Monday 10 January 2011

University Champion

Normally the result of a university chess championships might not be worthy of coverage, but the championship of the Russian State Social University saw a pretty impressive final match. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin played a mini match for the title, which consisted of 2 rapid games, which ended 1-1, followed by 4 blitz games (2-2) and finally an armageddon blitz which was won by Karjakin. Now I'm not sure whether there were other players who played preliminary rounds of the university championships, or the organisers simply asked anyone with a rating over 2700 to raise their hands, but the organisers do deserve credit for simply getting a couple of strong university students to actually play in their championship. Ask anyone who has run a university chess club about what an achievement this truly is.

Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2733) - Karjakin,Sergey (2776) [C45]
RGSU Match Blitz Moscow RUS (2), 09.01.2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Nd2 Rb8 9.c4 Nb4 10.Nf3 c5 11.g3 Qe6 12.Bg2 Be7 13.0-0 Bb7 14.b3 0-0 15.Bb2 Rfe8 16.Rfe1 h6 17.Bc3 Bf8 18.Rad1 Ba8 19.Bxb4 Rxb4 20.Qd2 Rd8 21.Nh4 Rbb8 22.Bd5 Bxd5 23.cxd5 Qh3 24.Qc2 Rb4 25.Re4 Rxe4 26.Qxe4 Re8 27.Ng2 g5 28.Ne3 Bg7 29.Nc4 d6 30.Re1 Bxe5 31.Qg2 Qd7 32.Qf3 Bd4 33.Re4 Kf8 34.Nd2 Rxe4 35.Nxe4 Qe7 36.g4 Qe5 37.Ng3 Kg7 38.Kg2 Qf6 39.Nh5+ 1-0

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actually, the Armageddon ended in a draw, so Karakin, who played black was awarded a title. Interestedly, Karakin had a lost position, but Nepomnashii failed to convert ... The opposite happened at the Russian superfinal: Karakin (white) had a won position an the Armageddon, but it finished in a draw, so Nepomnashii was awarded the title.