The Russian Championship Is Underway
The Russian Championship* started today, and round 1 had the following results:
- Kramnik - Shomoev 1-0
- Svidler - Nepomniachtchi 1-0
- Andreikin - Karjakin 1-0
- Motylev - Inarkiev 0-1
- Goganov - Vitiugov 0-1
The wins by Peter Svidler and especially Dmitry Andreikin were especially significant, as they defeated 2700+ opposition, but Vladimir Kramnik's game was spectacular. First he made an interesting and probably essentially sound sacrifice a full exchange, and then followed that with a further sacrifice of a piece for two pawns. It doesn't seem to have been sound, but Shomoev imploded and Kramnik bagged the full point. It made for an entertaining game, but if Kramnik plays that way against the 2700s he's not going to finish the tournament with a good score. Anyway, the game is here, with my comments.
* For those of you who can't read Russian, TWIC's page is clean and easy.
Reader Comments (2)
Wow, that play by Kramnik was so weird. But I enjoyed it. It reminds me how he can still choose to play "weird" enterprising chess the way he did more often before the Kasparov match.
Kramnik has a very distinct "Coffehouse Mode" which he switches on whenever he senses blood. (see his Pirc's etc against sub-par opposition).
As people have speculated, he can actually try playing a top level tournament in this Mode. He may drop a few points but will probably shred most of the field.