Valentine Gunina Leads In Russian Superfinal!

Pix 1. Valentine Gunina, Russia
(Photo by Anna Burtasovoy)

27 August 2011, Kuala Lumpur – Valentine Gunina (pix 1) is leading at the ongoing Superfinal 61st Russian Championship 2011 with 6.0 points after 7 rounds of play. In second place is Baira Kovanova with 4.5 points and Natalia Pogonina in third place with 4.0 points.

The Superfinal 61st Russian Championship among women is being held from 18 to 28 August 2011 at MM Botvinnik, Moscow, Russia. The tournament is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of MM Botvinnik. This year's Women's Super Final is held with ten leading Russian women chess players.

The tournament involved: the current Russian champion Alisa Galliamova (2492), former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (2497), the leading female chess players of Russia include Gunina Valentine (2487),Natalia Pogonina (2442), Anastasia Bodnaruk (2431), Helen Hare (2419) , Tatiana Shadrina (2373), Olga kettlebell (2371), Bair Kovanova (2354), Daria Charochkina (2310).

Competition format is held on a round robin, 9 rounds. Time control: 90 minutes on the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes of the game with 30 seconds per move starting from the first, each member state of Russia. Game Days: 19-23, 25-28 August Bank Holiday: August 24 Game Start Time : 15-00 daily, last tour beginning at 12-00

Here is the round 7 game between Pogonina and Kosteniuk which gave Pogonina an important win with white.

[Event "Superfinal 61st Russian Women Champions"] [Site "Moscow/Russia"] [Date "2011.08.26"] [Round "7"] [White "Pogonina, Natalija"] [Black "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2442"] [BlackElo "2497"] [Annotator "Robot 3"] [PlyCount "109"] [EventDate "2011.08.26"] [TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nd7 8. Qd2 Nf6 9. O-O-O O-O 10. Kb1 c5 11. h4 b5 12. h5 Rb8 13. h6 g6 14. Ng5 Rb6 15. Be2 Bd7 16. Bf3 Bf5 17. Rhe1 d5 18. Qe2 Qd7 19. Bc1 Re8 20. Qd2 Rd6 21. Qf4 Ra6 22. g4 Ra4 23. Qg3 Bxg4 24. Bxg4 Rxg4 25. Qf3 Ra4 26. Re5 Rf8 27. Rde1 Bd8 28. Qe2 Rh4 29. f3 b4 30. Qf2 Rc4 31. cxb4 cxb4 32. b3 Rc3 33. Qd4 a5 34. Bb2 Rc6 35. Qd2 d4 36. Qxd4 Rd6 37. Qg1 Bb6 38. Qf1 Bd4 39. Bxd4 Rxd4 40. Ne4 Nxe4 41. fxe4 Rc8 42. Rd5 Qc6 43. Qe2 Qc3 44. Qf2 Rd8 45. Rf1 f5 46. Rxd8+ Rxd8 47. Qb6 Re8 48. Rd1 Qf3 49. Qd4 Re7 50. Qc4+ Kf8 51. Rd8+ Re8 52. Qc5+ Kf7 53. Qd5+ Kf8 54. Qd6+ Kf7 55. Rd7+ 1-0

Diagram 1. White played 55.  Rd7+ with a checkmate imminent, black resigned.


Here is a third round game between Gunina and Kosteniuk giving Gunina a black win.
[Event "Russian Championship Super Final women 2"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "2011.08.21"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"] [Black "Gunina, Valentina"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2011.08.21"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Na4 Qa5+ 9. c3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Ne7 12. Nc5 Qc7 13. b4 Nc6 14. f4 Be7 15. O-O O-O 16. Rc1 Rac8 17. Qd2 b6 18. Nb3 a5 19. Qe3 Qb7 20. bxa5 bxa5 21. g4 Be4 22. Nc5 Qb2 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. Bb6 Rb8 25. Bc7 Bd8 26. Bxd8 Rfxd8 27. Rfd1 Ne7 28. c4 Qxa2 29. Qxe4 Qa3 30. Kf2 h5 31. Qe3 Qb2 32. h3 a4 33. f5 exf5 34. e6 Rf8 35. gxh5 f4 36. Qe4 f3 37. Kxf3 fxe6+ 38. Kg2 Nf5 39. Kh2 Nd4 40. Rxd4 Rf2+ 41. Kg3 Rxe2 42. Qf3 Qxc1 0-1


Diagram 2. Black played 42…Qxc1, white resigned.
 

Link: Official website