A Svidler Interview, On the Occasion of his 8th Russian Championship

A substantial interview with the now eight-time Russian champion, Peter Svidler, here. One quibble though: as impressive as the Russian Championship is, to compare Svidler's feat with Mikhail Botvinnik's seven Soviet Championships (I'm counting the "Absolute" Championship in 1941) is to confuse apples and oranges; or better, apples and all fruit, or at least all pomes. Winning the Soviet Championship meant besting all the Russians, yes, and all the Armenians, Latvians, Estonians, Azeris, Ukranians, Lithuanians, Georgians, Belarusians, etc.

Mr. Eight-Time: Peter Svidler Wins Yet Another Russian Championship

While Peter Svidler didn't win any major events this year until the Russian Championship, he has performed consistently, gaining points in every or almost every event he played in this year. At the moment his rating is 2767.7, just a point and change below his all-time peak rating of 2769, achieved in 2013. He's back up to #10 in the world, and showing (as did players like Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Gelfand, Vassily Ivanchuk and others) that passing the age of 40 (Svidler is 41) is far from a death sentence for one's career.

Now about the Russian Championship. Entering the last round he was in a four-way tie for first, with three other players half a point behind. A playoff looked likely, and there was one--but it only involved two players. Svidler had White against Vladimir Malakhov - one of the players in the tie - and won cleanly and convincingly in a Spanish Four Knights (via a Berlin move order). The other two players in the tie had the black pieces: Vladimir Fedoseev (against Evgeny Romanov) and Nikita Vitiugov (vs. Sergey Volkov). Fedoseev, who led or co-led throughout the tournament (except in the final standings) was unable to beat the lowest-rated player in the field (though in this field, that's still an extremely strong player), but Vitiugov managed to beat Volkov. (Crushed him, but while he was already better with Black after just 13 moves, he was certainly helped along by the blunderful 14.0-0-0??)

This entailed a two-game playoff between Mssrs. Svidler and Vitiugov. Svidler gradually outplayed his opponent with Black in the first game, and in game two Vitiugov took such extreme risks with Black that he was lost after his 7th(!!) move and resigned on move 18.

So that makes eight Russian championship titles in all: 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2017. Granted, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, and Ian Nepomniachtchi weren't playing, but he has won the title ahead of them as well.

(Speaking of which: Nepo has won the title once, in 2010, and lost in a playoff to Svidler in 2013. Karjakin has never won the title, but he has twice been eliminated in playoffs - in 2010 to Nepomniachtchi and in 2012 in a large playoff that knocked Svidler out as well. Grischuk has won one title, in 2009, and surprisingly Kramnik has never won it - he's 0 for 3.)

Congrats to Peter Svidler!

Russian Championship: Four Tied for First Entering the Last Round

Vladimir Fedoseev is not going to look back on this tournament fondly if he doesn't somehow end up winning. Despite his 4-0 start, and having a clear lead with two rounds to go, he has lost three games from rounds 6-10, and is now in a four-way tie for first entering the last round. He had White against Peter Svidler in round 10 and a position that was impossible to lose if he would have settled for a draw.

Unfortunately for him, but happily for Svidler fans and lovers of last-round drama, he tried to mix things up with 37.f5. There was no good reason for this: the position didn't justify the winning attempt and he would have entered the last round in great shape: half a point clear of his closest pursuers and facing the bottom seed and tailender in the last round (albeit with Black). Instead, his reward was a position where Svidler had some chances, initially small though they were, and when Fedoseev finally cracked with 63.Ra5+ Black went on to win.

Svidler thus caught up with Fedoseev at 6/10, and so did Nikita Vitiugov (with a draw against Daniil Dubov) and Vladimir Malakhov (who beat Sergey Volkov). In the last round Svidler will have White against Malakhov, Vitiugov has Black against Volkov, and as already mentioned Fedoseev has Black against Romanov. And if all this isn't enough, three players are half a point behind: Evgeny Tomashevsky (White vs. Sanan Sjugirov), Alexander Riazantsev (White against Maxim Matlakov), and Dubov (also White, against Ernesto Inarkiev). All six last-round games feature at least one player who might end up the Russian champion!

Catching Up on Other Events: British K.O., Russian Championship, Mind Games

The London Chess Classic is over, but it wasn't - and isn't - the only show in town. Literally: there was also the concurrent British K.O. Championship. (Rules here, results and games here.) That came down to a match between Luke McShane and David Howell (as reported earlier) that combined both classical (40/90', the rest/30', with 30" increment per move) and rapid games (15' + 10"). The four classical games were a success story for the Black pieces. Howell drew the first game with White, which turned out to be the high point for the white pieces; Black won the next three games, which meant Howell lead 2.5-1.5. Or rather, 5-3, as the classical games were weighted double compared to the rapid.

When it came time for the rapid games between these two time trouble addicts, McShane struck back, winning games 5 and 7 with White. After the eight scheduled games the score was knotted at 6-6. A two-game playoff (10' + 2") was required, and McShane won both games to take the title.

The other really big shew is the Russian Championship, which is still going. When we left off, Vladimir Fedoseev was in clear first with 4.5/5, having been held to his first draw of the event. Since then he experienced some bumps, losing to Vladimir Malakhov with white in round 6 and Nikita Vitiugov with black in round 7. After a draw in round 8 he was tied for first with Daniil Dubov and Vitiugov, but after defeating Sergey Volkov in round 9 he's back in clear first with six points. Vitiugov drew with Ernesto Inarkiev, and is alone in second with 5.5; Dubov lost with white to Malakhov and is tied for third with Malakhov, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Peter Svidler, both of whom drew in round 9. (Tomashevsky in 101 moves, trying to convert R+B vs. R against Alexander Riazantsev; Svidler in 19 moves against Maxim Matlakov.) Two rounds remain.

Now something new: one of the now-regular events every December is the (IMSA Elite) Mind Games event in China, a very strong rapid & blitz tournament with both men's and women's sections. The top players include Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Ding Liren, Alexander Grischuk, Pentala Harikrishna, Yu Yangyi, Wang Hao, and Vassily Ivanchuk among other 2700+ players. (TWIC page here.)

Updates: British K.O. Championship, Russian Championship

In the British Knockout Championship, Luke McShane took game 3 with Black to equal the scores: he and David Howell have 1.5 points apiece heading into the final classical game. (That will be followed by four rapid games, with the classical games counting double.)

Meanwhile, in the Russian Championship Vladimir Fedoseev was finally stopped. Ernesto Inarkiev held him to a draw, but Fedoseev is still in clear first with 4.5/5. With a win Daniil Dubov could have caught him, but he lost to Evgeny Tomashevsky and is now a full point behind the leader. Nikita Vitiugov, who drew; and Peter Svidler, who won, are a further half a point back with three points each.

Updates on the Russian Championship and TCEC

The British Knockout Championship enjoyed a rest day today, so that while the London Chess Classic takes tomorrow (Thursday) off they'll be there to provide entertainment for the participants in the also-concurrent FIDE Open. So on to the other non-LCC events:

In the Russian Championship, Daniil Dubov was finally held to a draw, by Alexander Riazantsev, but for now there's no stopping Vladimir Fedoseev. With his win over Maxim Matlakov he moves to 4-0 (and continues to rocket up the rating list). Dubov is half a point behind, Nikita Vitiugov is a further point behind, and then there's a tie at 50% including top seed Peter Svidler.

As for TCEC, it's match-point for Houdini, which leads the best of 100 match with Komodo 50-45 (14-9, with 72 draws). It seems anti-climactic, with AlphaZero having sucked all the oxygen out of the computer chess room today, but congratulations are still in order for Robert Houdart, who gave his brainchild a mighty boost after 2-3 years off.

"Everything" Else: British K.O. Championship, Russian Championship, TCEC

The finals of the British Knockout Championship are a hybrid: four standard (a.k.a. Classical) games followed by four rapids on the last day, with the standard games counting twice relative to the rapids. Game 1 was a draw, and David Howell beat Luke McShane in the second game of their match. The event runs concurrently with the London Chess Classic.

Like the LCC, the Russian Championship has had its share of draws as well, but two players have been immune to the bug. Eight of 18 games have been drawn so far, with six of the wins coming from co-leaders Vladimir Fedoseev and Daniil Dubov, both of whom are 3-0. Their ratings have benefited mightily: The 22-year-old Fedoseev has gained 13.1 points and is up to #26 in the world at 2731.1; his slightly younger counterpart (21-years-old) has shot up 14.8 points and is a win away from joining the 2700 club; he's currently 2697.8.

Finally, TCEC is in the home stretch. Komodo came back from 13-6 to 13-9 in decisive games, but a loss in game 88 put paid to any real chances of a comeback. Game 89 is clearly going to finish in a draw, which will leave Houdini ahead 47-42 with 11 games left.

Updating the Other Events: British K.O. Championship, Russian Championship, and TCEC

A quick update on several other important events occurring in the shadow of the London Chess Classic.

First, an event that may even literally be in the LCC's shadow; namely, the British Knockout Championship. Both semi-final matches were decided in a final playoff game after four consecutive draws, and the result is that Luke McShane (who defeated Nigel Short) and David Howell (who beat Matthew Sadler) will meet in the final.

Round 1 of the Russian Championship had two decisive games, with youngsters Vladimir Fedoseev and Daniil Dubov defeating Alexander Riazantsev and Sergey Volkov, respectively. 10 rounds remain.

And finally, Houdini is maintaining its roughly 2-1 ratio over Komodo in decisive games in the Superfinal of Season 10 of the TCEC. The score after 78 of 100 games is 42.5-35.5 in favor of Houdini, which has won 13 games to Komodo's six.

Other Events: British K.O. Championship, Russian Championship, TCEC

The British Knockout Championship is running concurrently with the London Chess Classic. The eight-man field has been whittled down to four. In the quarter-finals, Nigel Short beat IM Alan Merry 2-0 (aside from Merry, all the other players are GMs), Matthew Sadler beat Jonathan Rowson 1.5-.5, David Howell beat Jonathan Hawkins 1.5-.5, and Luke McShane also won with a 1.5-.5 score over Gawain Jones. (It took a whopping 125 moves to win the decisive game, but he did it.)

The first game of the semi-finals took place on Saturday, during the LCC's first rest day. Both Short-McShane and Sadler-Howell started with a draw.

The Russian Championship starts today - Sunday - with a relatively weak field. (By Russian standards, that is. It's a monster field for a normal national championship.) No Kramnik, Grischuk, Karjakin, or Nepomniachtchi. But there are still a few 2700s playing: Peter Svidler, Maxim Matlakov, Nikita Vitiugov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Evgeny Tomashevsky, and near- and former 2700s Ernesto Inarkiev, Vladimir Malakhov, and Daniil Dubov. Not a bad top eight in a 12-player field. (A link for non-Russian speakers: TWIC's page.)

Finally, a TCEC update: after 72 games, Houdini leads 11-5 (with 56 draws), but Komodo looks ready to gain its 6th win in game 73.