[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: The Daily Update: The Russian Championship: The Winner is...

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
The Daily Update: The Russian Championship: The Winner is...
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1224115619.shtml


   yet to be determined! After an incredible last round, three players
   tied for first, and they'll hold a six game (double round-robin), 15'
   + 10" playoff October 28 to decide the winner. In addition, three
   other players finished a mere half a point behind them, so it was
   quite a finish. Going into the last round, the leaderboard looked like
   this:
   1. Alekseev 7
   2. Vitiugov 6.5
   3-5. Jakovenko, Svidler, Timofeev 6
   6-7. Morozevich, Tomashevsky 5.5
   And here were the relevant last round pairings:
   Alekseev - Svidler
   Jakovenko - Vitiugov
   Timofeev - Tomashevsky
   Alekseev was clearly in the driver's seat, with Vitiugov having
   chances too. So what happened? Alekseev and Vitiugov both lost, making
   a three way tie for first. It could have been a four-way tie if
   Timofeev won, but he lost as well. Thus Jakovenko, Svidler and
   Alekseev tied for first, with Tomashevsky, Vitiugov, and Morozevich -
   who won in tragicomic style (see below) finishing half a point back.
   Weird, wild stuff.
   The top three games will be presented tomorrow, but here's the
   hilarious finish of Morozevich-Maslak. (Hilarious for those who aren't
   Maslak or his supporters, that is.)
   [moro_maslak_russch2008_1.jpg]
   Black (Maslak) has been pushing hard for a long time, and now, after
   63...Ke3, he hopes to find shelter for his king among the white
   queenside pawns. Morozevich cannot allow that, so he plays 64.Qd3+ Kf2
   65.Qf3+ Ke1 66.Qd3. Maslak repeated the position once (presumably to
   gain time on the clock) with 66...Kf2 67.Qf3+ Ke1 68.Qd3, and then
   decided he needed to exercise a new approach starting with 68...Re8.
   (68...Re6 was better, but we'll worry about finesses another time.)
   It's not a bad idea - Black wants to play ...Rf8-f1#, and White has to
   stop that while simultaneously keeping Black's king out of the
   queenside. Morozevich found the only move: 69.Qd4
   [moro_maslak_russch2008_2.jpg]
   Well, what now? Maslak could have played 69...Re8, but 70.Qa1+ draws,
   as does 70.Qb4+ Kd1 71.Qa1+. Perhaps Maslak wanted to repeat again to
   gain time on the clock, or maybe he was hoping to reach the position
   he had before 68...Re8 so he could play the better ...Re6 the second
   time around. Whatever the story, he didn't exactly find the best move
   on the board. After making that move, he resigned before its fatal
   flaw could be shown. Quick quiz: what was that move, and what's the
   punishment? I'll give the answers tomorrow.
   Round 11 Results:
   Jakovenko - Vitiugov 1-0
   Alekseev - Svidler 0-1
   Morozevich - Maslak 1-0
   Timofeev - Tomashevsky 0-1
   Inarkiev - Sakaev 1/2-1/2
   Riazantsev - Lastin 1/2-1/2
   Final (pre-playoff) Standings:
   1-3. Jakovenko, Svidler, Alekseev 7
   4-6. Tomashevsky, Vitiugov, Morozevich 6.5
   7. Timofeev 6
   8. Lastin 5
   9-10. Sakaev, Inarkiev 4
   11. Riazantsev 3.5
   12. Maslak 3
   (Tournament site [1]here.)

References

   1. http://www.russiachess.org/