Korobov in pole position heading into final round of nation’s chess championship

 Kharkiv’s Anton Korobov is the sole leader by a full point heading into the final and 11th round of Ukraine’s chess championship.

Andriy Volokytin and
Oleksandr Areshchenko are one point behind with 6.5 points out of 10. Both
faceoff in the final round on Aug. 7.

Korobov deflected a late
attack by Pavlo Eljanov who seemed desperate for a win in their penultimate
round game.

And Lviv’s Volokytin
dropped a full point to Serhiy Fedorchuk whose checkmate-threatening combination
ended with him being a full piece ahead in material for a decisive endgame.

Areshchenko drew with
Zakhar Efimenko, while former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov tied with Yevhen
Miroshnychenko. Ponomariov has 5.5 points, meaning he could theoretically place
second or third if he wins tomorrow against Fedorchuk.

Grandmasters Oleksandr Moiseenko and Yuriy Vovk face off on Aug. 5 in round nine of Ukraine’s chess championship taking place in Kyiv.

Out of the running for top
three honors are Oleksandr Moiseenko and Oleksandr Zubov who drew in their game
and have 5 and 3 points, respectively.

And Yuriy Kuzubov topped Yuriy
Vovk – they are the tournament’s two youngest grandmasters at 22 and 23 years
of age, respectively.

(Final) Round
11          07.08.2012
       12 p.m.

1   Ruslan Ponomariov       – Serhiy Fedorchuk

2   Pavlo Eljanov         
– Yevhen Miroshnychenko

3   Oleksandr Moiseenko    – Anton Korobov

4   Yuriy Kuzbuov          –
Oleksandr Zubov  

5   Zakhar Efimenko        – Yuriy
Vovk

6   Andriy Volokytin       – Oleksandr
Areshchenko

Kyiv Post’s Game of the Day

Serhiy Fedorchuk (2630) vs. Andriy Volokytin (2704)

Aug. 6, 2012, Round 10, Ukrainian Chess Championship

President Hotel, Kyiv

1. e4 c5 (2.)
Ne2 (this moves allows Fedorchuk to wait and see what kind of Sicilian black
will play, even allowing  for a closed
Sicilian) …Nf6 (3.) Nbc3 d6 (4.) d4 cxd4 (5.) Nxd4 a6 (So we arrive at the
Najdorf, a move that prevents Nb5, among other prophylactic purposes) 6.) h3 g6
(7.) g5 (Fedorchuk waits no time to grab space on the kingside, which also
prepares his bishop to land on g2 to occupy the long diagonal) …Bg7 (8.) Bg2
O-O (9.) Be3 Nc6 (10.) Nde2  Nd7 (11.) a4
(grabbing more space while still holding off on choosing a side on which to
castle) …Rb8 (It looks like black is mobilizing for a queenside advance) 12.)
Qd2 Nde5 (13.) b3 (preventing black’s night from settling on the c4 square) …b5
(14.) axb5 axb5 (15.) O-O (white really had no other choice but to castle in
this direction, but this was done mostly to conveniently connect the rooks rather
than for safety) …b4 (16.) Nd5 e6 (17.) Ndf4 Qc7 (18.) Ng3 Bb7 (19.) Nfe2 d5
(the thematic d5 push by black in the Sicilian. It’s always important to time
this move right when the moment presents itself) 20.) exd5 exd5 (here black
ends up with two isolated queenside pawns which may be to his disadvantage if
the endgame is reached where they’ll be difficult to defend and advance) 21.)
Bh6 Bxh6 (22.) Qxh6 (white exchanges bishops, and ends up controlling the dark
squares around black’s king with his queen, an annoying presence) …d4 (more
central advances, maneuvers that theoretically are supposed to counterbalance
flank attacks 23.) Nf4 Nd8 (offering the exchange of the next set of bishops)
24.) Ra7 (white declines the exchange offer and moves with his rook to pin the
bishop against black’s queen) f6 (25.) Bd5+ Rf7+ (white cannot take with the
bishop because it is pinned, otherwise the Rook takes black’s queen)26.) Re1 Qc3
(Black unpins his bishop and at the same time attacks white’s rook) 27.) Kf1
(white chooses to defend instead of taking a piece with the rook or simply
moving it, which would complicate matters, perhaps unnecessarily) …Qxc2
(playing for tempo, but overlooking what’s in store ahead) 28.) Ne4 (now white
is going for checkmate, and not for material gain) …Kh8 (29.) Rxb7 (the
beginning of a combination that will yield numerous checkmate threats) Bbxb7 (30.)
 Nxf6 Ne6 (to cover the f8 square where
many checkmate variations will end with white’s queen landing there) 31.) Rxe5
(eliminating a crucial defending piece and threating checkmate with Nxg6+) …Qc1+
(32.) Re1 Qxf4 (eliminating a key attacker) 33.) Qxf4 Nxd4 (34.) Re8+ Kg7 (35.)
g5 Rf8 (36.) Bxb7 Rxe8 (furiously exchanging down to eliminate any lingering
attacking chances, plus, both are in time trouble, especially Fedorchuk whose
clock hovers close to a minute) 37.) Nxe8+ Kf7 (38.) Nf6 Nxh3 (39.) Nxh7 Kg7
(40.) Bg2 Nf4 (so the smoke clears and white is a whole piece ahead with both
having three pawns apiece) (41.) Nf6 d3 (42.) Bf3 Ne6 (black plays on despite
being a piece down; he’s now threatening to win a pawn and has an advanced pawn
that is preoccupying white’s pieces (43.) Ne4 Nd4 (44.) Bd1 1-0 Finally, black
resigns, there’s no reason to continue.