The Readers Write: Three Snippets from the Russian Championship Qualifier*

* The proper name is the Russian Championships Higher League, but what it really is is a qualifier for the Russian Championship "Super League", which is the actual championship event.

Here's an email from Mike Twyble (very lightly edited):

Just thought I would mention a game or 2 you might find interesting for your blog as just using lunch hour to look at Russian championships.

[1] Sjugirov vs. Riazantsev is a nice example of a 2600+ [ future 2700?] player making a blunder that any of us would be red faced about and is in every beginner book on tactics.

[2] Belov vs. Galkin has a really nice finishing tactic again on the theme of deflection.

[3] I don't know if you saw the game by Nepomniachtchi from the previous round which finished with a lovely stalemate. Looking at it without a computer didn't have a clue about how good/bad the play was up to there but definitely worth a look.

Best wishes

Mike Twyble

Let's have a look at the examples:

1. Sjugirov - Riazantsev:

White to move is a little better. There's no knockout coming on g7, but Sjugirov must have felt that his position was safe enough when he played 29.h4?? It might not be quite as embarrassing a blunder as Mr. Twyble writes, but Black's next move isn't exactly a brilliancy, either. Can you find it?

2. Belov - Galkin:

White to move is winning quite handily already, and he doesn't need to be especially accurate here. Still, the final move is nice: 35.b4! The move takes advantage of not one but two overloaded pieces. The bishop is keeping b4 protected and the d-file closed, so its problem is that 35...Bxb4 allows 36.Qb7+, winning the rook, as 36...Bd7 is in vain now that the bishop no longer occludes the Rd1's coverage of d7.

As for the Black queen, she needs to cover d8, but after 35...Qb6 36.Qe4 we see the second problem: White threatens a winning discovery and 37.Qxh7+ as well. If White had played an immediate 35.Qe4, 35...f5 would have been an adequate response, but when the queen goes back to b6 the pawn would no longer be protected.

3. Frolyanov - Nepomniachtchi:

A crazy game has come to this. White is down a bishop and three pawns, and his king is in plenty of trouble too. It's White to move (else ...Qh5# would make this an uninteresting example), but that doesn't seem to help too much. There's no checkmate starting with 47.Rb8+, but White has two ways to save half a point. Can you find one?

Solutions, and the full games, here.