Three players emerged with full points after the first round of the Ukrainian chess championship taking place at Kyiv’s President Hotel July 26-Aug. 7.
Ranked 40th in the world,
Oleksandr Moiseenko won with the black pieces against former Ukraine champion Yevhen Miroshnychenko of Donetsk.
Another former Ukraine champion, Andriy Volokityn
bested fellow Lviv grandmaster Yuriy Vovk, also with the black pieces.
Volokityn defended for the most part of the match, but managed to simplify the
position to a superior end game that he converted to victory.
And Anton Korobov won in a sharp game with
white against Yuriy Kuzubov who fell into time trouble and had less than five
minutes on his clock after the 14th move. This was one of the most
exciting matches of the round.
Former world champion and reigning Ukraine
champion Ruslan Ponomariov managed a draw with white against Pavlo Eljanov in a
Sicilian Defense that led to a drawn endgame.
Twelve of Ukraine’s top 13 grandmasters are
battling it out for the nation’s top chess honor. Global ninth ranked Vasyl
Ivanchuk isn’t participating because he’s preparing for the world championship
candidates cycle.
The 81st Ukrainian chess
championship is a single-round robin event with a 90-minute time control (plus
30 seconds per move) and a 30-minute sudden death after 40 moves.
Matches start daily at 3 p.m., except for
Aug. 7, which starts at 12 p.m. with a rest day on Aug. 2.
| Standings after first round | ||
| Place | Name | Points |
| 1 | Oleksandr Moiseenko (2706) | 1 |
| 1 | Andriy Volokityn (2704) | 1 |
| 1 | Anton Korobov (2683) | 1 |
| 2 | Ruslan Ponomariov (2726) | 0.5 |
| 2 | Pavlo Eljanov (2693) | 0.5 |
| 2 | Zakhar Yefymenko (2694) | 0.5 |
| 2 | Oleksandr Zubov (2621) | 0.5 |
| 2 | Oleksandr Areshchenko (2691) | 0.5 |
| 2 | Serhiy Fedorchuk (2630) | 0.5 |
| 3 | Yuriy Vovk (2584) | 0 |
| 3 | Yevhen Miroshnychenko (2632) | 0 |
| 3 | Yuriy Kuzubov (2629) | 0 |
Round 2 — July 28, 3: p.m., President Hotel, Kyiv
1
Fedorchuk Serhiy – Eljanov Pavlo
2
Moiseenko Oleksandr – Ponomariov
Ruslan
3
Kuzuobov Yuriy – Miroshnychenko Yevhen
4
Yefymenko Zakhar – Korobov Anton
5
Volokytin Andriy – Zubov Oleksandr
6
Areshchenko Oleksandr – Vovk Yuriy
Anton
Korobov (2683) – Yuriy Kuzubov (2629)
Round
1, Kyiv, Ukrainian Chess Championship
1.)
d4 d5
(2.) c4 c6 (3.) Nc3 Nf6 (4.) Nf3 e6 (5.) e3 Nbd7 (6.) Qc2
Bd6 (7.) g4 (here, Kuzubov went into a long think as if he didn’t know how to
counter this flank attack.) h6 (8.) Rg1 b6 (9.) h4 Bb4 (Kuzubov pins white’s
knight in a bid to slow down white’s attack) 10.) g5 hxg5 (11.) hxg5 Ne4 (12.)
Bd3 Qc7 (13.) Bxe4 dxe4 (14.) Qxe4 Ba6 (15.) g6 (continuing with his kingside
attack) 0-0-0 (16.) gxf7 Bxc4 (now the fireworks start as black unleashes mate
threats while white defends and pushes his forward to queen of one of his
pawns) 17.) Bd2 Bxc3 (18.) Bxc3 Bd5 (19.) Qg4 Rdf8 (20.) e4 Nf6 (Black
complicates matters but doesn’t calculate correctly because of severe time
trouble – white calmly weathers the stormy attack) 21.) Qxg7 Qf4 (22.) exd5
Qe4+ (23.) Kf1 Qxf3 (24.) dxe6 Ne4 (threatening mate) 25.) Qg2 Qf5 (26.) Rc1
Kb7 (27.) d5 Qxd5 (28.) Qg4! (white’s masterfully placed Queen ends all
threats) Rh2 (29.) Rd1 Qc5 (30.) Rd7+ Ka8 (31.) Rg2 Rxg2 (32.) Qxg2 Qc4+ (33.)
Kg1 Nxc3 (34.) bxc3 Qxc3 (Black’s firepower is gone, and now White’s pawns will
make their presence known) 35.) Qg4 (again the ideal square for White’s queen
in this position) Qe1 (36.) Kg2 and Black resigns. 1 – 0
Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
