Chess: How does White win?

THIS week marks the 20th anniversary of the failed coup against former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, which precipitated the dissolution of the USSR in December the same year – and with it the beginning of the end for the Russian/Soviet domination of chess.

Arguments continue over Russia's failure to get a podium finish for the first time in the World Team Championship where, as defending champions, they tied for fourth place, with USA and Hungary, last month in Ningbo, China.

Once Russian and Soviet players dominated the world, but following the the break-up of the Soviet Union, many believe, there's too much competition now for Russia. "Our team didn't win a single game against the former Soviet republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine!" the veteran trainer Yury Razuvaev said in the Russian media of what he called the Ningbo "disaster".

One good bit of news for Russia is the resurgence of the former elite superstar Alexander Morozevich. In the last round of the Russian Championship Super-final in Moscow, he crushed new champion Peter Svidler to finish in clear second.

Morozevich inflicted on Svidler his only loss, and it marked his third consecutive 2800+ performance in the past two months. He's now rapidly rising again in the rankings, and has gained 43 points to be No 17 in the world.

Final standings: 1. P Svidler, 5/7; 2. A Morozevich, 4.5; 3-5. S Karjakin, A Grischuk and V Kramnik, 4; 6. I Nepomniachtchi, 3; 7. A Galkin, 2; 8. A Timofeev, 1.5

A Morozevich - P Svidler

64th Russian Ch. Super-final, (7)

Grnfeld Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Qb3 dxc4 6 Qxc4 0–0 7 e4 a6 8 e5 b5 9 Qb3 Nfd7 10 Be2 c5 11 e6 fxe6 12 Qxe6+ Kh8 13 dxc5 Ne5 14 Qd5 Qxd5 15 Nxd5 Bb7 16 Nc7 Nxf3+ 17 gxf3 Bxf3 18 Bxf3 Ra7 19 Nxb5 axb5 20 Ke2 Ra6 21 Bb7! Re6+ 22 Be3 Bxb2 23 Rab1 Bd4 24 Rxb5 Na6 25 c6 Nc7 26 Rb3 Rf4 27 Rd1 Kg7 28 a4 Bc5 29 Rd7 Bd6 30 Rd3 Ne8 31 a5 1–0