rxb2 34. a3 Ra2 35. Bc5 Rc2 36. Bb6 $15 {
Slightly better for Black but nothing close to winning.}) 32... Rd2 33. Bg3 (
33. Qb6 $2 Rxf2 $1 34. Qxf2 Bd4 $19) (33. Rf1 Bd4 $1 $19 (33... Rxf2 34. Rxf2
Bd4 35. Qf1 $11 {is nothing special.})) 33... h5 $1 {The g2 pawn is not
running away. Artemiev sets his sight on removing the bishop from the control
of the h2 square.} 34. Qc8+ (34. e5 h4 35. exf6 Rxg2+ 36. Kh1 hxg3 37. Qa8+ Kh7
38. Qe4+ Kh6 $19 {The checks are over and so is the game!}) 34... Kg7 35. Qc1
Qd4+ 36. Kh1 h4 37. Bb8 Qf2 38. Rg1 {Good result for young Artemiev who beat
the top seed of the event.} (38. Rg1 h3 {and it's curtains.}) 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.20"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{At the start of the final round Karjakin was in a difficult situation. He had
the black pieces against Jakovenko and most probably had to play for a win in
order to fight for the top honours.} 1. e4 c5 {When in a must win situation
Sicilian is the right choice!} 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6.
Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 {This was one of Kasparov's favourite
lines in the Najdorf. Black needs to actively and precisely because he has
pushed his kingside pawns. At the same time it has helped him to get good
control over the dark squares.} 10. Be2 h5 11. Bxg4 hxg4 (11... Bxg4 12. f3 Bd7
13. Bf2 {is another story.}) 12. Nd5 {Theoretically this might be the most
challenging move in the position.} (12. O-O Nc6 13. Nf5 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Qa5 15.
Qxg4 f6 {Has been seen at the top level namely Shirov- Kasparov and
Adams-Anand. Black seems to be doing fine.}) 12... Nc6 (12... e6 13. Ne3 $14)
13. Nf5 Bxf5 {Karjakin keeps up his pace. He is well prepared.} 14. exf5 Bxb2
15. Rb1 Qa5+ (15... Be5 16. O-O $16 {With the white king safely tucked in and
the g4 and b7 pawns hanging, this is a highly favourable position for White.})
16. Qd2 (16. Kf1 {The king doesn't fit well with the position and after} Bd4
$17 {Black has the advantage.}) 16... Bf6 {Even though this same move has been
played twice by Vachier Lagrave and once by Gelfand, Karjakin took 25 minutes
to play this move. He must have forgotten his preparation.} 17. Rxb7 O-O 18.
Qxa5 (18. Nxe7+ $5 Kg7 $1 {was seen in Ganguly-MVL.} (18... Bxe7 $2 19. Qxa5
Nxa5 20. Rxe7 $14) 19. Nxc6 Rfe8+ 20. Kd1 Qxa2 21. Nb4 Qa1+ 22. Qc1 Qd4+ 23.
Qd2 (23. Nd3 Qe4 {The position becomes a little scary for White.}) 23... Qa1+ {
and the players agreed for a draw.}) 18... Nxa5 19. Rb4 {Jakovenko was still
following the game Kamsky-MVL.} Rfb8 {And this is the first new move and an
excellent one by Karjakin. MVL had preferred to play the other rook to b8 but
it was less accurate.} (19... Rab8 20. Bxd6 $1 {Kamsky had not found this move.
But it seems to be very strong.} exd6 21. Nxf6+ Kg7 22. Rxb8 Rxb8 23. Nh5+ Kh6
24. Ng3 {Defending the h1 rook.} Rb2 25. Kd2 Rxa2 26. Rb1 $16 {White has all
the winning chances.}) 20. Bxd6 {Jakovenko had to put on his thinking hat and
after ten minute he played the same move which he would have come prepared for
19...Rab8.} Rd8 $1 {Karjakin was in top form. He played all the accurate moves
to defuse White's initiative.} 21. Nxf6+ exf6 22. Bg3 Rac8 {Black's pawn
structure on the kingside is weird and he is also a pawn down. But his
activity gives him excellent chances of equalizing the game.} 23. Rxg4 Rxc2 24.
O-O Rd5 $1 {Extremely accurate.} (24... Rxa2 $6 25. h4 $16) 25. h4 Rxf5 26. Ra4
Kg7 27. Rd1 Nc6 28. Rxa6 gxh4 29. Bxh4 Rc4 (29... Nb4 $6 30. Ra4 Nxa2 $2 31.
Rg4+ Kf8 32. Rd8+ Ke7 33. Rgg8 $18 {is game over.}) 30. f3 (30. Bg3 Nd4 $1 {
threatening a check on e2 which is very hard to meet.} 31. Re1 (31. Kf1 Rh5 $1
$17) 31... Rh5 {Threatening Ne2 followed by Rc1+.} 32. Bf4 (32. f3 Rc2 $17)
32... Rc2 $11 {As you can see from the variations the two rooks and the knight
co-ordinate perfectly to create lots of threats and maintain the balance.})
30... Nb4 31. Ra4 Rxh4 32. Rb1 Rb5 33. g4 (33. a3 $2 Nc2 $19) 33... Nxa2 $1 34.
Rxb5 Nc3 35. Raa5 Nxb5 36. Rxb5 {And it's a draw.} Rh8 37. Kg2 Ra8 38. Kg3 Rh8
39. Ra5 Re8 40. g5 fxg5 41. Rxg5+ {Of course Karjakin would not have been the
happiest person in the world because of the draw as he couldn't become the
Russian Champion but the accuracy with which he played in the game was just
mind boggling. Maybe with this game he has ended the discussion for White's
advantage in this line of the Najdorf.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "181"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 c6 7. Qc2 O-O 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Rd1 b6 10. b3 Ba6 11. a4 h6 12. a5 Bd6 13. Be1 Ne4 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15.
Bxe4 Nd7 16. Bd3 Qc8 17. Nd2 Bb4 18. Nf3 Bxe1 19. Rxe1 dxc4 20. Bxc4 c5 21.
Bxa6 Qxa6 22. dxc5 bxc5 23. Red1 Nf6 24. Qc4 Qb7 25. Qxc5 Rfc8 26. Qa3 Rc3 27.
a6 Qxb3 28. Qe7 Qb6 29. Rdb1 Nd5 30. Rxb6 Nxe7 31. Rb7 Nd5 32. Ne5 Nc7 33. Nd3
Ne8 34. Nb4 Nd6 35. Rd7 Ne4 36. Nd3 Nf6 37. Rb7 Ne8 38. Rab1 Nd6 39. Rd7 Rc6
40. Ra1 Rb6 41. Ne5 Ne4 42. Ra5 f6 43. Nd3 e5 44. Kg2 Rd6 45. Rc7 Ng5 46. Nc5
Ne6 47. Nxe6 Rxe6 48. Rd5 Rxa6 49. Rdd7 g5 50. Rg7+ Kh8 51. Rh7+ Kg8 52. Rxh6
Rb6 53. Rg6+ Kh8 54. Kh3 a5 55. Kg4 Rba6 56. Kh5 a4 57. Kh6 R6a7 58. Rxa7 Rxa7
59. Rxf6 Kg8 60. Rg6+ Kf8 61. Rc6 a3 62. Rc1 g4 63. Ra1 Ke7 64. Kg5 Ra4 65. Kf5
Kd6 66. Rd1+ Rd4 67. Ra1 Ra4 68. e4 a2 69. Kf6 Ra8 70. Kg5 Ra4 71. Kf5 Kc5 72.
Kxe5 Kc4 73. Kf5 Kb3 74. e5 Kb2 75. Re1 a1=Q 76. Rxa1 Rxa1 77. Kxg4 Kc3 78. f4
Kd4 79. h4 Kd5 80. Kf5 Ra8 81. Kf6 Ra6+ 82. Kf5 Ra8 83. h5 Rf8+ 84. Kg4 Ke6 85.
Kf3 Ra8 86. g4 Ra3+ 87. Kg2 Kd5 88. h6 Ke6 89. Kh2 Rb3 90. Kg2 Ra3 91. Kh2
1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. h3 g6 5. Bd3 Bg7 6. Bc2 e5 7. O-O O-O 8. d4
exd4 9. cxd4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Nc3 d5 13. Be3 Nxe4 14. Nxe4
dxe4 15. Bxe4 Ba6 16. Re1 Bxb2 17. Rb1 Bc3 18. Qxd8 Raxd8 19. Rec1 Bd2 20. Rxc6
Bxe3 21. fxe3 Bd3 22. Bxd3 Rxd3 23. Ra6 Rd7 24. Rb2 Rc8 25. Kf2 Kg7 26. g4 Rc5
27. Rb4 Rc2+ 28. Kf3 Rh2 29. Kg3 Re2 30. Kf3 Rh2 31. Kg3 Re2 32. Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Bd3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. e4 O-O 12. Re1 e5 13. d5 Rd8 14. Rc1 h5 15. h3
Bh6 16. Rc2 Nb6 17. Bb3 a5 18. a3 Kg7 19. Qe2 Bd7 20. Rd1 Be8 21. Ba2 Rac8 22.
Bb3 Ra8 23. Ba2 Rac8 24. Bb3 Ra8 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O c5 5. d3 e6 6. e4 d6 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. c3
Nbd7 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. d4 cxd4 12. cxd4 Rac8 13. Ne1 a6 14. Nd3 b5 15.
f3 a5 16. a3 Qb6 17. Qf2 Rc2 18. Ne1 Rc6 19. Nf1 Rfc8 20. Be3 Qd8 21. Bd2 Qb6
22. Be3 Qd8 23. Rac1 Nb6 24. Rxc6 Rxc6 25. Nd3 Nc4 26. Bc1 Rc8 27. Bh3 Rb8 28.
Qe1 Qb6 29. Qf2 b4 30. axb4 axb4 31. Ne3 Na5 32. Ng2 Ba6 33. Ngf4 Bc4 34. Be3
Qb5 35. Nc1 h6 36. Qc2 b3 37. Qf2 Nc6 38. Nce2 Nb4 39. Nc3 Qa6 40. Qd2 e5 41.
Nfe2 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A62"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. Nf3
O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. h3 Ne4 11. Nxe4 Rxe4 12. Nd2 Re8 13. a4 Nd7 14. Ra2 Qe7 15.
Re1 b6 16. Ne4 h6 17. b3 Ba6 18. Qc2 Ne5 19. Rd1 Rf8 20. Nc3 f5 21. Nb5 g5 22.
f4 gxf4 23. gxf4 Ng6 24. Kh2 Kh8 25. e3 Nh4 26. Rg1 Rg8 27. Bh1 Bf6 28. Rxg8+
Rxg8 29. Bb2 Bxb2 30. Qxb2+ Rg7 31. Qf2 Bxb5 32. axb5 Qf6 33. Qb2 Qg6 34. Qf2
Qf6 35. Qb2 Qg6 36. Qf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/Mokal,A"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 {Svidler is one
of the experts in the Arkhangelsk Variation of the Ruy Lopez.} 7. c3 d6 8. a4 {
This is the second most popular move in the position.} ({The most frequently
played move is} 8. d4 Bb6 9. h3 (9. a4 Rb8 {transposes to the game.}) 9... O-O
10. Re1 {and so on.}) 8... Rb8 9. d4 Bb6 10. axb5 axb5 11. Na3 O-O 12. Nxb5 Bg4
{Black gives up the b5-pawn to set up this irritating pin as well as pressure
on the d4-pawn.} 13. d5 (13. Bc2 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Nh5 15. f4 Nxf4 16. Bxf4 exf4
17. Qg4 {is the main line with pretty good results for White.}) 13... Ne7 14.
Bc2 Qd7 15. c4 Ng6 16. h3 Bxh3 $5 {One could say this is a brave move but on
the other hand if you look at it closely, it is practically forced. The most
interesting thing to note here is that this same sacrifice had been played
nine years ago against Karjakin by Radjabov when the Ukrainian GM was just 16
years old with a rating of 2672!} (16... Bh5 17. Qd3 $16 {followed by Bd2
gives Black absolutely no compensation for the pawn.}) (16... Bxf3 17. Qxf3 $16
{is also clearly better for White.}) 17. gxh3 Qxh3 {All these moves were made
quickly by Svidler which means he was still in his preparation.} 18. Ng5 $1 {
The only defensive move available to White. Considering all the
trainspositions we have now reached a position that has been played nine times
according to the Mega database.} (18. Ra3 $2 {looks logical but after} Ng4 {
The knight cannot move from f3 due to the mate threat on h2 and the other
knight is coming soon to h4.} 19. Bg5 Qg3+ 20. Kh1 Bxf2 {A deadly check is
coming up on h3.} 21. Qe2 (21. Rxf2 Nxf2#) 21... Qh3+ 22. Nh2 Qxh2#) (18. Nh2
Nh4 $1 $19 {leads to a quick mate.}) 18... Qg3+ 19. Kh1 Qh4+ (19... Bxf2 $2 20.
Ra3 Qh4+ 21. Rh3 $18) 20. Kg2 Nf4+ (20... Ng4 {looks interesting though White
can defend everything in just one move.} 21. Nf3 $1 $18 {is simply winning!} (
21. Nh3 {I had a subtle idea of sacrificing the queen after} Bxf2 $2 {But
White throws in the intermediate} (21... Nf4+ $5 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Qf3 g5 $13)
22. Ra3 $1 {When the game is over.} (22. Rxf2 Qxh3+ 23. Kxh3 Nxf2+ 24. Kg3 Nxd1
25. Bxd1 $14 {is also slightly better for White.}) 22... Bc5 23. Rg3 $18)) (
20... Nh5 21. Nh3 $16) ({The game Karjakin-Radjabov 2006 went} 20... h6 21. Nh3
Nxe4 22. Qe2 f5 23. Ra3 Rf6 24. Rh1 Rbf8 25. b4 $16 {When White is better but
the position remains complicated and both players went wrong several times in
the game. 1-0 (45) Karjakin,S (2672)-Radjabov,T (2729) Cap d'Agde 2006}) 21.
Bxf4 exf4 22. Nf3 Qg4+ 23. Kh1 Rfe8 $1 {A very strong move by Svidler bringing
a new piece into the game.} 24. Ra3 {This was played after 18 minutes of
thought. The rook stands well on a3 and will help in the defence.} (24. Nh2 Qh4
25. Qf3 (25. f3 Nh5 $19) 25... Re5 $1 26. Rg1 Bxf2 27. Rg2 Bg3 28. Nd4 g6 {
[%cal Ge5h5] stopping Nf5 and preparing Rh5.} 29. Ne2 Rg5 $17) 24... Nxe4 25.
Bxe4 Rxe4 26. Rc3 Ba5 $6 {Moving the bishop away from the b6-square was a
mistake as we shall see in the game. It is well placed on the a7-g1 diagonal
and on the new one (a5-e1) it does nothing much.} ({The right way to continue
would be} 26... Qh5+ 27. Nh2 (27. Kg2 Qg4+ 28. Kh1 Qh5+ $11) 27... Qxd1 28.
Rxd1 Re2 $1 {Black has two pawns for a piece and now wins the third one.} 29.
b4 Bxf2 $11 {+/=.Black should have excellent chances to hold this position.})
27. Rc1 Rbe8 28. Nh2 Qh4 (28... Qxd1 29. Rfxd1 Re2 30. b4 $1 $16 {[%csl Rc7]})
29. Nd4 {This move would not have been possible had the bishop been on b6.} h5
30. Qd3 Qf6 31. Nc6 Bb6 $6 ({A tricky attempt would have been} 31... f3 $5 32.
Nxf3 (32. Nxa5 Rh4 $19 {with the threat of Rxh2 and Qh4 gives Black a winning
position.}) (32. Qxf3 Rf4 33. Qd3 Bb6 34. Qc3 Qh4 $13 {When things are not at
all clear.}) 32... Bb6 {Black is still in the game.}) 32. b4 $1 f3 33. Qxf3 Rf4
34. Qc3 {The threat of c4-c5 forces Black to exchange the queens.} Qxc3 (34...
Qh4 35. c5 $18) 35. Rxc3 Bxf2 36. Rf3 Rxf3 37. Nxf3 {Black has only two pawns
for a piece and is facing a strong pawn majority on the queenside. It should
not be too difficult for Karjakin to convert this.} Re2 38. Ng5 f6 $2 (38...
Rc2 $142 39. Ne6 $5 (39. Nxf7 $5 Kxf7 40. Kg2 Rxc4 41. Rxf2+ Kg6 42. Rf8 $16)
39... fxe6 40. dxe6 Bh4 (40... Kf8 41. Ra1 $18) 41. e7 Bxe7 42. Nxe7+ Kh7 43.
Rf4 {Black will have his task cut out to make a draw here but maybe he still
has some chances.} g5 44. Re4 $14) 39. Ne6 {Now it's all over.} h4 40. Nxc7 Bg3
41. Ne6 Rc2 42. b5 {The pawns cannot be stopped, hence Peter resigned. A very
interesting practical sacrifice by Svidler which was defended excellently by
Karjakin.} 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 {White would like to
play the English Attack setup in this game with Be3-Qd2-pawn to f3. But Be3
here could be met with Ng4. Hence, he starts off with 6.f3.} Qb6 {is a way to
stop White's normal way of developing with Be3 and Qd2. But I think we should
pay special attention to how Karjakin reacts to it. White gets a tangible
advantage out of the opening.} (6... e5) (6... e6 {Both the e-pawn pushes have
a huge body of theory behind them.}) 7. g4 (7. Nb3 {is played more frequently
with the idea of Bf4, Qd2 and 0-0-0. or Qe2-Be3 and 0-0-0.} e6 8. Qe2 (8. Bf4
$5 {[%cal Gd1d2,Ge1c1]}) 8... Qc7 9. Be3 b5 10. O-O-O {With a normal Sicilian
position.}) 7... e6 (7... Nc6 8. Nb3 e6 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. Be3 {1/2-1/2 (20)
Grischuk,A (2663)-Kasparov,G (2849) Cannes 2001 is another way in which the
game can develop and maybe a much more accurate move order than in the game
because as we shall see Karjakin is able to get the bishop on e3 without
having to move his d4 knight.}) 8. a3 $5 {Whenever the b-pawn is attacked, the
move a3 is quite useful because Qxb2 can now be met with Na4 trapping the
queen.} Nc6 (8... Be7 $6 9. Be3 $1 Qxb2 10. Na4 $18) 9. Be3 Nd7 (9... Qxb2 10.
Na4 $18) 10. Qd2 Nxd4 (10... Qxb2 $2 11. Ra2 $1 Qb6 12. Nxe6 $1 $16) ({A
possible variation could be} 10... Qc7 11. O-O-O b5 12. Ndxb5 $5 (12. Nxc6 Qxc6
13. Bd4 Bb7 14. Kb1 Ne5 15. Be2 Be7 16. f4 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Bxg7 $16)
12... axb5 13. Nxb5 Qb7 14. Nxd6+ Bxd6 15. Qxd6 $14) 11. Bxd4 Qa5 12. O-O-O b5
13. f4 Rb8 (13... b4 14. Na2 $1 $16 e5 15. Be3 Nf6 16. h3 Nxe4 17. Qxb4 Qxb4
18. Nxb4 $16) 14. Kb1 $1 e5 (14... b4 15. Na2 e5 16. Ba7 Ra8 17. Be3 $16) 15.
fxe5 dxe5 16. Be3 Nf6 {Diagram [#]} {Artemiev has played the opening quite
poorly and currently stands at a huge disadvantage. If you were in Karjakin's
shoes, how would you finish him off?} 17. Bg5 {Played after ten and a half
minutes of thought. Though this is not bad, and gives Karjakin a good edge, he
had a winning move at his disposal.} (17. g5 $1 Ng4 (17... Nd7 18. Bh3 Rb7 19.
Rhf1 {is simply crushing.}) 18. Bg1 $1 {The threat now is to simply play h3
and trap the knight. It seems as if Black has no good defence at his disposal
but he can try to complicate matters. Here are a few options:} h6 $5 {Maybe
this is the reason why Karjakin rejected 17.g5.} (18... Be6 19. h3 b4 20. Nd5
Bxd5 21. Qxd5 Qxd5 22. Rxd5 bxa3 23. b3 $18 {After all the precautionary moves,
we are all ready to take the knight on g4.}) (18... Rb7 19. h3 Rd7 20. Bd3 $18)
(18... b4 19. Nd5 $18 {The pawn on b4 is pinned and there is no good way to
prevent h3.}) (18... Bxa3 19. bxa3 b4 {Here White has many ways to win. The
most human could be} 20. Qd6 {[%cal Gd6b8]} Rb7 21. Qc6+ Rd7 (21... Kf8 22.
Qxc8+ $18) 22. Qxc8+ $18) 19. h3 hxg5 20. Be2 Nf6 (20... Be7 $2 21. Ba7 $1 {
Protecting the h1 rook with a tempo.} Ra8 22. Bxg4 Bxg4 23. hxg4 Rxh1 24. Rxh1
Rxa7 25. Rh8+ Bf8 26. Qd6 $18) 21. Qxg5 $1 {Attacking the e5 pawn which is
quite difficult to defend.} Qc7 22. Bh2 $1 Bd6 23. Rxd6 Qxd6 24. Bxe5 $18)
17... Be7 (17... Bxg4 18. Bxf6 (18. Be2 Bxe2 19. Qxe2 Be7) 18... gxf6 (18...
Bxd1 19. Bh3 $18 (19. Bxb5+ axb5 20. Rxd1 $18 {is even stronger.})) 19. Be2 Be6
$14 {is quite tenable for Black.}) 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. g5 Be7 20. h4 Be6 21. Bh3
$1 {The knight on c3 will be superior to the e7 bishop after the light-squared
bishops are exchanged. Even though Artemiev makes sure that he himself doesn't
take the bishop and instead forces Karjakin to exchange on e6 when the d5
square would be covered, yet White's prospects are better as we shall see in
the game.} Rd8 (21... b4 $2 22. Bxe6 bxc3 (22... fxe6 23. Qd7+ Kf8 24. Rhf1+
$18) 23. Qd7+ Kf8 24. Rhf1 $3 {A cool and calm move which finishes off the
opponent.} (24. Bb3 {is the not so flashy way to win.}) 24... Rxb2+ (24... f6
25. gxf6 gxf6 26. Rxf6+ Bxf6 27. Qf7#) 25. Kc1 $1 $18) 22. Qh2 Qc7 23. Rxd8+
Bxd8 24. Rd1 (24. Bxe6 $142 fxe6 25. Qh3 Qc6 26. Qf3 $16) 24... O-O 25. Nd5 Qc4
26. Nc3 {The fact that Karjakin had to retreat clearly shows the he is not in
the best possible form in the tournament and White's advantage is no longer as
threatening as it was a few moves ago.} Bc7 (26... Bxh3 27. Qxh3 Ba5 $5 {
The knight cannot move as e4 would fall but on the other hand b4 weakens the
king and is not a move one would like to make.} 28. b4 Bd8 29. Qe3 Qe6 {
Thanks to the weakness created by b4, Black has pretty good chances.}) 27. Qg3
b4 28. axb4 Qxb4 29. Bxe6 fxe6 30. h5 Rb8 31. b3 $16 {With the knight coming
to a4, things will be complelely sealed on the queenside and White's play will
be very strong on the other flank. Karjakin won without many difficulties.} Qe7
32. g6 Kh8 33. Qd3 Ba5 34. Rf1 Rd8 (34... Bxc3 35. Qxc3 $16) 35. Qc4 Qe8 36.
Rf7 Rc8 37. Qf1 $1 h6 (37... Bxc3 38. h6 $1 hxg6 39. hxg7+ Kh7 (39... Kg8 40.
Rf8+ $18) 40. Qh3+ Kg8 41. Rb7 $18) 38. Na4 $18 {The rest is not at all
difficult for a player of Karjakin's stature.} Bb4 39. Qxa6 Qd8 40. Qd3 Qh4 41.
Kb2 Qxh5 42. Rb7 Ba5 43. Ra7 Be1 44. Qd7 Rg8 45. Qf7 Bb4 46. Rb7 Bf8 47. Qxe6
Qg5 48. Nc3 Qg1 49. b4 Qd4 50. Kb3 Qd8 51. Nd5 Bxb4 52. Nxb4 Qa8 53. Qf7 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ c6 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qc2 Bb7 8. a4
Nbd7 9. O-O a6 10. Nc3 Be7 11. d4 O-O 12. Ng5 h6 13. Nge4 Nd5 14. Rd1 Qb6 15.
Bf4 Nxf4 16. gxf4 Rac8 17. e3 c5 18. axb5 axb5 19. dxc5 Nxc5 20. Nxc5 Rxc5 21.
Bxb7 Qxb7 22. Qe4 Qxe4 23. Nxe4 Rc4 24. Rd7 Bh4 25. Nd2 Rc2 26. b3 Rd8 27.
Rxd8+ Bxd8 28. Ne4 Bh4 29. Ra8+ Kh7 30. Rb8 f5 31. Ng3 Rc5 32. Rb6 g6 33. Ne2
g5 34. fxg5 hxg5 35. Rxe6 Rc2 36. Kf1 Rb2 37. Re5 Rxb3 38. Rxf5 Kg6 39. Rc5 Rb2
40. Rd5 b4 41. Rb5 g4 42. e4 Kf6 43. Rf5+ Ke7 44. Rh5 Bf6 45. e5 Bg7 46. Nf4
Ke8 47. Rg5 Bf8 48. Rxg4 b3 49. Rg3 Bc5 50. Nd3 Rb1+ 51. Kg2 b2 52. Nxc5 Rg1+
53. Kxg1 b1=Q+ 54. Kg2 Qc2 55. Nd3 Qc6+ 56. Kg1 Qe4 57. h3 Ke7 58. Re3 Qd5 59.
Ne1 Qd1 60. Kh2 Qb1 61. Kg2 Qg6+ 62. Rg3 Qe4+ 63. Nf3 Kf8 64. Rg4 Qf5 65. Kg3
Qb1 66. h4 Qh7 67. Rf4+ Ke8 68. Rf6 Qg8+ 69. Ng5 Qb3+ 70. Kg4 Qd5 71. Re6+ Kf8
72. Kh5 Qd4 73. f4 Qd1+ 74. Kg6 Qg4 75. h5 Qg1 76. h6 Qg2 77. Rf6+ 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E34"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. e3 c5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8.
Bxc3 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Nc6 10. Bc3 e5 11. Nf3 O-O 12. Be2 Re8 13. O-O Qe4 14. Rfc1
Qxc2 15. Rxc2 Bf5 16. Rcc1 Ne4 17. Be1 f6 18. Bb5 Rac8 19. Nd2 Nxd2 20. Bxd2
Red8 21. Be1 Kf7 22. Bxc6 Rxc6 23. Rxc6 bxc6 24. Rc1 c5 25. f3 Rc8 26. e4 Be6
27. Bf2 Bxa2 28. Rxc5 Rxc5 29. Bxc5 a6 30. Kf2 Bb1 31. Bb4 Ba2 32. Bc5 Bb1 33.
Bb4 Ba2 34. Bc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Black "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4
O-O 9. Rd1 d6 10. Bg5 Nc6 11. Qf4 Qb8 12. Nb5 Ne5 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nxd6 Nxf3+
15. Bxf3 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Bxb2 17. Rab1 Be5 18. c5 Qc7 19. Qe4 Qxc5 20. Rbc1 Bxd6
21. Rxc5 Bxc5 22. Qd3 a5 23. a4 Rae8 24. Kg2 e5 25. Qe4 Re7 26. g4 h6 27. Rd5
Rfe8 28. h4 g6 29. e3 Re6 30. h5 g5 31. Rd7 R6e7 32. Rd5 Re6 33. Kf3 Kg7 34.
Rd7 R6e7 35. Rxe7 Rxe7 36. Qc6 e4+ 37. Ke2 Re6 38. Qb7 Re7 39. Qc6 Re6 40. Qb7
Re7 41. Qc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. O-O d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxd5 Qxd5 9. d4 cxd4 10. Be3 Qb5 11. Nxd4 Qxb2 12. Qa4 Bd7 13. Qc4 Nc6 14. Rab1
Qa3 15. Rxb7 Na5 16. Qa6 Bc8 17. Nb3 Bc3 18. Nxa5 Bxb7 19. Bxb7 Qxa5 20. Qxa5
Bxa5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 22. Rb1 Bb6 23. Rb3 Kf8 24. Bxb6 axb6 25. Rxb6 Rxa2 26. e3
e6 27. h4 h5 28. Kg2 Kg7 29. Kf3 Rc2 30. Ra6 Rd2 31. Rb6 Rc2 32. Ra6 Rd2 33.
Rb6 Rc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. e4 Bxf1 8.
Kxf1 d6 9. Nf3 Bg7 10. g3 O-O 11. Kg2 Nbd7 12. a4 Ra6 13. Qc2 Qa8 14. Re1 Ng4
15. Nb5 Rc8 16. Bg5 Kf8 17. Bd2 c4 18. Bc3 Bxc3 19. Qxc3 Ngf6 20. Nbd4 Rc5 21.
Nc6 Rxa4 22. Rxa4 Qxa4 23. Nfd4 Qa8 24. Qd2 Qe8 25. Qb4 Qa8 26. Re3 c3 27. Rxc3
Rxc3 28. Qxc3 Nc5 29. f3 Qa2 30. Qc2 Qa1 31. b4 Na4 32. Qd2 Ke8 33. Nb5 Nb6 34.
Qd4 Qxd4 35. Nbxd4 Kd7 36. Kf2 e6 37. dxe6+ fxe6 38. Na5 e5 39. Ndb3 g5 40. Ke3
h5 41. Nd2 d5 42. b5 Ke6 43. exd5+ Nbxd5+ 44. Kf2 g4 45. Nac4 gxf3 46. Kxf3 Nd7
47. Ne4 Ne7 48. Nc3 Nf5 49. g4 Nd4+ 50. Kg3 hxg4 51. Kxg4 Nf6+ 52. Kg3 Nf5+ 53.
Kg2 e4 54. b6 Kd7 55. Na5 Kc8 56. Nb5 Nd7 57. Na7+ Kb8 58. N7c6+ Kc8 59. Na7+
Kb8 60. N7c6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 Bxc3 6. bxc3 O-O 7. e4 d6 8. g3
Nd7 9. Bg2 Nc5 10. Nh4 {In the game Khairullin, Svidler nothing outstandingly
exciting happened. But Peter was able to show a very thematic idea in this
position. What would you play as Black?} a6 $1 {There are many other possible
moves but I like this one the most and the computer also approves it. One of
the reasons why I simply love this move is because it is quite
counter-intuitive. White has the doubled pawns on c3-c4 and Black is preparing
to dissolve them with the move b7-b5!} 11. O-O $1 b5 $1 {Why is the move b5 so
strong? First of all we are threatening to take on c4. If White decides to
take on b5 then it opens the a-file and Black can put some good amount of
pressure on the a2 pawn with the bishop coming on a6. All in all a6 followed
by b5 should become a part of your positional arsenal in such structures.} 12.
d4 $5 {Khairullin realises that he must do something active before he gets
into a positionally worse middlegame. With powerful moves he is just about
able to maintain the balance.} (12. cxb5 axb5 13. Nf5 Be6 $15) 12... exd4 13.
cxd4 Nxd4 14. Qd2 Nc6 15. e5 Bb7 16. exd6 Qxd6 17. Qxd6 cxd6 18. Nf5 {The game
is just equal and ended in a draw after a few moves.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Qb3 Qc7 8. Nxg6
hxg6 9. g3 Nbd7 10. Bg2 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Bd2 Nb6 14. Rfc1 Qd7
15. Bf1 Rfc8 16. Bb5 Qd8 17. Ne2 Rxc1+ 18. Rxc1 Rc8 19. f3 g5 20. g4 Ra8 21.
Bd3 Ne8 22. Qd1 Nd6 23. b3 Nd7 24. Nc3 Bf6 25. Na4 e5 26. Bb4 Nb6 27. Nxb6 Qxb6
28. Bc5 Qd8 29. dxe5 Bxe5 30. Be2 Ne8 31. Qd2 Nc7 32. f4 gxf4 33. exf4 Bd6 34.
Bf2 Ne6 35. Qxd5 Nxf4 36. Qf3 Qg5 37. Rc4 Re8 38. Re4 Rc8 39. Rc4 Rf8 40. Bg3
Bc5+ 41. Kh1 Nxe2 42. Qxe2 Rd8 43. Qf3 Rd2 44. Qf5 Rd1+ 45. Kg2 Qd2+ 46. Kh3
Qh6+ 47. Kg2 Rg1+ 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3 8.
bxc3 Re8 9. f3 exf3 10. Nxf3 Qe7 11. e3 Ne5 12. Nd4 d6 13. d3 c5 14. Nf5 Bxf5
15. Rxf5 d5 16. cxd5 c4 17. d4 Nd3 18. Rxf6 Qxf6 19. Qe2 Nxc1 20. Rxc1 Qg5 21.
Re1 Rad8 22. e4 Rxd5 23. e5 Rd7 24. Qxc4 g6 25. Qe2 Qd8 26. Bh3 Rde7 27. Qf2 b5
28. Bg4 Rc7 29. Qd2 b4 30. cxb4 Rc4 31. Re4 Qb6 32. Bd7 Re7 33. Ba4 Qxb4 34.
Qxb4 Rxb4 35. Bb3 a5 36. Kf2 a4 37. Bd5 Rc7 38. Ke3 Rb5 39. e6 Kf8 40. Ba8 Ra5
0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Black "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E56"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nc6 9. a3 Ba5 10. Qd3 Bb6 11. Rd1 cxd4 12. exd4 h6 13. Bf4 Bd7 14. Ne5 Rc8 15.
Ba2 Ne7 16. Qh3 Re8 17. Rd3 Ng6 18. Nxg6 fxg6 19. Re1 g5 20. Be5 Qe7 21. Qg3
Rcd8 22. h4 gxh4 23. Qxh4 Nh7 24. Qg4 Bc8 25. Rg3 Ng5 26. Ne4 Bc7 27. Nxg5 hxg5
28. Bb1 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Khismatullin showed some amazing flights of imaginative thinking in this game.
It is a pity that he ended up on the losing side but in any case you must have
a look at his extremely intuitive queen sacrifice.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3
Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. b4 $5 {As is usual with Khismatullin he chooses a relatively
unexplored move but one that is pretty sound.} (5. Nc3 {leads to the main
lines.}) 5... Bg7 6. a4 O-O {While White captures space on the queenside,
Black finishes his development.} 7. Nbd2 Ne4 8. Bb2 Bg4 {Khismatullin was
making his moves quite quickly, Dubov was thinking for every move trying to
understand the position. Here, however, Denis thought for 22 minutes!} 9. Qb3
a5 10. b5 Nd7 $5 {Dubov decides to sacrifice a pawn in order to exploit his
lead in development.} (10... dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nd6 (11... Nxd2 12. Nxd2 $14 {
is clearly in White's favour.}) 12. O-O (12. Be2 cxb5 13. axb5 Be6 $11) 12...
cxb5 13. axb5 $14) 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Qxd5 {Khismatullin takes up the challenge.
} Nxd2 13. Nxd2 e5 {The position is quite dangerous from White's point of view.
He has to get his bishop on f1 out before he can safely 0-0.} 14. Be2 $1 {
A very nice move developing a piece.} (14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Qxd8 Rfxd8 {Black has
an excellent position with more than enough compensation for the pawn. A
sample line could go something like this:} 16. f3 Nxf3+ 17. gxf3 Bxb2 18. Ra2
Bc3 (18... Rxd2 19. Kxd2 Bxf3 {is also an interesting option. Black is not
worse here.}) 19. fxg4 Rxd2 20. Rxd2 Rd8 $11 {With equality.}) 14... Be6 (14...
Bxe2 15. Kxe2 $16 {With the exchange on light square bishops, the queen on d5
feels very safe.}) 15. Qe4 (15. Qxb7 exd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. exd4 Nb6 $15 {
[%cal Gd8d4,Ge6d5]}) 15... Re8 (15... Bf5 {could have resulted in a repetition
but Dubov was not content with the half point.}) 16. d5 $5 {After 19 minutes
Khismatullin comes up with this original solution.} Nf6 {Dubov must have
understood that what he was going in for was going to be quite a dangerous
position and hence took 18 minutes to make his decision of winning the queen.}
(16... Bf5 17. Qc4 Rc8 18. Qa2 Rc2 19. Rc1 $14 {With the rook being evicted
and 0-0 coming up soon, the worst is behind White.}) 17. dxe6 (17. Qb1 Qxd5 $15
{gives Black a clear edge in the position.}) 17... Nxe4 18. exf7+ Kxf7 19. Bc4+
Re6 $5 {Dubov gives back an exchange in order to get rid of at least one of
the white bishops.} ({Kf8 leads to some very interesting variations.} 19... Kf8
20. Ba3+ $6 (20. Nxe4 $44 {was the best move and gives White decent
compensation.} Bh6 {making space on g7.} 21. Ba3+ Kg7 22. O-O {Playing from
White's side somehow seems easier because of the fantastic knight on e4.})
20... Nd6 $1 21. Ne4 Bf6 $1 22. Nxd6 (22. Bxd6+ Be7 $19) (22. Rd1 Be7 23. Nxd6
Qb6 $19) 22... Be7 23. Nxe8 Bxa3 24. Rxa3 Qe7 $1 {This very important move
throws a spanner into the works and doesn't allow White to 0-0 and get a
fighting position.} (24... Qxe8 25. O-O $44) 25. Rb3 Rc8 26. Be2 Rc1+ 27. Bd1
Qd7 $19 {This shows that Ba3+ after 19...Kf8 loses for White.}) 20. Nxe4 Rc8 {
Developing with a tempo and stopping Nc5.} 21. Bxe6+ (21. Bb3 $2 Qd3 22. Ng5+
Kf6 23. Bxe6 Rc2 $19) (21. Ba2 $6 Qd3 22. Ng5+ Ke7 23. Rd1 Qxd1+ 24. Kxd1 Rd6+
25. Ke1 Rc2 $17) 21... Kxe6 22. O-O {White has a rook+knight+pawn for the
queen. And the knight has an excellent square on e4. I would say that White
has great compensation.} Qd3 23. Ng5+ Kf5 24. h4 Qe2 25. e4+ Kg4 {Will this
game qualify as one of the greatest king walks? I don't think so. The black
king is not going to help in any mating attacks but it keeps itself safe and
that is quite important. This leaves the other pieces to do their duties.} 26.
Bc1 Rc3 27. Be3 (27. Nxh7 Kxh4 28. Bg5+ Kg4 (28... Kh5 $2 29. f3 $1 {The
threat of g4 decides the game.}) 29. Rae1 Qa2 30. Kh2 $19 {f3 is a deadly
threat now.}) 27... Kxh4 (27... Rxe3 $1 28. fxe3 Qxe3+ 29. Kh1 Bh6 30. Rae1 Qb3
31. Nxh7 Qxa4 $11 {Black has enough resources to hold the balance.}) 28. Nf3+
Kh5 29. Rad1 Qc2 $2 30. Rfe1 (30. Rc1 $1 {would have given White a very huge
advantage as the rook is penetrating to c7.} Qb2 31. Rxc3 Qxc3 32. Rc1 Qb3 33.
Rc7 $18 {The bishop cannot move as Rxh7 would lead to a mate and otherwise the
b7-pawn is hanging and White's guy on b5 will slowly march down to the last
rank.}) 30... g5 31. Nh2 $6 (31. Rd7 Rc7 32. Rxc7 Qxc7 33. Rc1 $11 {White
should be able to maintain the balance.}) (31. Nxg5 $2 Rxe3 $1 $19) (31. Bxg5
$2 Rxf3 $1 $17) 31... Rd3 32. Rc1 Qxa4 $17 {The black king is no longer
stranded on h5. He has made a way to come back to g6 and White has also lost
his a4 pawn. Black's position is much better now and after a few mistakes
Dubov was able to take home the full point.} 33. b6 Kg6 34. Nf1 Qxe4 35. Rc7 a4
36. Rec1 a3 37. R1c4 Qd5 38. R4c5 Qd6 39. Rxb7 a2 (39... Rxe3 $5 40. Rbc7 {
Threatening Rc6.} (40. Rcc7 Re1 41. Rxg7+ Kf5 42. Rgf7+ Ke6 $19) 40... Bf6 41.
fxe3 Qxb6 $17) 40. Rc1 e4 41. Ra7 a1=Q 42. Raxa1 Bxa1 43. Rxa1 Rd1 44. Rxd1
Qxd1 {This is no fortress, Black manages to break through easily.} 45. b7 (45.
Bc5 h5 46. Be3 h4 47. Bc5 g4 48. Be3 Qb1 49. Bc5 Kf5 50. Be3 Kf6 51. Bc5 Ke6
52. Be3 Kd6 53. Bd4 Kd5 54. Be3 Kc4 {The king comes in and the game is over.})
45... Qb1 46. g4 Qxb7 47. Kg2 Qd7 48. Nh2 Qd1 49. Ba7 Kf6 50. Bb6 Ke5 51. Ba7
Kd5 52. Bb6 Kc4 53. Ba7 Kd3 54. Bb6 Ke2 55. Bc5 Qd7 56. Bb6 Qf7 57. Be3 h6 58.
Bb6 h5 59. gxh5 Qxh5 60. Nf1 (60. Be3 g4 $19) 60... Qf3+ 61. Kg1 Qh3 62. Ne3
Kf3 63. Bd4 g4 64. Be5 g3 (64... g3 65. Bxg3 Qxg3+ 66. fxg3 Kxe3 67. g4 Kd2 68.
g5 e3 69. g6 e2 $19 {A very fighting and interesting game of chess.}) 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.20"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Black "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. b3 dxc4 5. bxc4 Qd4 6. Nc3 Qxc4 7. Nf3 Bd6 8.
a4 a6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qc2 e5 11. d3 Qg4 12. h3 Qd7 13. Bg5 Nc6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15.
Ne4 Be7 16. Rfc1 f5 17. Nc5 Qd6 18. a5 Bf6 19. Ra4 Bg7 20. g4 Ne7 21. Nh4 fxg4
22. hxg4 c6 23. Rb1 Qh6 24. Nf3 Nd5 25. e3 Re8 26. Rb3 Re7 27. Rc4 Ra7 28. g5
Qg6 29. Ne4 Bg4 30. Ng3 Be6 31. Rh4 Ra8 32. Rh5 Bg4 33. Rh4 f5 34. Qc4 Qf7 35.
Rxg4 fxg4 36. Nh4 Rc7 37. Rb1 e4 38. Nxe4 Nc3 39. Rb4 Rf8 40. Nd6 Qxc4 41. Rxc4
Nd1 42. Ndf5 g3 43. f4 Nb2 44. Rc2 Nxd3 45. Bd5+ Kh8 46. Bc4 Rd7 47. Nxg3 Nxf4
48. exf4 Rxf4 49. Nhf5 Bf8 50. Be6 Rd1+ 51. Kg2 Bb4 52. Bc8 Bxa5 53. Bxb7 Rd2+
54. Rxd2 Bxd2 55. Bxa6 Be1 56. Ne3 Rf2+ 57. Kh3 Rf3 58. Nef5 Bxg3 59. Nxg3 h6
1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Black "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3
c6 9. Bf4 d5 10. Qd3 Nbd7 11. Rfd1 dxc4 12. Qxc4 b5 13. Qb3 a5 14. Ne5 a4 15.
Qc2 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Nd5 17. Ne4 a3 18. b3 b4 19. Nc5 Ba6 20. Be4 h6 21. Bxd5 exd5
22. Nxa6 Rxa6 23. Rac1 Qd7 24. Qd3 Rb6 25. Rc2 Re8 26. Qf3 Qe6 27. Rdc1 Qd7 28.
Kg2 Bg5 29. e3 Be7 30. h4 Bf8 31. g4 Bd6 32. Qf4 Bxe5 33. dxe5 Re6 34. h5 Rb8
35. Rxc6 Rxc6 36. e6 Qxe6 37. Qxb8+ Kh7 38. Rxc6 Qxc6 39. Qxb4 d4+ 40. Kg3 d3
41. Qd4 Qc2 42. Qe4+ Kh8 43. Qe8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. g4 Bg6 7. Ne5 Nbd7 8. Nxg6
hxg6 9. Qb3 Qc7 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nc3 e6 12. Bg2 Be7 13. Bd2 g5 14. O-O Rd8 15.
Rac1 Qb6 16. Qc2 Nf8 17. Na4 Qc7 18. Nc5 Nd7 19. Nd3 Qd6 20. b4 a6 21. a4 e5
22. Nc5 Nxc5 23. dxc5 Qe6 24. b5 axb5 25. axb5 O-O 26. Rb1 Rd7 27. Rfd1 g6 28.
bxc6 bxc6 29. Be1 Rfd8 30. Be4 Kg7 31. Ra1 Nf6 32. Rxd7 Rxd7 33. Bg2 Rb7 34.
Ra6 Nd5 35. Be4 Rb5 36. Ra5 Rxa5 37. Bxa5 Nf6 38. Bg2 Nd7 39. Qa4 Nxc5 40. Qxc6
Qxc6 41. Bxc6 f5 42. Be8 Ne4 43. Bd7 Kf6 44. Bc6 Ke6 45. f3 Nd6 46. e4 Kf6 47.
Kf2 Nc4 48. Be1 Bc5+ 49. Ke2 Bb6 50. Bb5 Nd6 51. Bc6 Nc4 52. Bb5 Nd6 53. Bd3
fxe4 54. Bxe4 Nb5 55. Kd3 Nd4 56. Bd5 Ne6 57. Bxe6 Kxe6 58. Ke4 Bc7 59. Bd2 Bd8
60. Be3 Be7 61. Bb6 Ba3 62. Bd8 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Black "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
e5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. e4 exd4 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 h6 13. b3 Nf6 14. Bb2 Nxd5
15. Qc4 Bg4 16. Qxd4 Nf6 17. Be4 Qd7 18. h3 Bh5 19. Nh4 Rad8 20. Bf3 Bxf3 21.
Nxf3 a6 22. Rad1 Rfe8 23. Rfe1 Bc7 24. Qxd7 Rxe1+ 25. Nxe1 Rxd7 26. Rxd7 Nxd7
27. Nd3 f5 28. f3 Kf7 29. g4 g6 30. Kf2 h5 31. gxf5 gxf5 32. Ke3 Bb6+ 33. Bd4
Bd8 34. Ke2 Bc7 35. Ke3 Bd8 36. Bb2 Bg5+ 37. Ke2 Ke6 38. Bc3 f4 39. a4 Kf5 40.
Bd2 Bh6 41. Bb4 Bg7 42. Bd6 Be5 43. Bxe5 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E34"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. e3 c5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8.
bxc3 O-O 9. Nf3 b6 10. c4 Qc6 11. Be2 Bb7 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Bc3 Rac8 14. Rac1
Rfd8 15. Rfd1 cxd4 16. exd4 Qc7 17. Nd2 Nf8 18. Qb2 Qf4 19. Nf1 Ng6 20. Ne3 Ne4
21. Be1 Nf6 22. Bc3 Ne4 23. Be1 Nf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.20"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D96"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 Be6 7. Qa4+ Bd7 8.
Qc2 c5 9. d5 O-O 10. e4 e6 11. Be2 exd5 12. exd5 Na6 13. Bg5 Bf5 14. Qb3 Nb4
15. O-O h6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Rac1 a6 18. Rfd1 b5 19. Ne1 Rfe8 20. a3 Bf8 21.
Rd2 Nd3 22. Nxd3 c4 23. Qd1 cxd3 24. Bxd3 Bd6 25. g3 Re5 26. Bxf5 Qxf5 27. Kg2
Rae8 28. Qf3 Qd7 29. h4 Qb7 30. Re2 Rxe2 31. Nxe2 Be5 32. b4 Rd8 33. Rd1 h5 34.
Nc1 Rd6 35. Nb3 Rf6 36. Qe4 Bd6 37. Qe8+ Kg7 38. Nc5 Qa7 39. Ne4 Rf5 40. Qc6
Bc7 41. d6 Bd8 42. d7 a5 43. Rd5 axb4 44. axb4 Qa2 45. Rxf5 gxf5 46. Qc3+ Kg6
47. Nc5 Qd5+ 48. Qf3 Qd6 49. Qa8 Qb6 50. Qd5 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Qb3
Qc7 9. Bd2 Be7 10. g3 O-O 11. Rc1 Qd7 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. g4 Nc6
15. g5 Ne8 16. f4 Nd6 17. Qd1 Nf5 18. Qf3 Bb4 19. h4 Rfc8 20. h5 Nce7 21. Bd3
a6 22. Kf2 Rc7 23. Rh3 Rac8 24. a3 Bxc3 25. Bxc3 Qa4 26. Qh1 Qb3 27. h6 Rxc3
28. h7+ Kh8 29. bxc3 Rxc3 30. Rxc3 Qxc3 31. Qb1 Qc7 32. Qb4 Nd6 33. Rh1 Qd8 34.
Qc5 b6 35. Qc2 b5 36. Qc5 Nef5 37. Qc6 Nc4 38. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Qxa6 Qb8 40. Kf3
Nxe3 41. Kxe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Be3 Be7 10. c3 Nc5 11. Bc2 Nd7 12. Bf4 g5 13. Be3 Ndxe5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5
15. Bd4 Bf6 16. a4 b4 17. cxb4 Nc6 18. Bc5 Be7 19. Re1 Rb8 20. Qh5 Kd7 21. Nc3
Bxc5 22. bxc5 Qf6 23. Rad1 Nb4 24. Qe2 Kc8 25. Na2 Nxc2 26. Qxa6+ Kd7 27. Nc3
Nxe1 28. Nxd5 Qe5 29. c6+ Ke8 30. Qa7 Rd8 31. Nxc7+ Qxc7 32. Qxc7 Rxd1 33. Qb8+
Ke7 34. Qb4+ Kf6 35. Qc3+ Kg6 36. Kf1 Re8 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 11. Nbd2 exd4 12. cxd4 Nd7 13. Nf1 Na5 14. Bc2 Bf6 15.
Bf4 Nf8 16. Ng3 Ne6 17. Bd2 Nc4 18. Bc3 c5 19. e5 dxe5 20. dxe5 Be7 21. b3 b4
22. bxc4 Qxd1 23. Raxd1 Bxf3 24. gxf3 bxc3 25. Ne2 Rab8 26. Nxc3 Nd4 27. Be4
Rb4 28. Bd5 Rb2 29. Rb1 Rc2 30. Rbc1 Rb2 31. Rb1 Rc2 32. Rbc1 Rb2 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Bd3 c5 5. dxc5 Nf6 6. Qe2 O-O 7. Ngf3 a5 8. O-O
Na6 9. e5 Nd7 10. c4 Naxc5 11. Bc2 dxc4 12. Rd1 b5 13. Ne4 Bb7 14. Nxc5 Bxc5
15. Bxh7+ Kxh7 16. Ng5+ Kg6 17. h4 Rh8 18. Qc2+ f5 19. exf6+ Kxf6 20. Qc3+ Kg6
21. Qc2+ Kf6 22. Qc3+ Kg6 23. Qc2+ Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Khismatullin had been having quite a topsy turvy event. His win against
Svidler was excellent but he lost four games against Tomashevsky, Vitiugov,
Karjakin and Dubov. Today he struck back with a win against Motylev.} 1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 {From the 36,000 odd games
that have reached this position, 30,000 have continued with the move e6.
Khismatullin plays the second most popular move in the position, one which has
seen 3700 outings.} Nbd7 $5 7. Bc4 h6 8. Bh4 g6 {This is a relatively unknown
line. The only famous players to have played it are Pachman, Polugaevsky and
Nepomniachtchi.} 9. Qe2 Bg7 10. O-O-O O-O {The game has now taken the contours
of a Dragon rather than a Najdorf. But there are a few differences. Who
benefits from these differences? The bishop on h4 seems a little misplaced but
at the same time the pawn has moved to h6 making the g6 square softer. The
knight instead of being on c6 is on d7 which could give it more flexibility
but less pressure on White's centre. All in all the position is complex and
interesting to play.} 11. f4 Qc7 {covering the c6 square before going b5.} 12.
f5 $5 {A very provocative move. White wants to force Black to play g5 when he
can chip away at his structure with the move h4. But at the same time he gives
up the e5 square. You get something, you lose something!} g5 13. Bg3 b5 14. Bb3
Bb7 15. h4 {Khismatullin made his next move in 31 seconds. What would you have
done?} g4 $1 {Of course the position has to be kept closed.} 16. h5 Nc5 17. e5
{Seeing that the control over e5 has been loosened a bit, White rushes to push
ahead.} (17. Nd5 Nxb3+ 18. axb3 Bxd5 19. exd5 Nxd5 $13 {Black is doing fine.}
20. Qxg4 $2 Ne3 $17) 17... dxe5 {Khismatullin took eleven moves to make this
recapture. Maybe he was calculating whether he could slip in the move Nxb3
before taking on e5.} ({Another perfectly playable move was} 17... Nxb3+ 18.
axb3 dxe5 19. Bxe5 Qb6 $11) 18. Bxe5 Qb6 19. Rh4 $5 {Believe it or not this is
a pretty logical move. White would like to sacrifice his rook on g4. That
seems like the only way to get to the black king. The computer might assess
those positions in Black's favour but if a strong human player were to be
given this position, the first thought that would come to his mind is this one!
} (19. Bxf6 $2 Qxf6 20. Qxg4 Rad8 $15 {A strong grandmaster would never ever
go for winning the g4-pawn at the cost of giving Black an unopposed bishop on
g7.}) (19. Kb1 Rad8 20. Rhe1 {opting for central play was possible and maybe
the best but when the kings are on the opposite flanks more often than not you
want to go for your opponent's throat.}) 19... Kh7 $1 {Prophylactic measures
against the sacrifice on g4.} 20. Rxg4 {Motylev makes this inspired move but
the timing turns out to be incorrect. Black takes the material and keeps it.
Although we cannot condemn him for this decision because once you have said A 
(Rh4) you must say B (Rxg4).} Nxg4 {18 minutes to accept the sacrifice! And
the bold Houdini 4 shows -+ 1.60 in three seconds! A game of chess during the
game is way more intense than sitting at home with an engine in front of you.
You have to constantly be on the look out whether you are blundering something
or making a mistake. And that's why these players are great because even
though they take a lot of time, more often than not they are able to find the
right path.} 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 ({Taking on b3 first was more accurate.} 21... Nxb3+
22. Nxb3 (22. axb3 Rg8 $1 $19) 22... Qe3+ $1 23. Qxe3 Nxe3 24. Rd3 Kxg7 25.
Rxe3 Rac8 $19) 22. Qxg4+ Kh8 {There is no way to continue the attack.} (22...
Kh7 23. Bxf7 $1 $16) 23. Qe2 (23. Qf4 Qf6 $17) 23... Nxb3+ 24. Nxb3 Qf6 25. Na5
Qg5+ 26. Rd2 (26. Kb1 Bxg2 {Although this looks dangerous, there is no way to
refute it.} 27. Rg1 Bf3 $1 $19) 26... b4 $1 {Pushing away the knight to get
the d5-square.} 27. Na4 Bd5 28. c4 $6 (28. Nb6 Rad8 $19) (28. Qe5+ f6 29. Qxd5
Rfd8 $19) 28... bxc3 29. Nxc3 Rac8 $1 {White's pieces are all pinned against
the king.} 30. Kd1 Rfd8 {The reason why White's Rxg4 was incorrect is because
after a sacrifice like this at least some of your opponent's pieces should
find it difficult to develop. Here all of Black's pieces are so well placed
that you get a feeling why exactly did White sacrifice an exchange?!} 31. Ke1
Qh4+ 32. Qf2 Qh1+ 33. Qf1 Qxf1+ 34. Kxf1 Bxa2 $1 {Une petite combinaison!} 35.
Rxd8+ Rxd8 36. Nc6 (36. Nxa2 Rd1+ 37. Kf2 Ra1 $19) 36... Bc4+ 37. Ke1 Rd3 38.
Kf2 Rd2+ 39. Ke3 Rxb2 40. Ne5 Bb3 {A fine game by Khismatullin and this is one
of those tournaments where nothing is going so well for Motylev!} 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B47"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Qd3 Nf6 7. Ndb5 Qb8 8.
Qg3 d6 9. Be3 a6 10. Nd4 Bd7 11. f4 b5 12. Bd3 b4 13. Nb1 g6 14. Nd2 Bg7 15.
Ne2 Nh5 16. Qf3 Bxb2 17. Rb1 Bg7 18. Nc4 O-O 19. Nb6 Ra7 20. e5 d5 21. Nxd7
Rxd7 22. g4 Nxf4 23. Bxf4 Nxe5 24. Bxe5 Qxe5 25. Bxa6 Ra7 26. Bd3 Rxa2 27. Rxb4
Qd6 28. Rb5 Qa6 29. Kf1 Qc6 30. c4 Ra3 31. Kf2 f5 32. g5 Qc7 33. cxd5 e5 34. d6
Qxd6 35. Qd5+ Qxd5 36. Rxd5 Rc8 37. Rd1 e4 38. Bb1 h6 39. gxh6 Bxh6 40. Rd6 Kh7
41. Rd7+ Bg7 42. Rb7 Kh6 43. Rdd7 Be5 44. Rh7+ Kg5 45. Kg2 Re3 46. Kf2 Rf3+ 47.
Kg2 Re3 48. Kf2 Rf3+ 49. Kg2 Rd8 50. Rb6 Rd6 51. Rxd6 Bxd6 52. Rh3 Kg4 53. Rh6
Kg5 54. Rh3 Kg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nf1 bxa4 13. Ne3 Bc8 14. Nh4 g6 15.
Nf3 Bd7 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. Bxd5 Rb8 18. Bh6 Re8 19. Qc1 Bf8 20. Bd2 Bg7 21. h4
Nc6 22. Ng5 Rf8 23. Rxa4 Nb4 24. Ra1 Nxd5 25. exd5 Bc8 26. Nf3 Qb6 27. Ba5 Qb7
28. c4 Bf5 29. Qe3 Rfe8 30. Bc3 Ra8 31. Nd2 Qe7 32. g3 Bc8 33. b4 cxb4 34. Bxb4
Rb8 35. Bc3 f5 36. f4 Qf8 37. Qf2 Rb7 38. Re2 exf4 39. Bxg7 Rxg7 40. Rxe8 Qxe8
41. Qxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. e4 Nc6 8. Re1
{We have the main position of the King's Indian Attack where Black has two
main options here. One is to go for instant queenside expansion with 8...b5
and the other is what was played in the game.} Qc7 9. Qe2 (9. e5 {is the main
line and the continuation would be something like} Nd7 10. Qe2 b5 11. Nf1 a5
12. h4 {[%cal Gf1h2]} Ba6 13. Bf4 b4 14. Ne3 Nb6 15. Ng4 {You can see how
clear battle-lines have been drawn with White attacking on the kingside while
Black is expanding on the queenside. It's a very exciting position which one
must study in order to improve one's attacking and defensive abilities.}) 9...
b5 10. exd5 {Though the great majority of players have pushed ahead with e4-e5,
Svidler goes for the exchange of pawns. It shouldn't really give him any hopes
of an advantage but I guess more than an edge he was looking for an original
position.} exd5 11. a4 bxa4 {Unconventional but not at all bad.} (11... b4 {
would be a normal choice.} 12. Nb3 Re8 13. Bf4 Qb6 {with an interesting
position.}) 12. Rxa4 Re8 13. Qd1 h6 14. Nb3 Be6 (14... Qb6 15. Bf4 Bd7 {
is a much more subtle way to play. As in the game, the bishop on e6 is not so
well placed and allows White to get a solid edge.} 16. Ra1 a5 $15) 15. Bf4 Qb6
16. Ne5 $1 $14 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 {The defects of Black's position start becoming
apparent. All his pawns are being attacked by White. For example,. the knight
on b3 attacks c5, the bishop on g2 keeps an eye on d5 and the rook on a4
pressurises the a7-pawn. All in all it is not so easy to play this position
for Black.} Nd7 (17... a5 18. Qa1 $14) 18. Bc3 Bf6 19. Qa1 $1 {A nice little
idea to triple the pieces down the a-file.} a6 20. h3 Rec8 21. Qa3 Ra7 22. Bxf6
Nxf6 23. Ra1 c4 24. Rb4 Qd8 25. Nd4 Bd7 26. dxc4 dxc4 {We reach this position
after a series of logical moves. There are many things going on here but a
good player is always able to find the key point that matters. The a6 pawn is
a weakness and great players of the past have told us a very important concept
about weaknesses in chess: Before attacking a weakness you must firmly
blockade it. It makes sense to block the a-pawn with the move Qa5!} 27. Qa5 $1
(27. c3 $6 {is a lazy move which throws away the bulk of the advantage that
White has.} a5 $1 28. Rb7 Rxb7 29. Bxb7 Rb8 30. Bg2 Qb6 31. Qxa5 Qxb2 $132 {
Black has decent counterplay and the position is round about equal.}) 27... Qe7
28. Rb6 Rc5 (28... c3 29. b4 $16) 29. Rb8+ Kh7 30. Qb6 Rac7 31. c3 (31. Qxa6
$16 {There was nothing wrong with taking the pawn but Svidler would like to
maintain much greater control on the position.}) 31... Bb5 (31... Bc8 {It was
much more important to defend the pawn from here and also keep an eye on the
kingside.}) 32. Rb7 $1 {Exchanging a pair of rooks weakens the a6 pawn.} Rxb7
33. Qxb7 Qxb7 (33... Rc7 34. Qb6 Qe5 $16 {was much better than the game. After
the exchange of queens it is much easier for White.}) 34. Bxb7 Bd7 35. Bxa6
Bxh3 36. Ra4 Re5 37. Bxc4 $18 {With two connected passers it should not be too
difficult for Svidler to win.} Re1+ 38. Kh2 Bf1 39. Nf3 Rc1 40. Bxf7 Rc2 $2 {
A bad mistake which abruptly brings the game to an end.} (40... Bb5 41. Rb4 Bc6
42. Kg2 g5 43. Rb6 Be4 44. Rxf6 g4 45. Bg6+ $1 Bxg6 46. Nd4 Be4+ 47. f3 gxf3+
48. Kf2 {With careful play White should win here.} Rd1 49. b4 $18) 41. Ne5 $1 {
Bg6 followed by Ra8 cannot be prevented and hence Lysyj resigned.} 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4 Qb6 6. e3 Qxb2 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8.
Bxd7+ Nbxd7 9. Nge2 Qa3 10. Rb1 b6 11. O-O a6 12. f3 Qa5 13. e4 dxe4 14. fxe4
e5 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Qxe5 17. Qa4+ Nd7 18. Rf5 Bc5+ 19. Kh1 Qc7 20. Rd1
Ra7 21. Rfd5 b5 22. Qc2 Qc8 23. Qd2 Rc7 24. Ng3 Bb4 25. Qg5 O-O 26. Nf5 g6 27.
Rxd7 Rxd7 28. Nh6+ Kg7 29. Nf5+ Kg8 30. Nh6+ Kg7 31. Nf5+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. O-O Bf5 5. c4 e6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. d3 Nbd7 8.
Nc3 Be7 9. e4 dxe4 10. dxe4 Nxe4 11. Nd4 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bg6 13. Re1 O-O 14. Bxc6
Qc8 15. Bxb7 Qxb7 16. Rxe7 Rfe8 17. Qe2 Rxe7 18. Qxe7 Qd5 19. Be3 Ne5 20. Bf4
Nf3+ 21. Nxf3 Qxf3 22. Re1 h5 23. c4 h4 24. Qe2 Qxe2 25. Rxe2 Bd3 26. Rb2 hxg3
27. hxg3 Bxc4 28. Rb8+ Rxb8 29. Bxb8 Bxa2 30. Bxa7 Bb3 31. Bb6 Ba2 32. Ba7 Bb3
33. Bb6 Ba2 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 c6 4. d3 e6 5. O-O Nd7 6. Qe1 Bd6 7. e4 Ne7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. h3 Bh5 10. Nh4 Ng6 11. Nxg6 Bxg6 12. Nf3 dxe4 13. dxe4 f6 14. Qe2 Qc7
15. Rd1 Rad8 16. Nd4 Rfe8 17. a4 Bf8 18. Nb3 Nc5 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Bf4 Qf7 21.
Nxc5 Bxc5 22. Be3 Qe7 23. Bxc5 Qxc5 24. Rd1 Rd6 25. c3 h6 26. Rxd6 Qxd6 27. Bf3
e5 28. Qe3 b6 29. Be2 Bf7 30. b4 c5 31. bxc5 Qxc5 32. Qxc5 bxc5 33. a5 c4 34.
Bg4 Kf8 35. Bc8 Ke7 36. Ba6 Kd6 37. h4 Kc5 38. Kg2 Be8 39. Kf3 Bb5 40. Bb7 Bd7
41. Ba6 Bb5 42. Bb7 Bc6 43. Ba6 f5 44. Ke3 Bxe4 45. f4 exf4+ 46. gxf4 Bd3 47.
Kf3 Bb1 48. Kf2 Bc2 49. Kf3 Ba4 50. Ke3 Bd7 51. Kf2 Bc6 52. Ke2 Be4 53. Ke3 Bd3
54. Kf3 Kd6 55. Ke3 Kd5 56. Bb5 Bc2 57. Ba6 Kc5 58. Kf3 Ba4 59. Ke3 g6 60. Kf2
Bb5 61. Bb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 {Svidler played this move quickly....} a6 {....while
Khismatullin took a full five minutes to consider his reply!} 3. Nge2 $5 {
Maybe Svidler doesn't really want to go into the lines of closed Sicilian.
Khismatullin too decides to keep his options open.} d6 {Four minutes! That's a
lot of time to make this move but Denis is making sure that Svidler doesn't
move order him.} 4. g3 g6 {Once White has played g3, Black doesn't feel too
worried if the game is transposed into Dragdorf (Dragon+Najdorf) territory.} 5.
d4 {Now was Svidler's turn to think. After five minutes he decides that Open
Sicilian is after all the best way for white to play!} cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bg7 7. Bg2
Nf6 {We are in the fianchetto variation of the Dragon but with the move a6 I
am tempted to call this more of a Dragdorf than a pure Dragon. Whatever be the
name, one thing is pretty clear - Black has no problems out of the opening.} 8.
b3 $5 {0-0 is of course the main move but Svidler wants something original on
the board.} O-O 9. Bb2 Bd7 (9... Nc6 {was also fine.}) 10. Qd2 (10. O-O {
Wasn't this your first thought! Well, then Svidler is not going to play that!
He comes up with the ultra original plan of 0-0-0.}) 10... Nc6 11. Nde2 (11.
Nxc6 Bxc6 12. O-O-O $11 {was much better than what happened in the game.})
11... b5 $1 {Black has not only equalized out of the opening but is already
slightly better.} 12. O-O-O {The main problem for White is that his b3 pawn is
a ready made hook for the black queenside pawns to attack. At the same time
the g6 pawn is also a hook but Black is the first one to launch an attack.} Ng4
$5 {This was a slightly unusual decision. Natural moves to consider would have
been Rc8 or Qa5. But Khismatullin decides to attack the f2 pawn. White has to
make an uncomfortable move like Rdf1 in order to defend it and hence this
knight lunge can be jusitifed.} 13. Rdf1 Qa5 14. h3 Nf6 15. Kb1 b4 (15... Rac8
{was once again the most natural.} 16. f4 Rc7 17. g4 Rfc8 {with an interesting
position.}) 16. Nd1 $6 {What exactly happened to Svidler on this particular
day is unclear. He refuses to play the most natural moves. Of course Nd5 was
obvious and I can't see any reason to avoid it and make this retreat.} (16. Nd5
Nxd5 17. exd5 Bxb2 18. dxc6 $1 (18. Kxb2 Qa3+ 19. Ka1 Na7 20. c3 $13) 18... Bc3
$5 19. Nxc3 bxc3 20. Qe3 Be6 21. h4 $14) 16... Qc7 {Clearing the way for the
a-pawn to ram up the board.} 17. Ne3 a5 18. f4 a4 $1 {A very bold decision by
Denis who is not at all afraid to sacrifice an exchange.} 19. e5 {Black was
already making inroads on the queenside, it was high time that Svidler did
something concrete. But the central break is tactically flawed.} dxe5 20. fxe5
Nxe5 $1 {This sacrifice of the a8 rook is very natural and easy for a player
like Khismatullin to assess. Here after Bxa8 Rxa8 his f8 rook takes the place
of the a8 rook. Hence effectively Black is sacrificing the f8 rook which is
not really participating in the attack.} 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 $17 22. Rf4 {Making
some space for the h1 rook so that a move like Bc6 would not trap it in the
corner.} (22. Qxb4 {looked pretty natural but after} axb3 23. axb3 Bc6 {
White loses his exchange.} 24. Rhg1 Nf3 25. Rg2 Qa7 $1 $19 {[%cal Ga7a2,Ga7e3]}
) 22... axb3 23. axb3 $2 {It's very easy to give this move a question mark
when you have an engine running in front of you. During the game things are
not so simple. It makes sense to not open the a-file completely but with the
bishop on b2, a mate is not very probable. Atleast that is what Peter must
have thought. And somehow cxb3 doesn't seem correct as it opens he h7-b1
diagonal. However, in such positions it is much more important to play
concretely rather than on feel. cxb3 would have kept White in the game while
after axb3 it is all over.} (23. cxb3 Bh6 $5 24. Rd1 (24. Rd4 Bf5+ 25. Ka1
Rxa2+ 26. Kxa2 Qa7+ 27. Ba3 Qxa3# {What was I saying about the h7-b1
diagonal?!!}) 24... Bxf4 25. Nxf4 Qa5 26. a3 bxa3 27. Qxa5 Rxa5 28. Bc3 Rb5 $17
{Black has a clear advantage but it will be some work before the full point
comes home.}) 23... Qa7 $1 24. Nd4 (24. Rxb4 Ne4 $3 25. Rxe4 Qa2+ $19 {with a
finish similar to the game. I don't want to spill the beans right now.}) 24...
Nh5 {Black is clearing the pieces off the all important h8-a1 diagonal. Now
only the two knights remain.} 25. Nd5 {Diagram [#]} (25. Rf2 Nc6 $1 $19) 25...
Bc6 $3 {This is not at all an easy move to see. But Khismatullin is helped by
the fact that he has to clear the pieces of the crucial h1-a8 diagonal. The
knight on d5 is pinned to the rook on h1 and is hanging. There is no real way
to protect it. Svidler made the most obvious move after four minutes but he
must have soon realised that it was a nice little trap!} 26. Nxc6 Qa2+ 27. Kc1
Qa1+ $1 (27... Qxb2+ {also wins but it's not a mate.} 28. Kd1 (28. Kxb2 Nd3+
29. Kb1 Ra1#) 28... Qa1+ 29. Ke2 Qxh1 $19) 28. Bxa1 Rxa1+ 29. Kb2 Nc4# {
Very sporting of Svidler to allow Khismatullin to mate him. While we could say
that Peter was off colour today, Denis must be given his due. He played a
nearly fawless game.} (29... Nd3# $1) 0-1

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.20"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D82"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Tomashevsky had a half point lead but faced a formidable opponent in the form
of Peter Svidler in the last round. Any slip would allow Karjakin to come
level with him.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 {Of course, Grunfeld and Svidler
are like Siamese twins.} 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 (5... O-O 6. Rc1 c5 7. dxc5 Be6 {
is the other important line here.}) 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 dxc4 8. Bxc4 O-O 9. Nge2
Nc6 (9... Qxc5 {is the main move.} 10. Qb3 Nc6 11. Nb5 Qh5 12. Ng3 Qh4 13. Nc7
e5 14. Bg5 $5 Qxg5 15. h4 $1 Qg4 16. Nxa8 {is the main line where White has
scored pretty well.}) 10. O-O Qxc5 11. Nb5 Be6 12. Bd3 Qb4 13. Nc7 $146 {
Till here the players were following the game Lysyj-Svidler from November 2014.
Lysyj had played a3 but Tomashevsky played Nc7. Both of them were making their
moves quickly which meant that they were well prepared.} Bxa2 14. Nxa8 Rxa8 15.
Ra1 Be6 {White has his pieces well developed and Black has only a pawn for the
exchange. Don't you think White should be better here? Well the crux of the
matter is that the pawn on b2 is pretty weak and the bishop on g7 has its hawk
eyes on it.} 16. Qa4 Nd5 17. Bb5 (17. Qxb4 Ncxb4 18. Be4 a5 $15) 17... Nxf4 18.
Nxf4 Bb3 19. Qxb4 Nxb4 20. Rac1 {Once again Black's deficit in material is
compensated by the weak b2 pawn and queenside majority. Svidler plays this
pretty well.} a5 $1 21. Rc7 a4 22. Rxb7 Bxb2 23. Be2 Na2 24. Bf3 {Tomashevsky
plays with great accuracy. The a-pawn is quite venomous and his position is
not without dangers.} Rd8 25. Nd5 e6 (25... Bxd5 26. Rxb2 $16) 26. Rb1 a3 27.
Rxb3 exd5 28. R3xb2 {Tomshevsky didn't want any more anxious moments trying to
defend against the a-pawn. He sacrifices his exchange back but the game now
peters out to a draw.} axb2 29. Rxb2 Nc3 30. Rc2 Ne4 31. Rb2 Nc3 32. Rc2 Ne4
33. Rb2 {With this Tomashevsky become the Champion of the 68th Russian
Championships.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. g3 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Bg2 e5 12. d5 Bc5 13. O-O O-O 14. Ne4 Bxe4
15. Bxe4 Nf6 16. Bg5 cxd5 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Qxd5 Qe7 19. Rac1 b6 20. Rfd1 Rad8
21. Qb3 g6 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Rd1 Rxd1+ 24. Qxd1 Qd6 25. Qxd6 Bxd6 26. b3 Kg7
27. Kg2 Kf6 28. Kf3 Kg7 29. Kg2 Kf6 30. Kf3 Kg7 31. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Ne5 Nc6 8.
Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxc6 Qe8 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Qc2 c5 12. Qxc4 cxd4 13. Qxd4 e5 14.
Qh4 Rb8 15. b3 Qe6 16. Qc4 Qd7 17. Na3 Bb7 18. f3 Rfc8 19. Qd3 Qe6 20. Nc4 Ba6
21. Be3 e4 22. Qd2 Rd8 23. Qc1 Rd7 24. Bf2 Re8 25. Qc2 Qc6 26. Be1 exf3 27.
exf3 Rde7 28. Qd3 Re2 29. Qd6 Qb7 30. Qd4 Bxc4 31. bxc4 Nd7 32. Rd1 Ne5 33. Qd5
Qa6 34. Rd2 Re3 35. Rc2 Qa4 36. Rc3 Nxf3+ 37. Rxf3 Rxe1+ 38. Kg2 R1e2+ 39. Kh3
R2e6 40. Rf2 Qc6 41. Qxc6 Rxc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This game shows perfectly well how a 2750 player - Tomashevsky is able to
assess the value of initiative vis-а-vis material. Something which mere
mortals always struggle to understand.} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 c5
5. cxd5 Nxd5 {The game now goes into a Semi-Tarrasch.} 6. e4 (6. e3 {is
another way to play.}) 6... Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.
Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nc6 12. O-O b6 {Placement of the rooks in this position for
White is quite confusing for those players who are not well versed in
classical games. But all classically inclined s5udents of the game would know
the game between Polugaevsky-Tal from 1969 where Polugaevsky beat the eighth
world champion in a beautiful game of attacking chess.} 13. Rad1 $1 {The rooks
go to d1 and e1 in order to avoid exchanges as well as attack the black king
and also support a central breakthrough by means of d4-d5.} Na5 ({The game
between Polugaevsky and Tal continued in this manner.} 13... Bb7 14. Rfe1 Na5
15. Bd3 Rc8 16. d5 $1 exd5 17. e5 Nc4 18. Qf4 Nb2 19. Bxh7+ Kxh7 20. Ng5+ Kg6
21. h4 Rc4 22. h5+ Kh6 23. Nxf7+ Kh7 24. Qf5+ Kg8 25. e6 Qf6 26. Qxf6 gxf6 27.
Rd2 Rc6 28. Rxb2 Re8 29. Nh6+ Kh7 30. Nf5 Rexe6 31. Rxe6 Rxe6 32. Rc2 Rc6 33.
Re2 Bc8 34. Re7+ Kh8 35. Nh4 f5 36. Ng6+ Kg8 37. Rxa7 {1-0 (37) Polugaevsky,
L-Tal,M Moscow 1969}) 14. Bd3 Bb7 15. h4 $5 {The h-pawn push can have a lot of
uses. First of all it does away with the back rank weakness. This would not
mean much right now but it is always useful. More importantly the idea is to
play h5-h6 and create weaknesses in the black camp. Also if Black plays h6,
the h5-pawn cramps his position and the king on g8 feels uncomfortable to put
it mildly.} (15. Rfe1 {is the normal way to play and has been tried in many
games before but Tomashevsky begins with h4-h5 gaining space and later brings
his rook to e1.}) 15... Rc8 16. h5 h6 17. Rfe1 Qe7 (17... Nc4 $5 {looks much
better} 18. Qe2 $1 (18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. d5 exd5 20. exd5 Rc5 $17 {[%csl Rf3]
[%cal Gb7f3]}) 18... Nd6 19. d5 $5 {A typical pawn sacrifice in this variation.
} exd5 20. e5 Re8 21. Nd4 Nc4 $13 {The position remains complex and both sides
have their trumps.}) 18. d5 {The central majority is White's main trump here
and soon or later he has to go for this central break.} Nc4 {A move made after
25 minutes of thought.} 19. Bxc4 {And Tomashevsky played this extremely
natural move after thinking for 29 minutes. He must have been really weighing
up the pros and cons of this exchange.} (19. Qe2 exd5 20. exd5 Qxe2 21. Bxe2
Rfd8 $11 {gives Black nothing to worry about.}) (19. Qf4 Nb2 20. Rd2 Nxd3 21.
Rxd3 {This must have been surely one of the candidate positions in
Tomashevsky's mind.} Rfd8 22. d6 Qf6 23. Qg3 (23. Qxf6 gxf6 $15 {and the pawn
on d6 looks more of a weakness than a strength to me.}) 23... Rc4 24. e5 Qf5
$11 {and in spite of facing this protected passed pawn, Black's chances are
not bad as his pieces are playing well in the game.}) 19... Rxc4 20. Ne5 (20.
d6 Qf6 21. e5 Qf5 $15) 20... Rc5 (20... Ra4 21. d6 Qh4 (21... Qf6 $2 22. Nd7
$18) 22. Nf3 Qd8 (22... Qxh5 $2 23. d7 Rd8 24. Qc2 $18 {[%cal Gc2a4,Gc2c7]})
23. d7 {It is always scary to play against such a pawn on d7.} Bxe4 24. Ne5 (
24. Rxe4 Rxe4 25. Qd6 $44 {The knight will soon go to e5 to c6. In general
White has excellent compensation and it is very difficult to defend as Black.})
24... Bd5 25. Rc1 f6 26. Rc8 fxe5 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. Rc1 Rxd7 29. Rc8+ Kf7 30.
Qd3 $16) 21. d6 Qd8 (21... Qh4 {looks more active but after} 22. d7 Rd8 23. Qd6
$14 {White is calling the shots.}) 22. Qf4 $16 {White already has a completely
dominating position.} f6 23. Ng6 Rf7 24. e5 $5 (24. Qg4 {was much stronger as
after} Qe8 (24... Qd7 25. e5 f5 (25... fxe5 26. Nxe5 Rxe5 27. Rxe5 $18) 26. Qg3
$18 {All that remains is to play Rc1 and exchange Black's only active piece.})
25. d7 $1 Rxd7 26. Rxd7 Qxd7 27. Rd1 $1 Qe8 28. Qxe6+ $3 Qxe6 29. Rd8+ {
it's game over! A very pretty variation.}) 24... fxe5 25. Ne7+ Kf8 (25... Rxe7
26. dxe7 Qxe7 27. Rxe5 $16) 26. Ng6+ Kg8 27. Ne7+ Kf8 28. Qg4 Bd5 (28... Rxe7
29. dxe7+ Qxe7 30. Rc1 $16) 29. Nxd5 $1 exd5 30. Rxe5 Qxd6 31. Rde1 {This is
exactly the position that I want you to have a close look at. White is a pawn
down but has the initiative. His rooks are perfectly placed on the open e-file
and his queen is hovering around creating dangerous threats. The weak position
of the black king also adds to his woes. All in all you can understand that
for the investment of a pawn, White has a clear initiative.} Rf6 {The only
logical move.} 32. Re8+ Kf7 33. Qa4 $1 {An irritating move to face, the
a7-pawn is attacked. Should I play a5 or go back and defend with ...Rc7? Lysyj
prefers the latter.} Rc7 (33... a5 34. Qa3 $5 {with the idea of going to the
d3-h7 diagonal is pretty interesting but atl east the position is playable for
Black after} Rc7 35. Qd3 Qd7 $14) 34. Qb5 {Planning Qd3-h7 but more
importantly aiming for Rf8+ Qxf8 Qxd5+ with a quick mate.} Qc6 35. Qe2 {
What is the threat? Of course Qe7+ and mate in two!} Qc5 (35... Rf4 $1 {
with the idea of ...Re4 was more accurate but under time pressure such moves
are always very difficult to find.}) 36. g3 $3 {Two exclamation marks are a
little bit too much but you can understand my enthusiasm, right? Lysyj is
under time pressure and concretely there are no threats that White can make
right now. So Tomashevsky takes just 28 seconds and improves his position in a
very small way. Also he has thrown back the ball into Black's court and asks
him to come up with a move.} Rd7 $2 {A bad blunder whose refutation is not at
all easy to see.} (36... Qd6 {would have kept White's advantage to a minimum.})
37. Re6 $1 {It's all over now.} Rd8 (37... Rf5 38. Rf6+ $3 {A very nice tactic
just clearing the e8-square for the queen.} gxf6 (38... Rxf6 39. Qe8#) (38...
Kxf6 39. Qe6+ Kg5 40. Qg6#) 39. Qe8+ Kg7 40. Qxd7+ $18) 38. Rxf6+ gxf6 (38...
Kxf6 39. Qe6+ Kg5 40. Qg6#) 39. Qg4 $1 (39. Qe6+ {might look tempting but after
} Kg7 40. Qg4+ Kh8 {Black is somehow clinging on.}) 39... Rg8 40. Qd7+ {
Followed by Re8#. I would say this was a brilliant demonstration of how having
more active pieces and the initiative can be more important than a material
advantage.} 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D91"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Overall this is a brilliant game played by Tomashevsky. In the first half of
the game he was able to gain a nice advantage and after that his technical
performance was just top notch.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 (4...
Bg7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. cxd5 c5 {is a completely crazy line which has been
becoming popular recently.}) 5. Bh4 c5 6. cxd5 {Six minutes for this move?!!
It surely meant that Tomashevsky had not prepared this line right before the
game. He had to recollect the bits he had in his mind regarding this opening.}
Nxc3 7. bxc3 Qxd5 8. e3 Bg7 9. Nf3 (9. Qf3 $5 {is also played quite often.})
9... Nc6 10. Be2 cxd4 11. cxd4 O-O 12. O-O Bf5 {Nd2, Qa4 and Qb3 are the main
moves in this position. But Tomashevsky thinks for nine minutes and comes up
with a novelty.} 13. h3 $5 {Some kind of waiting move asking Black to define
his intentions.} (13. Nd2 e5 14. Bf3 e4 15. Be2 $14 {Thanks to his compact
pawn structure, White has scored very well from this position.}) (13. Qb3 Qxb3
14. axb3 e5 (14... Rfc8 15. Nd2 $14) 15. d5 e4 16. dxc6 exf3 17. Bxf3 bxc6 18.
Ra5 Rab8 19. Rxa7 Rxb3 20. Bxc6 $14 {What is the objective evaluation of this
position? Who cares? Who would like to defend such an endgame right out of the
opening?}) 13... Rac8 (13... e5 $6 14. dxe5 Qxd1 15. Rfxd1 Nxe5 16. Nd4 Be4 17.
Nb5 $14 {The knight settles in on d6 and combined with the bishop on h4 is
going to cause the lot of difficulties for the black rooks to come into the
game.}) 14. Qb3 Qxb3 15. axb3 a6 {This is not a move that Black would have
been very happy to make especially with the knight on f3 having a clear route
from f3-d2-c4 looking at the b6 weakness. But in any case I feel that this
endgame is quite unpleasant for Black to play.} 16. g4 $5 {Thirty minutes for
the move g4. I am sure that Tomashevsky was thinking whether the move g4 was
required or not. Finally he decided that this was the best use of the move h3.}
Be4 (16... Be6 17. Nd2 {is similar to the game.}) 17. Nd2 Bd5 18. Nc4 Rcd8 19.
Rac1 Rfe8 20. Rfd1 Nb4 21. Nb6 $1 Bxb3 22. Rd2 {The threat now is to play Rb1
or Rb2 and win a piece.} Rd6 (22... Be6 23. Rb2 Nd5 (23... Nc6 24. Bg3 $16 {
Bc7 will win an exchange here.}) 24. Bf3 Nxb6 25. Rxb6 $16) (22... a5 23. Bb5
$16) 23. Nc8 Rc6 (23... Rd7 24. Nxe7+ Rdxe7 25. Bxe7 Rxe7 26. Rb2 $18) 24.
Nxe7+ Rxe7 25. Rb1 (25. Rxc6 $2 Nxc6 26. Bxe7 Nxe7 $17) 25... Bf6 26. Bxf6 (26.
g5 $5) 26... Rxf6 27. Rxb3 Nd5 28. Kg2 $14 {Let us try to understand the
position that has been reached at the board after 28 moves. Who is better and
why? At first glance it seems like Black should be better because he has the
outside connected passers. But this would be a very superficial assessment.
The important thing to note is that these pawns cannot be pushed easily. At
the same time the bishop can be stationed on a square like f3 very well while
it is very difficult for the black knight to find an outpost. One of the
reasons for the knight not having a fixed point is that the bishop controls
the light squares and the pawns f2-e3-d4 control the dark squares. Together
they make an impressive team. White's central pawns are also difficult to move
but he will first try to create a second weakness by pushing his h- and
g-pawns. To write these words is quite easy but to put them into effect on the
chess board is extremely difficult. That's why Tomashevsky is one of the best
players in the world. Have a look at how beautifully he converted this
position into a win.} b5 29. Bf3 Nb6 30. Ra2 Na4 {The knight tries to shield
the a6 weakness but soon it will have to move as White can always attack it
with Bd1.} (30... Nc4 31. Be2 Rc7 32. Rc3 $16) 31. Rc2 Rd6 32. g5 Kg7 33. h4 h6
34. Kg3 hxg5 35. hxg5 f6 36. gxf6+ Rxf6 {Has Black benefitted by employing the
f6 and h6 breaks or has he made it easier for White to push his pawns? I think
with the breaks out of the way, White now knows exactly what he is facing. It
might have made sense to keep the breaks in reserve. But what should have
Black done if not for f6 and h6. He doesn't have anything constructive and
could have just shuffled his pieces from here to there - something which is
difficult for us human beings.} 37. Ra3 Rd6 38. Bd1 Ra7 39. Rca2 Nc5 40. Bc2 (
40. dxc5 Rxd1 41. Rxa6 Rxa6 42. Rxa6 Rc1 43. c6 b4 44. Rb6 b3 45. Rxb3 Rxc6 {
I tried to find a similar position in Averbakh's comprehensive chess endgames
book and found out that the position is drawn with accurate play.}) 40... Ne6
41. Ra5 Nc7 42. Be4 Rb6 43. Kf3 Ne8 44. Ke2 Re7 45. Kd3 Nc7 46. f3 {The pawns
start moving now.} Rd7 47. Rc2 Ne6 48. Ra1 $1 {The rook shifts to the kingside
now. a6, g6 and the threat of an invasion down the c-file constitute too many
things to take care of.} Kf6 (48... Rc7 49. Rxc7+ Nxc7 50. Kc3 $16 {[%cal
Gc3b4,Gb4a5]}) 49. Rg1 Rg7 50. Rgc1 Rd6 51. Rc8 Rgd7 52. Rg1 Rg7 53. Kd2 g5 54.
Kc3 a5 (54... Rc7+ 55. Rxc7 Nxc7 {Exchanging a pair of rooks may have been
wise but it helps the white king to roam around without any fear.} 56. Kb4 Rd8
57. Kc5 Ne6+ 58. Kb6 Rd6+ 59. Ka5 $16 {Whether this will win or not is unclear
but it is a hard defence for Black.}) 55. Ra8 Rc7+ 56. Kb2 a4 57. Rh1 Rc4 58.
Rh6+ Ke7 (58... Kg7 59. Ra7+ $1 Kg8 (59... Kxh6 60. Rh7#) 60. Bf5 a3+ 61. Ka2
Rcc6 62. d5 $18) 59. Rh7+ Kf6 60. Rg8 {Mate can only be averted by sacrificing
material and hence Khairullin resigned. A very consistent game by Tomashevsky
who hardly made a bad move.} 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[Annotator "Tomashevsky,E"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The Superfinal of the 68th Russian Championship in Chita went excellently for
me right from the start. I was able to produce what I wanted: interesting
games full of content. I was able to weather some difficult moments (the first
round deserves special mention here as in mutual time trouble Dmitrij
Jakovenko missed a simple win against me; at that point things could have
taken another course). I went into the round 9 game against Ivan Bukavshin as
sole leader. But my narrow lead in the table and also my awareness of my young
opponent's good technique in simple positions gave me the idea of not aiming
to be too safe but rather of defending my lead in a complicated struggle. That
is the reason for the choice of the Anti-Moscow Gambit, because this is one of
the critical variations for Ivan's repertoire. This meant that I could assume
that he would not deviate from it.  Das Superfinale der 68. Russischen
Meisterschaft in Chita lief für mich vom Start weg ausgezeichnet. Ich konnte
das umsetzen, was ich mir vorgenommen hatte: interessant und inhaltsreich
spielen. Einige gefährliche Momente konnte ich "überspringen" (insbesondere
wäre hier die erste Runde zu nennen, als Dmitrij Jakovenko gegen mich in
beiderseitiger Zeitnot den einfachen Gewinn ausließ; hier hätten die Dinge
einen anderen Lauf nehmen können). In die Partie in Runde 9 gegen Ivan
Bukavshin ging ich bereits als alleiniger Spitzenreiter. Aber die engen
Abstände in der Tabelle sowie das Wissen um die gute Technik meines jungen
Gegners in einfachen Stellungen brachten mich auf den Gedanken, nicht nach zu
viel Sicherheit zu streben, sondern die Führung in einem komplizierten Kampf
zu verteidigen. Daher rührt die Wahl des Anti-Moskau-Gambits, denn dies ist
für Ivans Repertoire eine der kritischen Varianten. Ich konnte davon ausgehen,
dass er nicht davon abweichen würde.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6
5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. Qc2 {These move were,
as might be expected, played at top speed. I had already played this this
variation in Vladivostok in 2014 against Maxim Matlakov and won with it a good
game, which however was detracted from by reciprocal mistakes in two periods
of time trouble. I was curious as to how Bukavshin would react. Diese Züge
wurden, wie nicht anders zu erwarten, im Eiltempo absolviert. Ich hatte diese
Variante bereits in Wladiwostok 2014 gegen Maxim Matlakov gespielt und gewann
damit eine gute Partie, die allerdings durch beiderseitige Fehler in zwei
Zeitnotphasen geschmälert wurde. Ich war neugierig, wie Bukavshin reagieren
würde.} Nh5 $5 {A logical attempt to preempt White. Astonishling, it is an
innovation here! But that is true only of the "human database", because in
computer games this move, which is recommended by the computers, has already
been played several times. Ein logischer Versuch, dem Weißen zuvorzukommen.
Erstaunlicherweise handelt es sich hier um eine Neuerung! Das betrifft aber
nur die „menschliche Datenbank“, denn in Computerpartien ist dieser Zug,
der von den Rechnern empfohlen wird, bereits mehrfach vorgekommen.} ({In the
aforementioned duel I had replied to In dem oben erwähnten Duell hatte ich} 
10... Nbd7 {with mit} 11. Nd2 $5 {which, moreover, had also been a new idea -
the strong bishop on g3 should be retained, even at the cost of a certain loss
of time. Naturally, back then I also looked into the immediate attack on that
piece about which I was so worried :) beantwortet, was im übrigen auch eine
neue Idee gewesen war - der starke Läufer g3 sollte erhalten werden, selbst
um den Preis von etwas Zeitverlust. Natürlich beschäftigte ich mich damals
auch mit dem unverzüglichen Angriff auf jene Figur, um die ich so besorgt war
:)}) 11. Be5 {This reply seemed to have surprised my opponent already. perhaps
in his analysis Ivan had evaluated this move as wrong and thought that I would
head towards Bereits diese Antwort schien meinen Gegner überrascht zu haben.
Vielleicht hatte Ivan diesen Zug in der Analyse als falsch eingeschätzt und
sich gedacht, dass ich mich auf} (11. Rd1 {with a transition to well-known
theoretical territory. mit Übergang in bekannte theoretische Gefilde
orientieren werde.}) 11... Rg8 12. h4 Nf4 $6 {Now the moment arrived which
completely amazed me: this move which Ivan came up with after a long period of
thought was one I had totally rejected in my analysis! Hier war nun der Moment
gekommen, dass ich völlig überrascht war: diesen Zug, den Ivan mir hier nach
längerem Nachdenken servierte, hatte ich in der Analyse glatt verworfen!} ({
In my home preparation I had thought that Ich hatte in der häuslichen
Vorbereitung} 12... g4 {was more or less forced and it was after it that the
theoretical duel actually first started. Concerning the text move, I simply
remembered the next three moves and my verdict "extraordinarily dangerous for
Black“. On the whole this evaluation is also true and for some time Black's
position seemed to me to be almost mathematically lost. But in practice things
are not quite so simple… als quasi erzwungen betrachtet, wonach das
theoretische Duell eigentlich erst beginnt. Den Textzug betreffend erinnerte
ich mich lediglich an die nächsten drei Züge und das Verdikt
„außerordentlich gefährlich für Schwarz“. Im Großen und Ganzen stimmt
diese Einschätzung auch und einige Zeit schien mir die schwarze Stellung fast
schon mathematisch verloren zu sein. Aber in der Praxis ist das dann doch
nicht ganz so einfach…}) 13. hxg5 hxg5 (13... Nxe2 14. gxh6 $1 {the
strictest am strengsten} Bxh6 (14... f6 15. Qxe2 $18) 15. Rxh6 Nxc3 16. Qxc3 ({
or oder} 16. bxc3 {leads to a position in which White has a strong attack "for
free". führt zu einer Position, in der Weiß „umsonst“ starken Angriff hat
})) 14. Bxf4 gxf4 15. d5 $1 {The key resource which determines the evaluation.
It is pleasant to carry out such a "text-book" and aesthetically pleasing
breakthrough, even if it is such an obvious one. Die Schlüsselressource, die
die Bewertung bestimmt. Es ist angenehm, so einen „schulbuchmäßigen“ und
ästhetischen Durchbruch durchzusetzen, auch wenn er so klar auf der Hand
liegt.} (15. O-O-O $2 {allows Black time for lässt Schwarz die Zeit zu} Na6 $1
16. d5 Nb4 $1 17. Qd2 cxd5 {taking over the initiative. mit Übernahme der
Initiative.}) 15... Nd7 {Interestingly here and on some other moves the
machine, on a shallow search depth, evaluates Black's situation as not so bad.
It is only when it delves more deeply into the position that it recognises the
strength of White's attack. Here are some illustrative variations:
Interessanterweise bewertet die Maschine die Lage von Schwarz bei diesem und
einigen anderen Zügen bei geringer Rechentiefe als nicht so schlecht. Erst
wenn man tiefer eindringt, wird die Kraft des weißen Angriffs anerkannt. Hier
einige Varianten zur Illustration:} (15... Na6 {is the logical alternative,
compare ist die logische Alternative, man siehe:} 16. dxe6 fxe6 ({And
furchteinflößend sieht auch} 16... Nb4 {also looks frightening: aus} 17.
exf7+ Kxf7 18. Qc1 (18. Qb1)) 17. Rd1 $1 Qc7 (17... Qf6 18. e5 Qg6 19. Qxg6+
Rxg6 20. Ne4 {, and even the exchange of queens has not helped Black. , und
auch der Damentausch hat Schwarz nicht geholfen}) 18. e5 Nc5 19. b4 $5 (19. Ne4
$5) 19... cxb3 (19... Nd7 20. Qh7 O-O-O 21. Qxg8 Bxb4 22. Qxe6 Bxc3+ 23. Kf1
$18) 20. axb3 Rd8 21. Rh7 {"with a lasting attack" as the nice phrase goes.
White has an abundance of options, even if accuracy is still required. „mit
andauerndem Angriff“, wie es so schön heißt. Weiß hat Möglichkeiten im
Überfluss, auch wenn Genauigkeit immer noch gefordert ist.}) ({But Ganz
furchtbar sieht} 15... cxd5 $6 {looks quite terrible: aus:} 16. exd5 Bxd5 17.
O-O-O Nc6 18. Nxd5 exd5 19. Rh5 $1 Ne7 (19... Qa5 20. Rhxd5 Qxa2 21. Qf5 $1
Qa1+ 22. Kc2 Nb4+ 23. Kc3 Na2+ 24. Kd2 Qxb2+ 25. Ke1 $18) 20. Rhxd5 $1 Nxd5 21.
Qe4+ Ne7 ({Or oder} 21... Be7 22. Rxd5 Qc7 23. Ng5 $1 (23. Nd4)) 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8
23. Qb7 {The storm is easy to conjure up. Der Sturm entwickelt sich leicht und
ungezwungen.}) 16. O-O-O {After calm consideration of this quite normal move,
it is hard to understand how I could spend half an hour of my thinking time on
it. I could simply have played it automatically and by doing so saved time for
calculating the subsequent not so simple varitations. But during the game my
memory came up with "shadows" of certain subtleties which did not exist around
Rd1 instead of 0-0-0 and the long variations needed to "validate" these. Such
doubts can later come back to bite you in time trouble.. Bei ruhiger
Betrachtung dieses ganz normalen Zuges ist schwer zu verstehen, wie ich dafür
eine halbe Stunde Bedenkzeit aufwenden konnte. Ich hätte ihn einfach „mit
der Hand“ spielen und damit Zeit für das Berechnen der folgenden nicht
einfachen Varianten sparen können. Aber während der Partie zeichnete mein
Gedächtnis „Restbilder“ gewisser nicht existierender Feinheiten mit Rd1
statt 0-0-0 und den dazugehörigen langen „Bestätigungsvarianten“. Solche
Zweifel können sich später in Zeitnot rächen...} Qb6 $2 {Interestingly, I
considered this move more or less forced. But in reality it is the decisive
mistake which leads to the loss! Interessanterweise hielt ich diesen Zug für
quasi erzwungen. Aber in Wirklichkeit ist er der entscheidende Fehler, der zum
Verlust führt!} ({After Nach} 16... Qc7 $1 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Nd4 Nc5 19. b4 $1
cxb3 {we reach the position which I discovered after the game in my notes. I
had skipped any detailed consideration of it, since it did not appear possible
for Black to go into this extremely risky business since he has a normal
choice. But it is not easy for White to continue with his attack entsteht die
Stellung, die ich nach der Partie in meinen Aufzeichnungen entdeckte. Auf eine
detaillierte Betrachtung hatte ich verzichtet, da Schwarz sich auf diese
äußerst riskante Sache nicht einlassen zu können schien, so er denn eine
normale Wahl hat. Aber es ist für Weiß nicht leicht, den Angriff
fortzuführen.} 20. Nxb3 $5 {A comparatively quiet continuation. Eine
vergleichsweise ruhige Fortsetzung.} ({As for the mad variations after In den
verrückten Varianten nach} 20. Bh5+ Ke7 21. axb3 (21. Nxb3 $2 Nxb3+ 22. Qxb3
Qe5) 21... Rd8 $1 (21... Bg7 $6 22. e5 Qxe5 23. Bg4) 22. Bf3 (22. b4 $5 Qe5) (
22. Nce2 $5 Qe5 23. Bf3) 22... Qe5 (22... Rg5 $5) 23. Nce2 Rg5 24. Rh7+ Bg7 25.
b4 Na4 (25... Nd7 26. Qxc6) 26. Qxc6 $5 {one has to find one's footing in them
separately, but I do not have the impression that White can make the
advantages of his position count sufficiently well in them - the tendency is
more to playing for any one of three possible results. muss man sich noch
gesondert zurechtfinden, aber ich habe nicht den Eindruck, dass Weiß die
Vorzüge seiner Stellung hier überzeugend zur Geltung gebracht hat - eher
sehen wir hier ein Spiel auf drei Resultate}) 20... Rg5 ({or oder} 20... Nxb3+
21. Qxb3) 21. Bh5+ Ke7 22. Nd4 {The initiative certainly lies with White but
the struggle is still rather unclear. Die Initiative ist bestimmt auf der
Seite von Weiß, aber der Kampf ist immer noch ziemlich unklar.}) ({A far
weaker move is Weitaus schwächer ist} 16... Qe7 17. Nd4) ({Or Oder} 16... Qf6
17. Nd4 cxd5 18. exd5 O-O-O {and White has tons of promising options, und
Weiß verfügt über eine Unmenge aussichtsreicher Möglichkeiten,} {of which
unter denen} 19. Ndxb5 {is the simplest: die einfachste ist:} (19. dxe6) (19.
Nc6) (19. Ne4 Qe5 (19... Qg6 20. Bh5) 20. Rh5 f5 21. Nc3 Nc5) 19... Kb8 20.
dxe6 Qxe6 21. Bf3 {with clear superiority for no cost. mit deutlichem und
„kostenlosen“ Übergewicht.}) 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Nd4 {An obvious and very
effective plan of attack. The assault on the e6-pawn does not give Black any
time to evacuate his king in peace. Ein naheliegendes und sehr wirkungsvolles
Angriffsschema. Die Attacke auf den Bauern e6 lässt Schwarz keine Zeit,
seinen König in Ruhe zu evakuieren.} ({Here it is not necessary to play Hier
besteht keine Notwendigkeit zu} 18. Rxd7 $2 Kxd7 19. Qd2+ Kc8 20. Rh7 {, even
if the opponent appears to have full compensation. , auch wenn der Anziehende
hier anscheinend vollwertige Kompensation hat.}) 18... Nc5 {For inexplicable
reasons this despairing reply came as a surprise to me, although I was able to
calculate the alternative quite accurately: Aus unerfindlichen Gründen kam
diese verzweifelte Antwort für mich überraschend, obwohl ich die Alternative
ziemlich akkurat berechnen konnte:} (18... O-O-O 19. Nxe6 Re8 20. Qd2 $1 {
wins by force. gewinnt forciert.} Ne5 (20... Nc5 21. Nxc5 Bxc5 22. Qxf4) (20...
Nf6 21. Qxf4 (21. Bxc4 $5) 21... Rxe6 22. Qf5 c5 23. Nd5 Bxd5 24. exd5) 21.
Qxf4 Rxe6 22. Qf5 c5 23. Nd5 $18) 19. Bh5+ {This is the most logical, but it
is also decisive Das ist am logischsten, aber es entscheidet auch} (19. Nxe6 $1
Nxe6 (19... f3 20. Nxc5 fxe2 21. Qxe2 Qxc5 22. e5) 20. Bh5+ Ke7 21. e5) ({
whereas während} 19. Nf5 exf5 20. exf5 Rd8 21. f6 {promises "only" a strong
attack and with other continuations in the background looks like an
unnecessary flourish. „einfach“ starken Angriff verspricht und vor dem
Hintergrund anderer Fortsetzungen wie ein unnötiger Effekt wirkt.}) 19... Ke7
20. Be2 $6 {And suddenly panic struck me one step before my goal! This move
was interpreted in contradictory fashion by commentators and colleagues alike.
In the aftermath, some even liked it because of its reliability. However, it
is hard to believe that I spent an enormous part of my remaining thonking time
on it and yet was unable to correctly calculate out even one important
variation. Worse than that, the thought kept swirling through my head that
after the retreat of the bishop I might not even be worse off…?! But that is
a completely baseless under-estimation of the resources to be found in the
position! Understandably, had I had the help of a computer I would easily have
come up with another plan: Und plötzlich bricht bei mir einen Schritt vor dem
Ziel Panik aus! Dieser Zug löste bei Kommentatoren und Kollegen ein
widersprüchliches Echo aus. Einigen gefiel er im Nachklang sogar wegen seiner
Zuverlässigkeit. Allerdings ist kaum zu glauben, dass ich für ihn einen
riesigen Teil meiner verbliebenen Bedenkzeit verbrauchte und es mir dennoch
nicht gelang, auch nur eine wichtige Variante korrekt durchzurechnen. Mehr
noch, mir schwirrte der Gedanke durch den Kopf, ob ich nach dem Rückzug des
Läufers jetzt nicht schon schlechter stünde…?! Das ist aber eine völlig
unbegründete Unterschätzung der der Stellung innewohnenden Ressourcen!
Verständlicherweise wäre mir mit Computerhilfe eine andere Spielweise leicht
von der Hand gegangen:} (20. e5 $1 Nd3+ 21. Rxd3 cxd3 22. Qxd3 Rd8 23. Nf5+ $1
(23. Qh7+ $2 Rg7 24. Qh6 Rxd4 25. Qf6+ Kd7 26. Qxf8 Re7 {can lead to an
incisive change in the decor. kann zu einem einschneidenden Dekorationswechsel
führen}) 23... exf5 24. Qxf5 Rg7 25. Ne4 $1 (25. Bg4 $5 c5 26. Rh7 $1) 25...
c5 26. Nd6 Bd5 27. Rd1 Qc6 28. Bf3 (28. Rd2 $5 {Black is so paralysed that
White can even afford to prepare Bh5-f3 Schwarz ist derart paralysiert, dass
sich Weiß sogar die Vorbereitung von Bh5-f3 leisten kann}) 28... Bxf3 29. gxf3
Qxf3 30. Qf6+ Kd7 31. Nxb5+ Qxd1+ 32. Kxd1 $18) ({Or Oder} 20. Nf5+ $5 exf5 21.
exf5 Rd8 (21... Kf6 22. Ne4+ Nxe4 23. Qxe4 $18) 22. f6+ $1 Kxf6 23. Qh7 Rxd1+
24. Rxd1 {with a decisive attack. mit entscheidendem Angriff}) ({even the
reckless selbst das „rücksichtslose“} 20. Nxe6 $5 {?! came into
consideration, but not playing one of these moves deserves clear criticism,
despite the practicality of my choice during the game :) ?! kam in Betracht;
aber keinen dieser Züge zu spielen verdient, bei aller Praktikabilität
meiner Wahl in der Partie, deutliche Kritik:)}) 20... Rd8 {It is interesting
that Black is still objectively worse. Es ist interessant, dass Schwarz
objektiv immer noch schlecht steht.} ({There is no help for him either with Es
hilft ihm weder} 20... Nd3+ 21. Bxd3 Qxd4 22. Bxc4 $1 (22. Bf1 Qe5 23. Qd2)
22... Qxc4 23. Qd2) ({or with noch} 20... Rg7 21. Nf5+ $1 exf5 22. exf5 Bc8 23.
f6+ Kxf6 24. Rh6+ {in both cases with an attack which crashes through against
the absolutely exposed king. in beiden Fällen mit durchschlagendem Angriff
auf den absolut offenen König.}) 21. e5 Rg7 (21... Nd3+ 22. Bxd3 Rxd4 23. Be2
$40) 22. Nf3 $2 {After I had started the retreat, it was not so easy to stop
it :) But this time we are talking about a serious mistake, which could have
cost White the win. My move is all the stranger since the obvious Nachdem ich
mit dem Rückzug begonnen hatte, konnte ich nicht so schnell damit aufhören :)
Diesmal handelt es sich aber bereits um einen ernsten Fehler, der Weiß den
Sieg hätte kosten können. Mein Zug ist umso seltsamer, als dass das auf der
Hand liegende} (22. Nf5+ $1 {was an elementary win: elementar gewann:} exf5 23.
Qxf5 Rf7 24. Qg5+ Ke8 25. Bh5 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 $18) 22... b4 23. Ne4 Rxd1+ $2 {
Ivan returns the compliment immediately (apparently he was overcome by the
desire to exploit the unexpected uncertainty of his opponent by rapid play
with an eye on my time trouble) and misses a chance . Possible an
over-estimation of his own position also had a role to play here. Despite the
fact that the opposing forces had suddenly sounded the retreat, the position
of his king on е7 and the bishop on f8 give White the possibility of going
back on the attack at any time. However, Black should have grabbed by the
scruff of the neck the amazing opportunity which was being offered to him:
Ivan revanchiert sich postwendend (offenbar überkam ihn der Wunsch, die
unerwartete Unsicherheit des Gegners durch schnelles, auf die Zeitnot
schielendes Spiel auszunutzen) und geht an seiner Chance vorbei. Womöglich
spielte hier auch die Überschätzung seiner Stellung eine Rolle. Ungeachtet
der Tatsache, dass die gegnerischen Kräfte plötzlich zum Rückzug geblasen
hatten, geben die Postierung des Königs auf е7 und des Läufers auf f8 dem
Anziehenden jederzeit die Möglichkeit, in den Angriff zurückzukehren.
Schwarz indessen hätte die sich ihm bietende einmalige Gelegenheit sofort
beim Schopfe packen müssen:} (23... b3 $1 24. axb3 Nxb3+ 25. Kb1 Qa6 $1 {
, forces the exchange of queens. , forciert den Damentausch.} 26. Qc3 $5 (26.
Qxc4 Qxc4 27. Bxc4 c5 $1 28. Nd6 Bxf3 29. gxf3 Nd4 {- suddenly it is almost a
draw - plötzlich ist es fast remis}) 26... c5 (26... Qa1+ {is weaker: ist
schwächer:} 27. Kc2 Qa4 28. Qxc4 Qxc4+ 29. Bxc4 c5 30. Nd6) 27. Nd6 Qa1+ 28.
Kc2 Qa4 29. Bxc4 Be4+ $1 30. Nxe4 Nd2+ 31. b3 Qa2+ 32. Qb2 Qxb2+ 33. Kxb2 Nxe4
{with excellent chances of a draw. mit hervorragenden Remischancen.}) 24. Rxd1
c3 ({Now, after the premature exchange of rooks Jetzt, nach dem verfrühten
Turmtausch, funktioniert} 24... b3 {no longer works: schon nicht mehr:} 25.
axb3 Nxb3+ 26. Kb1 Qa6 27. Qxc4 Qxc4 28. Bxc4 c5 (28... Na5 29. Ba2) 29. Nf6 $1
{so Black is now defenceless. daher ist Schwarz nun ohne Verteidigung.}) 25.
Nd6 {Here the knight is completely dominant, but also Hier dominiert der
Springer völlig, aber auch} (25. Nf6 $5 {did not look bad. sah nicht schlecht
aus.}) 25... b3 26. axb3 Nxb3+ ({In this version the ending too is hopeless:
In dieser Version ist auch das Endspiel hoffnungslos:} 26... Qxb3 27. Qxb3
Nxb3+ 28. Kc2 Nc5 29. b4 Ba6 30. bxc5 Bxe2 31. Rb1 Bb5 32. Nxb5 cxb5 33. Rxb5
Rxg2 34. Nd4 Rxf2+ 35. Kxc3 {, which means that the black position is
absolutely lost. , was bedeutet, dass die schwarze Stellung absolut verloren
ist.}) 27. Kb1 cxb2 28. Bc4 {here White could allow himself just about any
move as he has more pieces in play: Hier konnte sich Weiß, der mehr Figuren
im Spiel hat, sich bereits so ziemlich alles erlauben:} (28. Nh4) (28. Nf5+)
28... Nc5 29. Nh4 (29. Nd4) (29. Bxe6 Nxe6 30. Nf5+ Kf7 31. Nxg7 Bxg7 32. Qf5+
Ke7 33. Ng5 $1) {, and after the unnecessary moves , und nach den schon nicht
mehr notwendigen Zügen…} 29... Nd7 30. Ng6+ Kd8 31. Nxb7+ Kc7 32. Nd6 Qa5
33. Ba2 Rxg6 34. Qxg6 Qxe5 35. Ne8+ Kb6 36. Qxe6 Qxe6 37. Bxe6 Nc5 38. Ba2 {
... Ivan resigned. … gab Ivan auf.} 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.20"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Black "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
dxc5 Qa5 9. e4 Ne7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qb3 Qc7 12. Nh3 e5 13. Nf2 Nec6 14. Rb1 Na5
15. Qa4 Be6 16. Be2 Nd7 17. Rb5 b6 18. O-O Rfc8 19. Rd1 Nb7 20. cxb6 axb6 21.
Qb4 Qxc3 22. Qxc3 Rxc3 23. Bxb6 Nxb6 24. Rxb6 Nc5 25. Nd3 Nd7 26. Rd6 h6 27.
Nb4 Nf8 28. Nc6 Ng6 29. Rd8+ Rxd8 30. Rxd8+ Kh7 31. Rd6 Rxa3 32. g3 Ra1+ 33.
Kf2 Ra2 34. Kf1 Ra1+ 35. Kf2 Ra2 36. Ke3 Ra3+ 37. Kd2 Ra2+ 38. Ke1 Ra1+ 39. Kd2
Ra2+ 40. Ke3 Ra3+ 41. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Black "Bukavshin, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 {The triangle system is gaining in quite some
popularity these days.} 4. e3 {Vitiugov avoids the complicated Marshall Gambit
and Noteboom Variations and instead goes for the quiet variation with e3. Is
it an invitation to enter the Meran?} Nf6 {Bukavshin doesn't mind the Meran.} (
4... f5 {is another interesting move going into the stonewall.}) 5. b3 $5 {
Though pretty logical, this is the sixth most popular move in the position.
Vitiugov has a strange strategy of delaying Nf3 for quite some time in this
game.} Bd6 (5... Bb4 6. Bb2 Ne4 7. Qc2 Qa5 8. Nge2 $14) 6. Bb2 O-O 7. Bd3 $5 {
Vitiugov continues his strategy of delaying the development of his knight with
Nf3. Black makes a logical move of breaking in the center with e5.} (7. Nf3
Nbd7 8. Bd3 {Takes us into one of the important positions of the Anti-Meran.})
7... e5 $1 8. dxe5 (8. cxd5 $6 exd4 $1 9. exd4 Nxd5 $17) 8... Bxe5 9. Nf3 {
If Black has to retreat or give up his bishop on c3 then White would be better.
But Black has a developing move at his disposal which maintains the balance.}
Bg4 (9... dxc4 10. Bxc4 Qxd1+ 11. Rxd1 $14) 10. Qc2 Bxf3 11. gxf3 d4 $5 {
This is a very natural move trying to take advantage of the white king still
being in the centre of the board. But it is inaccurate. Better would have been}
(11... Na6 $142 12. a3 (12. f4 $2 Nb4 $17) 12... Qe7 $132) 12. Ne2 $1 Qa5+ {
Bukavshin had definitely prepared this move which defends the e5 bishop and
threatens dxe3 on the next move but maybe he underestimated Vitiugov's reply.}
(12... c5 {might have limited the damage.} 13. f4 Bd6 14. exd4 cxd4 15. O-O-O
$36) 13. b4 $1 (13. Kf1 dxe3 14. b4 Qc7 $17) (13. Qd2 $2 Qxd2+ 14. Kxd2 dxe3+
$17) 13... Qxb4+ 14. Kf1 c5 15. f4 (15. Rb1 $5 Qa5 16. exd4 cxd4 17. f4 Bd6 18.
Bxd4 Nbd7 19. Rxb7 $16) 15... Bd6 16. exd4 (16. e4 {looks strong as the threat
is e5 but you have to take into account that the bishop on b2 is completely
shut in.} Nc6 $1 17. e5 Bxe5 18. fxe5 Nxe5 $15 {Black has an excellent
position.}) 16... Nbd7 (16... cxd4 17. Bxd4 Nbd7 18. Rb1 $16) 17. Rg1 (17. d5
$14 {looked extremely logical, creating a passed pawn and also opening up the
bishop, but Vitiugov keeps the tension in the position.}) 17... g6 18. Rb1 {
The interesting part about this position is that all of White's forces are
scattered in conventional terms while Black has excellent co-ordination. Yet,
it is White who has a clear advantage as his pieces are functioning much
better than Black's army.} Qa5 19. f5 {A sacrifice on g6 is imminent now and
that explains Bukavshin's next move.} g5 {This is as good as resignation now.}
(19... Qc7 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Bxg6 Kh8 $16 {gives Black better chances of
defence yet he should lose in the long run.}) 20. Qc1 $1 Kh8 (20... h6 21. h4
$1 $18) 21. dxc5 {opening up the bishop and threatening Qxg5.} (21. Qxg5 Rg8 {
is not very convincing from White's point of view.}) 21... Be7 (21... Qxc5 22.
Qxg5 Rg8 23. Bxf6+ $18) 22. Bd4 $1 {Defending the c5 pawn and threatening the
one on b7.} Qc7 23. Be4 $1 {The knight on f6 is pinned, so the bishop improves
itself and attacks the b7 pawn.} Rab8 24. Nc3 (24. Rxb7 $3 {is an excellent
tactical shot which can be found only if you are immensely alert. Qxg5 is
always met with Rg8. However, if the rook on b8 is deflected then Rg8 would
not be possible and hence's this was the fastest way to win.} Rxb7 25. Qxg5 $1
$18) 24... h6 (24... Qxh2 25. Rh1 (25. Nd5 Bxc5 {reduces White's advantage.})
25... Qf4 26. Qxf4 gxf4 27. Nd5 $18) 25. Nd5 Qd8 26. h4 Bxc5 27. hxg5 Bxd4 28.
gxf6 {The queen will land on h6 and end the game. A very original and powerful
game by Nikita Vitiugov.} 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[Annotator "Havasi,G"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. g3 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Nc6 (6... d6 {
is the most popular.}) 7. Nc3 (7. b3 {was played by Bacrot} d5 8. Bg2 O-O 9.
O-O dxc4 10. bxc4 e5 11. d5 Nb8 12. Nc3 Nbd7 {1/2 (34) Bacrot,E (2729)
-Ivanchuk,V (2726) Linares ESP 2014}) 7... d5 8. Ne5 (8. Bg2 {is another move}
dxc4 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. Qd4 Qc5 12. Qxc5 Nxc5 13. O-O-O Nd7 14. f4
Ke7 15. Rd4 Nb6 16. Rhd1 Rb8 17. Ne4 Bd7 18. Nc5 $14 {1-0 (31) Caruana,F (2829)
-Dragun,K (2547) London ENG 2014}) (8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Re8 $13 {
1-0 (52) Bologan,V (2661)-Vitiugov,N (2742) Dubai UAE 2014}) 8... dxc4 (8...
O-O 9. Bg2 dxc4 10. Nxc6 bxc6 {transposes to the game.}) 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bg2
O-O $1 {This is the exact move.} (10... Bd7 11. Na4 e5 12. Rc1 $14) 11. O-O (
11. Bxc6 Rb8 12. O-O Rd8 13. Rfd1 e5 14. d5 Bd7 $13 {1/2 (33) Guo Qi (2451)
-Van Kampen,R (2602) Caleta ENG 2014}) 11... Rb8 12. Rfd1 (12. Bxc6 {
treansposes to 11.Bxc6.}) 12... c5 (12... Rd8 {Vitiugov also played this with
Black} 13. Qc2 Ba6 14. Ne4 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 g6 16. Bxc6 Qb4 17. Rab1 Rd6 18. Bf3
Qa5 $132 {0-1 (59) Goganov,A (2575)-Vitiugov,N (2729) Nizhny Novgorod 2013})
13. Na4 $146 {A prepared novelty.} (13. d5 exd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 Be6 16.
Bxe6 Qxe6 $13 {1/2 (30) Demuth,A (2488)-Bukavshin,I (2593) Nancy FRA 2014})
13... cxd4 14. Qxd4 Bd7 $1 15. Qxa7 (15. Qxc4 Bxa4 16. Qxa4 Rxb2 $132) 15...
Nd5 $1 (15... Bxa4 16. Qxa4 Rxb2 17. Qxc4 $14 {and the e2-P is defended.}) 16.
Nc3 (16. e4 Bxa4 (16... Ra8 17. Qc5 $1) 17. Qxa4 Nb4 $132) 16... Bc6 $6 (16...
Rxb2 17. Bxd5 exd5 18. Qxc7 Rc2 19. Rxd5 Rxc3 $132) 17. Qd4 $1 $14 Ba8 {
Preparing ...c5.} 18. e4 (18. Rd2 c5 19. Qxc4 Rb4 20. Nxd5 (20. Qa6) 20... exd5
21. Qc2 $14) 18... Nxc3 19. bxc3 (19. Qxc3 f5 20. exf5 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Rxf5 22.
Rd2 $14) 19... Qa3 $1 20. Qxc4 Rb6 $1 {...with the plan of ...Rc6.} 21. Rd3 $6
(21. e5 $1 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 $14) 21... Bc6 $1 22. Qd4 (22. Rdd1 $5 Rfb8 $132)
22... h6 $1 {...with the plan of Rfb8.} 23. e5 Bxg2 24. Kxg2 Rb2 $132 {Black
managed to equalise.} 25. Rd2 Rfb8 26. h4 h5 27. Kg1 g6 28. c4 Rb1+ 29. Rxb1
Rxb1+ 30. Rd1 Qxa2 31. Rxb1 Qxb1+ 32. Kg2 Qb7+ 33. Kg1 Qb1+ 34. Kg2 Qb7+ 35.
Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Black "Khismatullin, Denis Rimovich"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 {Many players are opting for Bg5 before
Nc3 so that they can develop their knight to d2.} c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nbd2 h6 7.
Bh4 g5 {As is usual, Khismatullin goes for an unusual move which brings the
game outside the realms of theory. But this is quite risky as he is weakening
his kingside without White having committed any serious waste of time.} (7...
Be7 {would be the normal way to continue.}) 8. Bg3 Nh5 9. Bd3 Nxg3 10. hxg3 Bg7
11. Qc2 Qe7 12. Rc1 O-O {Thanks to the bishop on g7 Black has no worries about
castling short in spite of the h-file being open.} 13. O-O e5 {With the two
bishops, it's a normal strategy to open up the position.} 14. cxd5 cxd5 15.
dxe5 (15. e4 $5 {This confrontation of the pawns in the centre of the board is
quite confusing. However, if Black plays accurately then he can equalise
without much difficulty.} exd4 $1 (15... dxe4 16. Bxe4 exd4 17. Rfe1 Qd6 18.
Nc4 $36) 16. exd5 Nb6 17. Nb3 Nxd5 $11) 15... Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Qxe5 17. b4 (17. b3
Bg4 18. Nf3 Qb2 19. Qxb2 Bxb2 20. Rc7 {is the same as the game with the pawn
on b3 instead of b4. I think the pawn on b4 could be much more useful as White
can later expand further on the queenside with a4-b5 etc.}) 17... Bg4 18. Nf3
Qb2 19. Qxb2 Bxb2 20. Rc7 {White has a rook on c7 which is well placed and
Black has an isolated pawn. These disadvantages for Black are balanced by the
fact that he has the bishop pair. If you take into consideration the fact that
bishop pair is the only good thing that Black has in this position,
Khismatullin's next move can be roundly condemned.} Bxf3 $2 {When you give up
the best thing in your position, you can understand that you are in for a long
drawn out defensive task.} (20... b6 {I am sure that Khismatullin did not like}
21. Ba6 $14 {at this point which kept the control of the c-file.}) (20... Rab8
$1 {The idea is to challenge the rook on the c-file next.} 21. Rb1 Bf6 22. Rbc1
Rfc8 $11 {The position is completely balanced.}) 21. gxf3 $16 Rab8 22. Rb1 $6 (
22. Bf5 $1 {Keeping the c-file under control was more important.} d4 (22...
Rfd8 23. f4 Bf6 {Trying to get the bishop out of b2 before going for d5-d4.}
24. Rd1 d4 25. e4 $1 $16 {[%cal Ge4e5]}) (22... Be5 23. Rc5 Bd6 24. Rxd5 Bxb4
25. Rb1 a5 26. a3 Bxa3 27. Rxa5 Bd6 28. Rab5 $16 {b7 falls and White keeps
decent winning chances.}) 23. Rb1 Bc3 24. Kg2 {and it is not so easy for Black
to get rid of his d4-pawn.}) 22... Be5 23. Rc5 Rfd8 24. Rd1 Bf6 25. Bc2 $6 (25.
Bf5 d4 26. e4 $14) 25... d4 $1 {Black is able to get rid off the main weakness
in his position.} 26. Bb3 dxe3 27. Rxd8+ Bxd8 $6 {Why make this passive move
when taking with the rook was also possible?} (27... Rxd8 28. fxe3 Rd7 $11 {
and Black is completely fine.}) 28. fxe3 Kf8 $6 (28... Bb6 $5 29. Re5 Rc8 {
activating the rook.} 30. Re7 Rc7 $1 31. Bxf7+ Kf8 32. Rxc7 Bxc7 33. Bd5 Bxg3
34. Bxb7 $11 {This should be an easy draw.}) 29. Kg2 Ke7 30. f4 f6 31. Rc4 b5
32. Re4+ Kf8 33. Kf3 h5 34. Rd4 Ke7 $2 (34... Be7 $14 {Black is passive but
still holding on to everything.}) 35. Rd5 $1 {Now a pawn is lost.} h4 (35...
Kf8 36. Rd7 a6 37. Rf7+ Ke8 38. Ra7 $16 {[%cal Ga7a6,Gb3f7]}) 36. gxh4 gxh4 37.
Rh5 a5 38. bxa5 Bxa5 39. Rxh4 $16 {Even though thanks to the opposite coloured
bishops Black has decent drawing chances, his task is not so easy. White not
only has an extra pawn but also well co-ordinated pieces. Slowly and steadily
Vitiugov increased the pressure and won the game.} Kd6 40. Rh5 Bc3 41. Rd5+ Kc6
42. Rd1 Rh8 43. Kg4 Rh2 44. Rd8 Kc7 45. Re8 Kd6 46. Kf5 Re2 47. Kg6 Rg2+ 48.
Kf7 Rh2 49. e4 Rh7+ (49... Rf2 50. Rd8+ Kc7 51. Rd5 b4 (51... Rxf4 52. Rc5+ $18
) 52. Rf5 $14) 50. Kg6 Re7 51. Rd8+ Rd7 $6 (51... Kc7 $142 $16) 52. Rb8 $1 b4
53. e5+ $1 {A very strong breakthrough which wins for White.} fxe5 54. f5 $1
Kc7 (54... e4 55. f6 Bxf6 56. Kxf6 $18 {should be an elementary victory for
White.}) 55. Re8 $1 Rd8 56. Re7+ Rd7 57. f6 Kd8 (57... Rxe7 58. fxe7 Kd7 59.
Kf7 $18) 58. Rxd7+ {Khismatullin played the opening quite imaginatively and
equalised but his move 20...Bxf3 was a pretty bad one and gave White chances
in the game.} (58. Rxd7+ Kxd7 59. f7 Ke7 60. Kg7 $18) 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch 68th"]
[Site "Chita"]
[Date "2015.08.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2015.08.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. g3 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. e4 Bg6 12. f4 e6 13. Bg2 Bb4 14. O-O f6 15.
Be3 O-O 16. Na2 Be7 17. Qb3 Bf7 18. Qxb7 c5 19. e5 Rb8 20. Qa7 cxd4 21. Bxd4
fxe5 22. fxe5 {Diagram [#] The last few moves of the game between Vitiugov and
Dubov had some nice tactical shots! Have a look at them.} Rxb2 $1 {A simple
deflection. Bxb2 is met with Bc5+. But this is just the start!} 23. Rfd1 Rxg2+
$1 {A nice little exchange sacrifice. The f7 bishop will get into action now.}
24. Kxg2 Bh5 25. Be3 Bxd1 26. Rxd1 Qc8 27. Qxd7 Qc2+ 28. Kg1 Bg5 $1 {Another
deflection!} 29. Bxg5 (29. Ba7 Qxa2 $11) 29... Qf2+ 30. Kh1 Qf3+ 31. Kg1 Qf2+
32. Kh1 Qf3+ 33. Kg1 {It was hard to imagine that in ten moves from the
diagrammed position we could reach a three fold repetition after two piece
sacrifices! Nice play by Dubov.} 1/2-1/2

