Chess - The Scotsman 29/06/2012

Published on 29/06/2012 03:34

Friday’s puzzle...

A NEW star is emerging in Russian chess. Sixteen-year-old Daniil Dubov stole the show ahead of a top field of 2700+ grandmasters during the recent Russian Championship First League in Tyumen, Siberia, securing, in the process, qualification for the main Russian Championship superfinal with a round to spare.

Perhaps his thoughts were already drifting to facing the likes of former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich and six-time Russian champion Peter Svidler in little over a month’s time, because, with qualification guaranteed, he slipped to defeat in the final round. The setback allowed Nikita Vitiugov and Dmitry Andreikin to catch him on 7.5/11, with the latter claiming the bragging rights to first place on tie-breaks.

The five going forward to next month’s superfinals will be: Andreikin, Vitugov and Dubov, along with Sanan Sjugirov and Vladimir Potkin. Pre-tournament favourites and long-time superfinalists, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Dmitry Jakovenko finished off the pace for a qualifying spot.

Former Fide World Knockout Champion Alexander Khalifman said of Dubov’s success: “The young Dubov is devilishly talented. He’s got a lot of what you need to be a very strong player. Of course he’ll find the superfinal tough going, as in order to switch to the next level you need to change a lot conceptually, and there’s no way of doing that in a month. Nevertheless, in a couple of years, he’s a ready-made 2700 player.”

A Timofeev - D Andreikin

Russian Ch. First League, (5)

King’s Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0–0 6 h3 e5 7 d5 Nh5 8 g3 f5 9 exf5 gxf5 10 Bg2 Na6 11 0–0 Nf6 12 Rb1 Nc5 13 b4 Nce4 14 Nxe4 Nxe4 15 Qc2 f4 16 Re1 Ng5 17 Nxg5 Qxg5 18 Rb3 Bd7 19 Ra3 Rf6 20 c5 Raf8 21 cxd6 cxd6 22 Qc7 Bc8 23 Rxa7 Qh5 24 g4 Qh4 25 Ra8 Bxg4! 26 Rxf8+ Bxf8 27 Qc3 Rg6 28 Kf1 f3 29 hxg4 fxg2+ 30 Kxg2 Qxg4+ 31 Kf1 h5 32 Qd3 Qg2+ 33 Ke2 e4 34 Qc2 h4 35 Kd1 h3 0–1