Morozevich grabs the lead at the Russian Championship, Higher League

Alexander Morozevich yesterday grabbed the lead at the Higher League of the Russian Championship. The former world's number 2 defeated Artyom Timofeev in round 8 to reach 6 points. The first three players will qualify for the main championship later this year.

General info

The Higher League of the Russian Championships for Men and Women takes place June 15-26, 2001 in Taganrog, Russia (live here). It's basically a qualifier for the Russian Championships that will be held in August. Top participants include Vitiugov (2733), Jakovenko (2732), Tomashevsky (2707), Morozevich (2694), Potkin (2682), Rublevsky (2682), Kobalia (2679) and Inarkiev (2679). More info here.

Rounds 7-8

After six rounds, 18-year-old Sanan Sjugirov was leading with five points, but then he lost to Timofeev in a 9.0-0-0 d5 Dragon. His exchange sacrifice didn't work out as expected, but the ending should have ended in a draw.

Sjugirov-Timofeev Taganrog 2011



The game continued 47. Ne3+? Ke1 48. b4 Rc8 49. Kb3?! Rd2! and Black won. Instead 47. Nc3! draws instantly - White can give perpetual check due to the awkward position of the black king and rook on h2. For instance 47... Re5 48. a5! Rxa5 49. Rd1+ Kg2 50. Rd2+ = with the idea 50... Kg3? 51. Ne4+.



And so the lead went to Timofeev, with 5.5/7, and he was followed by Sjugirov and Morozevich, who had beaten Denis Khismatullin. In yesterday's round Morozevich took over the lead from Timofeev, winning a French game with the black pieces.

Timofeev-Morozevich Taganrog 2011



In an equal position Timofeev decided to go for complications with 15. b4 and Morozevich answered this with 15... Rc8. In the diagram position, the best seems 16. bxc5 Qxc5 17. Nd2! Qe5 (17... b5 18. Nce4 Bxh2+ 19. Kxh2 Qe5+ 20. Kg1 Nxe4 21. Rb1! bxc4 22. Qxe4) 18. Qxe5 Bxe5 19. Bb2 b5 20. Nxb5 axb5 21. Bxe5 bxc4 22. a4 and the ending looks slightly better for White. In the game, Timofeev decided to sacrifice a piece with 16. Bb2?! Na4 17. Bxe6? (17.Nxa4 Qxc4 cannot be the idea of 16.Bb2) but Black calmly responded with 17... Nxc3 18. Bxd7+ Kxd7 19. Qd3 Rhe8! and White didn't have enough compensation.

Selection of games rounds 7-8

Game viewer by ChessTempo


Russian Championship 2011 | Higher League | Round 8 Standings (top 40)

Rk.		Naam	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	GM	Morozevich Alexander	RUS	2694	6.0	30.0	25.0	4
2	GM	Timofeev Artyom	RUS	2665	5.5	35.0	26.0	4
3	GM	Galkin Alexander	RUS	2598	5.5	34.5	26.5	3
4	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2629	5.5	34.0	29.0	4
5	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto	RUS	2679	5.5	30.5	22.5	4
6	GM	Najer Evgeniy	RUS	2643	5.0	35.0	26.0	3
7	GM	Matlakov Maxim	RUS	2632	5.0	34.5	24.0	2
8	GM	Volkov Sergey	RUS	2615	5.0	33.5	25.0	2
9	GM	Tomashevsky Evgeny	RUS	2707	5.0	33.5	24.5	2
10	GM	Savchenko Boris	RUS	2630	5.0	32.5	23.0	4
11	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	RUS	2659	5.0	32.0	25.0	2
12	GM	Grachev Boris	RUS	2669	5.0	31.5	22.5	2
13	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	RUS	2733	5.0	30.5	23.5	2
14	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	RUS	2732	5.0	30.5	22.5	3
15	IM	Bukavshin Ivan	RUS	2502	5.0	30.5	21.0	4
16	GM	Kryakvin Dmitry	RUS	2551	5.0	28.5	20.0	4
17	GM	Rublevsky Sergei	RUS	2682	5.0	27.5	20.0	3
18	GM	Kurnosov Igor	RUS	2633	4.5	34.5	24.5	3
19	GM	Lysyj Igor	RUS	2629	4.5	32.5	21.0	1
20	IM	Reshetnikov Alexey	RUS	2487	4.5	32.5	19.0	2
21	GM	Alekseev Evgeny	RUS	2673	4.5	31.5	23.5	2
22	GM	Landa Konstantin	RUS	2613	4.5	31.0	20.5	2
23	GM	Potkin Vladimir	RUS	2682	4.5	30.0	21.0	1
24	GM	Khairullin Ildar	RUS	2649	4.5	27.5	17.5	2
25	GM	Kobalia Mikhail	RUS	2679	4.5	27.0	17.0	3
26	GM	Khismatullin Denis	RUS	2656	4.0	35.0	22.5	3
27	GM	Romanov Evgeny	RUS	2624	4.0	34.5	21.0	1
28	GM	Khalifman Alexander	RUS	2627	4.0	34.0	21.0	1
29	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	RUS	2582	4.0	32.5	20.5	2
30	GM	Papin Vasily	RUS	2565	4.0	32.0	18.5	2
31	GM	Lintchevski Daniil	RUS	2543	4.0	32.0	18.5	2
32	GM	Kornev Alexei	RUS	2511	4.0	31.0	19.0	2
33	GM	Evdokimov Alexander A	RUS	2561	4.0	31.0	18.0	3
34	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	RUS	2506	4.0	29.0	17.5	3
35	GM	Vorobiov Evgeny E	RUS	2570	4.0	28.5	15.5	2
36	GM	Sakaev Konstantin	RUS	2629	4.0	28.0	18.5	1
37	GM	Danin Alexandre	RUS	2534	4.0	27.5	17.0	2
38	GM	Shomoev Anton	RUS	2566	4.0	27.5	16.0	3
39	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	RUS	2559	4.0	26.0	14.0	3
40	GM	Grigoriants Sergey	RUS	2562	3.5	30.5	17.5	1

Photos © Anna Burtasova for the Russian Chess Federation

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