Chess - The Scotsman 15/08/2012
The present-day Russian Championship Superfinal at Moscow’s Radisson Hotel had a “strike” problem of a different variety, of not being able to strike home the win. The tournament has a very high draw rate, over 70 per cent and the result is a logjam at the top with just about everyone tied for first place.
Six of the ten-player field tied for first place. Peter Svidler, the defending six-time champion, Sergey Karjakin, Dmitry Jakovenko, Dmitry Andreikin, Vladimir Potkin and Evgeny Alekseev all top-scored on 5/9, followed by Alexander Grichuk (4.5), 16-year-old sensation Daniil Dubov and Nikita Vtugov (4) and Sanan Sjugirov (2.5).
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Hide AdThe six had to return to play a rapid playoff. Unlike the tournament proper, the playoff ended dramatically, with 22-year-old Andrekin, the 2010 world junior champion, beating his higher-rated and more experienced opponents on 4/5 to capture his first Russian Championship title, ahead of Karjakin (3.5), followed by Svidler (3), Jakovenko (2.5), Potkin (1.5) and Alekseev (0.5).
To his credit though, in a tournament plagued by too many draws, Andrekin did produce one of the very few sparkling attacking gems on display in Moscow with today’s miniature against tail-ender Sjugirov.
D Andreikin - S Sjugirov
Russian Championship Superfinal, (6)
Caro-Kann Defence
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Bc4 Ngf6 6 Ng5 e6 7 Qe2 Nb6 8 Bd3 h6 9 N5f3 c5 10 dxc5 Bxc5 11 Ne5 0–0 12 Ngf3 a6 13 g4 Nbd5 14 Rg1 Bb4+ 15 Kf1 Be7 16 g5 hxg5 17 Nxg5 Bd6 18 Nh7 Qc7 19 Bh6! Ne8 20 Bxg7 Nxg7 21 Rxg7+ Kxg7 22 Qg4+ Kh8 23 Nf6 1–0