Daniil Dubov & Valentina Gunina Win 2022 Russian Championship Superfinal
The 2022 Russian Championship Superfinals among men and women are over in the city of Cheboksary with Daniil Dubov & Valentina Gunina emerging victorious in their respective sections.
In round eleven, the race leader Sanan Sjugirov drew against Andrey Esipenko, and Daniil Dubov caught up with him by defeating Ilia Iljiushenok. The regulations required that Sjugirov and Dubov play a tiebreaker match. Both rapid and the Armageddon games ended in a draw, and Dubov, who had had black pieces in the “sudden death” game, was declared a winner.
Daniil Dubov: “My initial strategy for the entire tournament was minimising risks and trying to outplay underdogs. And I have coped with this task indeed. This is not exactly something to be proud of creatively, but I am happy from the athletic point of view. I had three chances and won all those games, including game eleven. We were both exhausted going into the tie-breaker, and you can see it in the games. However, luck sided with me in “Armageddon”, which clearly is always a flip of the coin. My trembling hands did not let me down. High five to Sanan for doing such a great job in this tournament!”
In other games of the final round Volodar Murzin defeated Evgeniy Najer, whereas Nesterov – Tomashevsky, Matlakov – Artemiev, and Chigaev – Rakhmanov ended in a draw.
Evgeny Tomashevsky, Vladislav Artemiev and Volodar Murzin have scored 6 points apiece. Better tiebreakers have favoured Tomashevsky.
Final standings
1. Daniil Dubov, 2. Sanan Sjugirov – 7 points out of 11
3-5. Evgeny Tomashevsky, Vladislav Artemiev, Volodar Murzin – 6
6. Ilia Iljiushenok – 5.5
7-11. Evgeniy Najer, Maxim Matlakov, Maksim Chigaev, Andrey Esipenko, Aleksandr Rakhmanov – 5
12. Arseniy Nesterov – 3.5.
Women’s Section
In the women’s section, Valentina Gunina literally whitewashed Evgenija Ovod as Black to become five-time Russian women’s champion with 8 points out of 11.
Valentina Gunina: “Of course, I am very happy no matter the fatigue. My victory over Evgenija Ovod is one of the most significant when taking into account my condition going into the final round. When my coach and I would analyse the following day, it became clear that the games quality left much to be desired. However, technique, calculation, and fighting qualities have remained as is, of course.”
Marina Guseva drew against Natalija Pogonina to finish with 7.5 points. The bronze medal went to Olga Girya after drawing her game against Alina Bivol.
In other encounters, Leya Garifullina and Ekaterina Goltseva outplayed Daria Charochkina and Maria Yakimova, respectively. Galliamova – Zhapova ended in a draw.
Final standings:
1. Valentina Gunina – 8 points out of 11
2. Marina Guseva – 7.5
3. Olga Girya – 6.5
4-6. Alina Bivol, Alisa Galliamova, Ekaterina Goltseva – 5.5
7-10. Evgenija Ovod, Leya Garifullina, Natalija Pogonina, Daria Charochkina – 5
11. Yana Zhapova – 4.5
12. Mariya Yakimova – 3.
Closing Ceremony
As usual, the Closing Ceremony was a grand affair by Russian standards!
Other details
The tournaments are 11-round all-play-all events. The match days are 11th to16th and 18th to 22nd September 2022. The rest day is 17th September 2022. The games will start at 3 PM Moscow time.
The total guaranteed prize fund is 11 million rubles (USD 180,000) with 7 million rubles (USD 110,000) in the Open Section and 4 million rubles (USD 70,000) in the Ladies Section
Traditionally, a day of a social programme is organised during the Superfinals. On this day, well known grandmasters give simuls and master classes to young chess players and veterans.
The Superfinals are organised by the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) with support of the Russian Ministry of Sport, the Government of the Chuvash Republic, and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation.
The Russian Chess Federation (CFR)s’ general partner is PhosAgro. The tournament partners are Aeroflot, Akkond, Gazprombank, and Locko-Bank.
Text by Russian Chess Federation and photos by Eteri Kublashvili.
Links
Tournament on Chess-Results (Open).
Tournament on Chess-Results (Women).
74th Russian Superfinals & 71st Russian Women’s Championship.
