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+.
Sjugirov-Timofeev: White misses a nice drawing line in the ending
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.
Timofeev-Morozevich: an incorrect piece sac refuted by healthy development
Selection of games rounds 7-8
Game viewer by ChessTempo| 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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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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