Svidler beats Kramnik in first round Russian Championship Super Final

Vladimir Kramnik started the Russian Championship Super Final in Moscow right where he had left the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund: with an unsuccessful piece sacrifice. Peter Svidler defended well and eventually was the only player to claim the full point in the first round.

The Super Final of the 64th Russian Championship for men takes place August 7-15 (rest day on August 12) at the Botvinnik Central Chess Club in Moscow. It's an 8-player, single round-robin. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds per move from move one.

After a long period of absence, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik plays. Alexander Morozevich is back as well, after qualifying from the Higher League together with Artyom Timofeev and Alexander Galkin. The other participants are Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Peter Svidler, making the Championship a real super tournament.



Vladimir Kramnik started the first round right where he had left Dortmund: with an unsuccessful piece sacrifice. Against Peter Svidler's quiet Reversed King's Indian the former World Champion castled queenside and quickly went for the e6-e5-e4 push, allowing f4-f5 which trapped his g6 bishop. And like in Dortmund, the sacrifice might have been objectively incorrect, but it was practically very interesting. Like Nakamura, Svidler defended accurately and ended up with a healthy extra piece.

"Yes, it's a tough schedule, but what to do?" said Alexander Morozevich in our recent interview. He can be satisfied with his start in Moscow: a draw with Black against Sergey Karjakin is something almost any player in the world would be happy with on almost any occasion. Their Advance Caro-Kann became quite tactical at an early stage when Morozevich sacrificed a pawn. All the complications eventually led to a drawn ending.



Like many top players these days, Ian Nepomniachtchi has worked hard on the Grünfeld and on Monday his hard work helped him to draw with Black against Alexander Grischuk. Higher League qualifiers Alexander Galkin and Artyom Timofeev drew an English Opening (double fianchetto) where not much happened.

Game viewer

Game viewer by ChessTempo


You can find a big pictorial report at the RCF's website including notes by Svidler. This was translated into English at WhyChess.

Photos © Vladimir Barsky for the RCF

Russian Championship Super Final 2011 | Schedule & results

Round 1	08.08.11	13:00 CET		Rest day	12.08.11	13:00 CET
Svidler	1-0	Kramnik
Karjakin	½-½	Morozevich
Grischuk	½-½	Nepomniachtchi
Galkin	½-½	Timofeev
Round 2	09.08.11	13:00 CET		Round 5	13.08.11	13:00 CET
Kramnik	-	Timofeev		Grischuk	-	Kramnik
Nepomniachtchi	-	Galkin		Galkin	-	Karjakin
Morozevich	-	Grischuk		Timofeev	-	Svidler
Svidler	-	Karjakin		Nepomniachtchi	-	Morozevich
Round 3	10.08.11	13:00 CET		Round 6	14.08.11	13:00 CET
Karjakin	-	Kramnik		Kramnik	-	Morozevich
Grischuk	-	Svidler		Svidler	-	Nepomniachtchi
Galkin	-	Morozevich		Karjakin	-	Timofeev
Timofeev	-	Nepomniachtchi		Grischuk	-	Galkin
Round 4	11.08.11	13:00 CET		Round 7	15.08.11	11:00 CET
Kramnik	-	Nepomniachtchi		Galkin	-	Kramnik
Morozevich	-	Timofeev		Timofeev	-	Grischuk
Svidler	-	Galkin		Nepomniachtchi	-	Karjakin
Karjakin	-	Grischuk		Morozevich	-	Svidler

Russian Championship Super Final 2011 | Round 1 Standings

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