Peter Svidler and the Russian Championship
Sunday, October 13, 2013
The Russian Chess Championship is the championship of the Russian Federation as distinguished from the USSR Chess Championship. Until 1991 the record winner with five was Rashid Nezhmetdinov.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union the RCCh was re-established as a national championship with players from Moscow and St. Petersburg allowed to participate. Prior to 2004, the championship was organized as a Swiss-style tournament, with a knockout format in 1997 and 1999 and then, reverting to a round robin in 2004 with the strongest players in the country directly seeded into the final, called the Superfinal, with others progressing through qualifying tournaments.
To date, Peter Svidler has won the Russian Championship six times:
1. 47th RCCh Elista Sept 1994 11 Round Swiss
2. 48th RCCh Elista Oct 1995 11 Round Swiss
3. 50th RCCh Elista May 1997 6 Round Knockout
4. 56th RCCh Krasnoyarsk Sept 2003 9 Round Swiss
5. 61st RCCh Moscow Oct 2008 11 Round Robin
6. 64th RCCh Moscow Aug 2011 7 Quadruple Round Robin
In an online commentary at one of the FIDE tournaments earlier this year, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam said that this record is not as strong as it appears because of the three Elista results. I could not figure out what that meant at the time – was it because they were Swiss-style and knockout tournaments or was it due to some other factor?
66th RCCh Nizhny Novgorod Oct 2013 9 Round Robin
Anyway, the 2013 tournament is coming to an end tomorrow. It has men and women’s sections and Peter is leading the men’s by half a point over Kramnik and Nepomniachtchi. The pairings for Monday, Oct. 14, tomorrow are:
Motylev(1.5)-Shomoev(1)
Inarkiev(3.5)-Goganov(3.5)
Vitiugov(4.5)-Andreikin(5)
Karjakin(4)-Svidler(6)
Nepomniachtchi(5.5)-Kramnik(5.5)
Will Svidler win his seventh championship?
+++++++++++++
The players visited the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum on their day off and there is a photo of them there looking at a painting of a man on a flying carpet:
http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/...ix-121013.aspx
I always thought that if you were on a flying carpet you sat cross-legged shivering under your turban, hoping not to fall off. Those interested in the subject of magic carpets and how to aggressively pilot one, might find a copy online of: Riding a Flying Carpet, an 1880 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov.
+++++++++++
A nice attacking game from Round Six. Note White’s 26th move:
Andreikin, Dmitry – Goganov, Aleksey
Russian Superfinal, Friday, October 11, 2013
Queen’s Bishop Attack
1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. dxc5 e6 6. c4 dxc4 7. Nd2 c3 8. bxc3 Bxc5 9. Qg4 Nd7 10. Bb5 f5 11. Qg3 Qf6 12. Rb1 Ke7 13. Ne2 Bd6 14. f4 Nc5 15. Nd4 a6 16. Be2 Bd7 17. Qf3 b5 18. O-O Rab8 19. e4 Nxe4 20. Nxe4 fxe4 21. Qxe4 Rhc8 22. Qd3 Rc7 23. Rbd1 Bc5 24. Kh1 Rbc8 25. f5 e5 26. Ne6 Ra7 27. Bh5 fxe6 28. fxe6 Qxe6 29. Qxh7+ Kd8 30. h3 Be7 31. Bg4 Qc6 32. Rf7 Bd6 33. Qg6 Be7 34. Qg7 Qc5 35. Rf8+ Kc7 36. Rxd7+ 1-0
++++++++
- I agree that Svidler has 'good' chances to clinch another title tomorrow, but "excellent" may be too strong: Karjakin may play it safe with white against Svidler - and then he is hard to beat even in a tournament that didn't exactly go his way. On the other hand, Nepo-Kramnik might become a wild battle with a relatively high probability for a decisive result either way
A roughly 50% chance for a tie for first place, followed by a rapid tiebreak?
Sunday, October 13, 2013
The Russian Chess Championship is the championship of the Russian Federation as distinguished from the USSR Chess Championship. Until 1991 the record winner with five was Rashid Nezhmetdinov.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union the RCCh was re-established as a national championship with players from Moscow and St. Petersburg allowed to participate. Prior to 2004, the championship was organized as a Swiss-style tournament, with a knockout format in 1997 and 1999 and then, reverting to a round robin in 2004 with the strongest players in the country directly seeded into the final, called the Superfinal, with others progressing through qualifying tournaments.
To date, Peter Svidler has won the Russian Championship six times:
1. 47th RCCh Elista Sept 1994 11 Round Swiss
2. 48th RCCh Elista Oct 1995 11 Round Swiss
3. 50th RCCh Elista May 1997 6 Round Knockout
4. 56th RCCh Krasnoyarsk Sept 2003 9 Round Swiss
5. 61st RCCh Moscow Oct 2008 11 Round Robin
6. 64th RCCh Moscow Aug 2011 7 Quadruple Round Robin
In an online commentary at one of the FIDE tournaments earlier this year, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam said that this record is not as strong as it appears because of the three Elista results. I could not figure out what that meant at the time – was it because they were Swiss-style and knockout tournaments or was it due to some other factor?
66th RCCh Nizhny Novgorod Oct 2013 9 Round Robin
Anyway, the 2013 tournament is coming to an end tomorrow. It has men and women’s sections and Peter is leading the men’s by half a point over Kramnik and Nepomniachtchi. The pairings for Monday, Oct. 14, tomorrow are:
Motylev(1.5)-Shomoev(1)
Inarkiev(3.5)-Goganov(3.5)
Vitiugov(4.5)-Andreikin(5)
Karjakin(4)-Svidler(6)
Nepomniachtchi(5.5)-Kramnik(5.5)
Will Svidler win his seventh championship?
+++++++++++++
The players visited the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum on their day off and there is a photo of them there looking at a painting of a man on a flying carpet:
http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/...ix-121013.aspx
I always thought that if you were on a flying carpet you sat cross-legged shivering under your turban, hoping not to fall off. Those interested in the subject of magic carpets and how to aggressively pilot one, might find a copy online of: Riding a Flying Carpet, an 1880 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov.
+++++++++++
A nice attacking game from Round Six. Note White’s 26th move:
Andreikin, Dmitry – Goganov, Aleksey
Russian Superfinal, Friday, October 11, 2013
Queen’s Bishop Attack
1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. dxc5 e6 6. c4 dxc4 7. Nd2 c3 8. bxc3 Bxc5 9. Qg4 Nd7 10. Bb5 f5 11. Qg3 Qf6 12. Rb1 Ke7 13. Ne2 Bd6 14. f4 Nc5 15. Nd4 a6 16. Be2 Bd7 17. Qf3 b5 18. O-O Rab8 19. e4 Nxe4 20. Nxe4 fxe4 21. Qxe4 Rhc8 22. Qd3 Rc7 23. Rbd1 Bc5 24. Kh1 Rbc8 25. f5 e5 26. Ne6 Ra7 27. Bh5 fxe6 28. fxe6 Qxe6 29. Qxh7+ Kd8 30. h3 Be7 31. Bg4 Qc6 32. Rf7 Bd6 33. Qg6 Be7 34. Qg7 Qc5 35. Rf8+ Kc7 36. Rxd7+ 1-0
++++++++
- I agree that Svidler has 'good' chances to clinch another title tomorrow, but "excellent" may be too strong: Karjakin may play it safe with white against Svidler - and then he is hard to beat even in a tournament that didn't exactly go his way. On the other hand, Nepo-Kramnik might become a wild battle with a relatively high probability for a decisive result either way
A roughly 50% chance for a tie for first place, followed by a rapid tiebreak?
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