Svidler leads Russian Superfinal

Because of clashes with other events the Russian Superfinal was postponed till the end of December this year and so it's the last classical event of 2009 in which a top 10 player is active. That's Peter Svidler, who defends his title and is leading the Championship with 2.5 points after 3 rounds.

At Moscow’s Central Chess Club the 62nd Russian Championship Superfinal for men and 59th Russian Championship Superfinal for women takes place December 19-30. Play starts daily at 15:00 hrs Moscow time, which is 13:00 CET and 07:00 EST. The last round starts two hours earlier and the only rest day is on the 25th.

The time control in the men's section is 1 hour and 40 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 10 minutes to end the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the first. In the women's section it's 1 hour and 30 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes to end the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the first. The prize fund is US $100,000 for the men and US $40,000 for the women.

Rounds 1-3

In most parts of Europe snow has covered the streets, and it's not different in Moscow. Everyone is preparing for celebrating Christmas and New Year, but not the Russian top players. No, they are playing their national championships, which were postponed till the very last weeks of 2009 (last year they were held in October).

As Mark Gluhovsky and Misha Savinov wrote in their first report for the official website, the women seemed more eager to start their tournament than their male counterparts.





This fightful mood was also represented in the results of the first round: in the women's section not one game ended in a draw. In the mens's section, Alexander Grischuk defeated Evgeny Tomashevsky after 75 moves in a Closed Ruy Lopez while Denis Khismatullin, who had spent the time before the game in the press room playing blitz and darts (!) beat Alexander Riazantsev. (I met Khismatullin at the Grand Prix in Sochi last year, where he had even more time for blitz during the rounds because back then he was a second. He played many entertaining games with Viktor Bologan.)

In the second round this original way of preparing backfired: Khismatullin lost with the white pieces against title holder Peter Svidler - the only decisive game of the round. Yesterday Svidler added another win to his score, with White against Riazantsev. The game, an Advance Caro-Kann, reached a remarkably similar pawn structure as Svidler's round 1 game against Vitiugov (a French Defence) - see the game viewer below.



Svidler leads with 2.5 points, followed by Jakovenko and Grischuk who are on 2/3. In the women's section, both Nadezhda Kosintseva and Alisa Galliamova started with three wins.





Photos by Mark Gluhovsky and Misha Savinov - more at the official website.

Russian Championship 2009 | Superfinal, Men | Round 3 Standings

Russian Championship 2009 | Superfinal, Women | Round 3 Standings

Selection of games rounds 1-3

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN: Men | Women