The Russian Championships Superfinals finished in Ufa on the 20th of October. Both events were 12-player round-robins with classical time control.

In the last 11th round of the open tournament, Vladimir Fedoseev, who needed a win to catch up with the leader, lost to Pavel Ponkratov in a dramatic fight. The games Chigaev – Alekseenko, Goryachkina - Andreikin, Predke - Motylev, Rakhmanov - Vitiugov, and Esipenko - Matlakov were drawn.

Grandmaster Nikita Vitiugov scored 7 points out of 11 to become the Russian champion for the first time in his career.

"When the game was about to finish, I was confident that this was going to be a tie-break. It was a difficult moment: on the one hand, the tournament is over, and on the other hand, the fight for the first place is not yet out of the question. I already have experience finding myself in a similar situation and going down to Peter Svidler in a tie-break. I went for a walk because I simply wanted to be as fresh for the game as possible. I relaxed only when the situation clarified after the last move in the Esipenko – Matlakov game," said the tournament winner.

"As for my participation, this is my 15th Russian championship; I have played in as many superfinals as all other participants put together, and maybe even more. I was lucky in some games, but the opposite happened to me as well. The evaluation bar's sudden spikes towards one or the other player happened in nearly every game. I would not give up and keep on fighting, but it was not without lucky strikes for me either. You will never win such a tournament without them." he added.

Maxim Matlakov won silver with 6½ points. Vladimir Fedoseev and Dmitry Andreikin tied for third place with 6 points each, but the bronze goes to Fedoseev thanks to more victories. It is worth mentioning that all three prize-winners are from Saint Petersburg.

Final standings:

In the women's tournament, the critical game of the final round between Valentina Gunina and Polina Shuvalova ended in a draw. Having scored 8 points out of 11 without a single loss, Valentina Gunina (Moscow) became the four-time Russian Women's champion.  

"Of course, I am very happy, but the final game was a nail-biter. I'd been preparing for one thing, but Polina chose the line, which she had never played before. Of course, it is hard to play against an unexpected variation. I thought that I did OK, but it isn't easy to assess it without due analysis. Actually, I've been exhausted for the previous three days, so in such a case, one's brain can generate interesting reactions; that's why I'm glad that it all ended this way," said Gunina after the game.  

Evgenija Ovod (Saint Petersburg) drew against Alina Bivol and took silver place with 7½ points, edging out Polina Shuvalova (Moscow), who also scored 7½ points but had to settle for bronze due to fewer games with Black. 

The games Galliamova - Guseva, Pogonina - Garifullina, Voit - Kashlinskaya, and Bodnaruk - Girya were drawn.

Final standings:

The Superfinals are a part of the Chess in Museums international programme realised by the Chess Federation of Russia and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation. 

The total guaranteed prize fund was 11 million rubles: 7 million rubles in the open section and 4 million rubles in the women's tournament.  

The Superfinals were organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with the support of the Russian Ministry of Sport, the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation. The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. Partners: Aeroflot, Art Russe, Chess Federation of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Bashkortostan State M.V. Nesterov Art Museum. 

Photo: Eteri Kublashvili