Russian Team Championship: 64 (Moscow) wins, by half a board point

Even in the final standings of the Russian Team Championship, 64 and Tomsk-400 were still sharing the lead with 20 match points out of 11 rounds. However, the team from Moscow (with Gelfand, Wang Hao, Caruana and Giri as the top stars) finished with exactly half a board point more: 47.0 vs 46.5.

The winning team "64", here with Gelfand, Caruana, Giri, Riazantsev, Grachev and Najer in round 2 | Photo © Maria Bolshakova

General info

The 18th Russian Team Championship took place April 11-23 in Olginka (Krasnodar Territory), Russia. Each team consisted of 6 players and 2 reserves. The rate of play was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 30 minutes to end the game with 30 seconds increment from move one. More info, including the line-up of all teams, can be found in our first report.

Rounds 9-11

Till the very end the fight for the Russian title was an exciting one, despite the fact that only two teams were in serious contention: Tomsk-400 and 64 (Moscow). Also in round 9 they both won, and continued their shared lead. 64 crushed Jamal 5.5-0.5 where on top board IM Pavel Potapov managed to draw with GM Wang Hao, but 64's Caruana, Giri, Riazantsev, Potkin and Grachev won their games. Tomsk-400 had a bit more trouble with the Mikhail Chigorin Chess Club. Ponomariov, Motylev and Khismatullin all couldn't beat players who were more than 100 points lower rated, but Inarkiev and Kurnosov scored two victories. Still, these dropped board points might well have been decided matters in the end...

On Friday there was the big clash between the tournament leaders. It was a hard-fought 3-3. Here's the results table for this one - apparently 64's Anish Giri was given a rest day for the second time.

Board	Title	64 (Moscow)	Rating	-	Title	Tomsk-400	Rating	3 : 3
5.1	GM	Gelfand Boris	2733	-	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2743	½ - ½
5.2	GM	Wang Hao	2728	-	GM	Motylev Alexander	2677	½ - ½
5.3	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2716	-	GM	Areshchenko Alexander	2687	1 - 0
5.4	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	2679	-	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto	2674	1 - 0
5.5	GM	Potkin Vladimir	2653	-	GM	Bologan Viktor	2671	0 - 1
5.6	GM	Najer Evgeniy	2638	-	GM	Kurnosov Igor	2653	0 - 1

In this crucial match Fabiano Caruana, who finished on a splendid 8/10 score and a 2852 performance rating, played an interesting exchange sacrifice.

Caruana-Areshchenko Russian Team Championship 2011

Black just took on f4, which was answered by 17. Rxg7!? and here maybe Black should have just accepted the draw offer with 17... fxe3 18. Rxh7+ Kxh7 19. Qh5+ and White gives perpetual check. Instead he bravely continued the game with 17... Kxg7 but after 18. Bxf4 Kh8 19. Kf1 White eventually got plenty compensation and won on move 36.

Update: In the comments below, Fabiano Caruana corrected this variation:

I would just like to mention that in my game against Areshchenko, if Black continues with 17…fxe3 he loses by force in all variations: 18.Rxh7 Kxh7 19.Qh5 Kg8 (19…Kg7 20.Ke2 exf2 21.Qg5 Kh8 22.Rc4 wins) 20.Qg6 (now 20.Ke2? runs into Rf7) Kh8 21.Qh6 Kg8 22.Ke2 exf2 and now 23.Rc3 or 23.Qg5 Kh8 24.Rc4 mates. My opponent played correctly with 17…Kxg7 and objectively held the advantage later on. Instead of the losing [21]…b6, Black would have been better with 21…Qc2.

Fabiano Caruana scored 8/10 for winning team 64

Victor Bologan scored a good point for Tomsk-400 against the reigning European Champion, using the famous double attack theme in the early middlegame.

Potkin-Bologan Russian Team Championship 2011

14... e5! 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nxe5 Nh5



White would really like to continue with 17. Bh2 here, but this fails to one or two swaps on e5, followed by the nasty ...Qg5 move attacking both e5 and g2. OK, the bishop on e5 can return to g3, but Black takes on g3 with knight and queen, followed by ...Bd6 with a killing attack. Instead White went for an ending with three pawns against the piece (with 17. Bf1 Nxf4 18. Qxd7 Qxd7 19. Nxd7 Rxe1 20. Rxe1 Bc6 21. Nxf8 Bxa4), but it was always good for Black. Bologan scored the point on move 40.

And so, with one round to go, 64 was still leading by two board points over Tomsk-400. In the last round on Saturday, Tomsk-400 did what they had to do and won all six games against Kemerovo, but it was just not enough. 64 only spilled 1.5 board points to beat YSU – VISTA 4.5-1.5 and win the title on half a board point. The team from St. Petersburg finished third, with 17 match points. Ugra also scored 17, but less board points.

Also in the women's section the team from Moscow (with GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, WGM Valentina Gunina, IM Marina Romanko, WGM Olga Girya and WGM Alina Kashlinskaya) won the title. This competition only had eight teams of which four finished on 10 match points.

Some relaxation at night: GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Wang Hao, WGM Nazi Paikidze and GM Anish Giri playing Russian billiards

Photos © Maria Bolshakova, more here

Selection of games rounds 9-11

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Russian Team Championship 2011 | Final standings

#	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	BP	MP
1	64 (Moscow)	*	3	3	4	3½	5	4½	4½	4	5	5½	5	20	47.0
2	Tomsk-400	3	*	3	3½	3½	4½	4½	4	4½	4½	5½	6	20	46.5
3	SPb Chess Fed	3	3	*	2½	3	4	5	5	4½	5	5	6	17	46.0
4	Ugra	2	2½	3½	*	3	4	4	5½	5	4½	3½	5	17	42.5
5	Economist	2½	2½	3	3	*	4	3	5	4½	4½	5	5½	15	42.5
6	Club MI Chigorin	1	1½	2	2	2	*	3	4	3½	4	5	3½	11	31.5
7	Polytechnic	1½	1½	1	2	3	3	*	2½	3½	3½	3½	3½	10	28.5
8	YSU – VISTA	1½	2	1	½	1	2	3½	*	2½	4	5½	3½	8	27.0
9	NIU BSU	2	1½	1½	1	1½	2½	2½	3½	*	2½	3½	5	6	27.0
10	Atom	1	1½	1	1½	1½	2	2½	2	3½	*	3	3½	5	23.0
11	Yamal	½	½	1	2½	1	1	2½	½	2½	3	*	4½	3	19.5
12	Kemerovo	1	0	0	1	½	2½	2½	2½	1	2½	1½	*	0	15.0

Russian Team Championship 2011 | Top scorers (top 40)

#	Title	Name	Rating	Team	Points	Games	%	Board
1	GM	Kurnosov Igor	2653	Tomsk-400	8.5	9	94.4	6
2	GM	Najer Evgeniy	2638	64 (Moscow)	8.5	10	85.0	6
3	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2716	64 (Moscow)	8.0	10	80.0	1
4	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2539	NIU BSU	8.0	11	72.7	4
5	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2743	Tomsk-400	7.5	10	75.0	1
6	GM	Motylev Alexander	2677	Tomsk-400	7.5	10	75.0	1
7	GM	Ovetchkin Roman	2487	Polytechnic	7.5	11	68.2	5
8	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2720	St. Petersburg	7.0	9	77.8	2
9	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	2663	St. Petersburg	7.0	9	77.8	4
10	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	2679	64 (Moscow)	7.0	11	63.6	3
11	GM	Dreev Aleksey	2697	Ugra	6.5	8	81.3	3
12	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	2718	Ugra	6.5	9	72.2	1
13	FM	Nakhapetiane Pogos	2495	Atom	6.5	9	72.2	2
14	GM	Bologan Viktor	2671	Tomsk-400	6.5	9	72.2	4
15	GM	Khismatullin Denis	2662	Tomsk-400	6.5	9	72.2	5
16	GM	Tomashevsky Evgeny	2707	Economist	6.5	10	65.0	2
17	GM	Rublevsky Sergei	2678	Ugra	6.5	10	65.0	2
18	GM	Savchenko Boris	2616	NIU BSU	6.5	11	59.1	1
19	GM	Grachev Boris	2675	64 (Moscow)	6.0	8	75.0	5
20	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2779	St. Petersburg	6.0	9	66.7	1
21	GM	Andreikin Dmitry	2686	Economist	6.0	9	66.7	4
22	GM	Shimanov Aleksandr	2550	Mikhail Chigorin	6.0	10	60.0	1
23	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto	2674	Tomsk-400	6.0	10	60.0	3
24	GM	Alekseev Evgeny	2688	Economist	6.0	10	60.0	3
25	GM	Kokarev Dmitry	2576	Polytechnic	6.0	11	54.5	3
26	GM	Svidler Peter	2730	St. Petersburg	5.5	8	68.8	1
27	GM	Ionov Sergey	2541	Mikhail Chigorin	5.5	8	68.8	4
28	GM	Potkin Vladimir	2653	64 (Moscow)	5.5	8	68.8	4
29	GM	Khairullin Ildar	2634	St. Petersburg	5.5	8	68.8	5
30	GM	Moiseenko Alexander	2673	Economist	5.5	8	68.8	5
31	GM	Giri Anish	2690	64 (Moscow)	5.5	9	61.1	2
32	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2708	St. Petersburg	5.5	9	61.1	4
33	GM	Zhigalko Sergei	2680	Ugra	5.5	9	61.1	4
34	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	2643	Ugra	5.5	9	61.1	5
35	GM	Malakhov Vladimir	2714	Ugra	5.5	10	55.0	1
36	GM	Roiz Michael	2661	Economist	5.0	6	83.3	5
37	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2625	St. Petersburg	5.0	6	83.3	6
38	GM	Zontakh Andrey	2568	YSU – VISTA	5.0	11	45.5	2
39	GM	Vysochin Spartak	2526	YSU – VISTA	5.0	11	45.5	3
40	FM	Belyakov Bogdan	2301	Jamal	5.0	11	45.5	3

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