Morozevich finishes Governor's Cup in style, back in the top 10
Alexander Morozevich finished the Governer's Cup in Saratov, Russia in style. His tournament victory was already certain when Evgeny Tomashevsky drew in the last round, but Morozevich defeated Michael Roiz to set his final score at 8.5/11. In the live ratings he's back among the world's ten highest rated players.
| Event | Governor's Cup | PGN via TWIC |
| Dates | October 7th-20th, 2011 |
| Location | Saratov, Russia |
| System | 10-player round robin |
| Players | Tomashevsky, Andreikin, Alekseev, Morozevich, Vitiugov, Ponomariov, Moiseenko, Eljanov, Shirov, Ni Hua, Leko, Roiz |
| Rate of play | 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from move 1 |
The first Governor's Cup was another huge success for Alexander Morozevich, who already played so well in his previous tournaments this summer. His expected comeback into the world's elite was realized even faster than his biggest fans could hope for, because in the current live ratings the Russian GM is already back into the top 10.
Only a few months ago, in the rating list of July, Morozevich was still rated 2694 and ranked 48th in the world. But course we all knew this was way below his real level, as in July 2008 he was still the world's number two, behind Vishy Anand. In our recent interview in Biel the Russian said he'd have a very tough schedule to deal with, but thus far things went fine!
Already after six rounds in Saratov it was clear that 'Moro' was again in excellent shape, as we noted in our first report. Amazingly, the next round he extended his lead to a full two points, as he was again the only winner of the day, beating Alekseev from a slightly better ending.
[Event "Governor's Cup"]
[Site "Saratov RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2737"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/2rp1p1p/6p1/1rn5/pN6/P2R4/1PR2PPP/1K6 w - - 0 30"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2011.10.08"]
30. Rd4 d6 31. Nd5 Ra7 32. Rb4 Rab7 33. Rd2 Kf8 34. Ka2 f5 35. f3 Kf7 36. h4 h6
37. Rd1 g5 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. g3 Rb8 40. g4 f4 41. Rxb5 Rxb5 42. Nc3 Rb6 43. Rd5
Kg6 44. Kb1 Nd7 45. Nxa4 Ra6 46. Nc3 Ne5 47. a4 Nxf3 48. b4 Ne5 49. b5 Ra8 50.
Rxd6+ Kf7 51. Ra6 Rg8 52. Ne4 Nxg4 53. b6 f3 54. b7 Rb8 55. Rb6 Ne5 56. a5 Nc4
57. Rf6+ Ke7 58. a6 Na5 59. Rb6 Kd7 60. a7 1-0
In round 8 it was Tomashevsky's turn to be the only winner, and so he decreased his distance to the tournament leader to 1.5 points.
[Event "Governor's Cup"]
[Site "Saratov RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.16"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Moiseenko, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/8/3p1R2/3p3k/3Nb2P/4P2K/r7 b - - 0 57"]
[PlyCount "10"]
[EventDate "2011.10.08"]
57... Bg1+ $2 ({A better defence was} 57... Ra2 58. Ne1 Rxe2+ 59. Ng2+ Rxg2+
60. Kxg2 d3 61. Rxd5 d2 {and the tablebase says mate in 53!}) 58. Kg2 Be3 59.
Ne5 Rg1+ 60. Kh2 Rg3 61. Nf3+ Rxf3 62. Rxf3 1-0
The game between Morozevich and Tomashevsky in round 9 was drawn, and Morozevich also drew in round 10, with Ponomariov. Tomashevsky kept the tournament exciting until the last round as he beat Eljanov, to get to one point behind Morozevich.
[Event "Governor's Cup"]
[Site "Saratov RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.18"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6kr/4qp2/8/1pnRPQP1/2n3B1/1p5P/8/r1B2R1K b - - 0 37"]
[PlyCount "4"]
[EventDate "2011.10.08"]
{In a difficult position Eljanov allows mate in five:} 37... b2 $2 38. Rd8+ Kg7
39. Qf6+ 1-0
As Tomashevsky drew with Shirov in the last round, Morozevich was secured of sole first place. However, he had reached a better ending against Roiz and saw no reason to offer a draw.
[Event "Governor's Cup"]
[Site "Saratov RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.19"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Roiz, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2737"]
[BlackElo "2668"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k1r1/1p2b2p/p1p1b2B/2Pp1p2/3Pn2P/2N1P3/1P2BP2/R3K2R w KQq - 0 23"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2011.10.08"]
23. Na4 Bd8 24. Nb6 Bxb6 25. cxb6 Ke7 26. Bf4 Rae8 27. b4 Bc8 28. Rc1 Bd7 29.
Bd3 Kf7 30. f3 Nf6 31. Kf2 Ra8 32. Rhg1 Rxg1 33. Rxg1 Be6 34. Be5 h6 35. Ke2
Bd7 36. Kd2 Be6 37. Kc2 a5 38. Ra1 a4 39. Kc3 Nd7 40. Bc7 Nf8 41. Ra3 h5 42.
Bc2 Ng6 43. Rxa4 Rxa4 44. Bxa4 Bd7 45. Bd8 Nf8 46. Bc2 Ke6 47. e4 fxe4 48. fxe4
Be8 49. e5 Bg6 50. Ba4 Kd7 51. Bg5 Ne6 52. Be3 Kc8 53. b5 cxb5 54. Bxb5 Kd8 55.
Ba4 Bf7 56. Bh6 Kc8 57. Bb3 Nd8 58. Kb4 Kd7 59. Ba4+ 1-0
Quite amazingly, Alexei Shirov, known for his creative chess, drew all eleven games in Saratov. This might well have been the first time that this happened to the Latvian. However, it seems it was just a coincidence since more or less all of the games were interesting fights. Another player we'll mention is Peter Leko, who scored an undefeated +2. He also seems to be back on track. It must be said that one of his wins was by default against Nikita Vitiugov, who had to withdraw from the tournament after round 9 due to illness.
Governor's Cup (Saratov) 2011 | Round 11 (Final) Standings
Morozevich receives the Governor's Cup from Pavel Ipatov, the Governor of Saratov
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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