Russian Superfinal Goes to Tiebreaks
The last two rounds of the Russian 'Superfinal' Championship were rather overshadowed by the opening games of the World Championship match in Bonn, but now the Vishy and Vladi show has paused for a rest day we have a chance to catch up with events in Moscow.
As you may recall, Peter Svidler (pictured) started the event with a bang, winning the first three games to set the early pace. He slowed down somewhat to draw his next 4 games, but this was enough to keep him ahead. It might have stayed that way, but in round 9 he suffered a quick and painful loss to Artyom Timofeev in just 19 moves. Ouch!
Nevertheless, a win in the last round against Evgeny Alekseev enables Svidler to share first place with the aforementioned Timofeev and Dmitry Jakovenko on 7/11. These three will now play a rapid (15 min plus 10 sec increment) double round-robin playoff on the 28 October to decide who wins the title.
Favourite Morozevich finished half a point behind on 6.5/11. In a tight contest, his 2 losses to Svidler and Tomashevsky proved to much to overcome. In fact, he was fortunate to win his last round game when his opponent Konstantin Maslak blundered into a one-move checkmate (see below) after pressing hard for a win. Poor Maslak ended in last place as a result.
The final standings after 11 hard fought rounds:
| 1 |
Jakovenko, Dmitry | 2737 |
* | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 7 |
| 2 |
Svidler, Peter | 2727 |
½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 7 |
| 3 |
Alekseev, Evgeny | 2715 |
0 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 |
Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 2646 |
½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 6½ |
| 5 |
Vitiugov, Nikita | 2638 |
0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 6½ |
| 6 |
Morozevich, Alexander | 2787 |
1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6½ |
| 7 |
Timofeev, Artyom | 2670 |
½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 |
Lastin, Alexander | 2651 |
0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 5 |
| 9 |
Sakaev, Konstantin | 2640 |
0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| 10 |
Inarkiev, Ernesto | 2669 |
½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| 11 |
Riazantsev, Alexander | 2656 |
½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | 3½ |
| 12 |
Maslak, Konstantin | 2544 |
½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 3 |
