Dan Dzo wins 6th Femida Chess Tournament

6th Femida Chess Tournament – Govenor's Cup Kharkov

Report by Anastasiya Karlovich

Kharkov (Russian, or Ukrainian Kharkiv) is the second largest city in Ukraine, with a population of about 1.5 million. It is a major cultural, scientific, educational, transport and industrial centre with 60 scientific Institutes, 30 establishments of higher education, six museums, seven theatres and 80 libraries.

A well-known landmark of Kharkiv is the Freedom Square (Maidan Svobody Square)

The traditional tournament "Femida Govenor's Cup Kharkiv 2010" was played from November 23rd to November 26th at the Palace of Students of the National Law Academy of Ukraine Yaroslav the Wise. The four best Ukrainian professional chess clubs took part in the event: Law Academy Kharkiv, Ukrainian champion 2000, 2004, 2005; PVK Kievchess, bronze medalist of the 2009 European Club Championship, the champion of Ukraine in 2007, 2008, 2009; A Dan Dzo PGMB Chernigov, bronze medalist of the European Club Championship in 2010, Ukraine champion 2010; and Wild bisons from Rivne, the vice-champion of Ukraine 2010. Among the participants were two-times winners of the World Chess Olympiads (2004, 2010) Ruslan Ponomariov, Pavel Eljanov, and Alexander Moiseenko, Olympic champion in 2004 Andrei Volokitin, a leader of the Georgian national team Baadur Jobava, 14-years old Ukrainian talant Illya Nyzhnyk, and others.

Before the start of the tournament the President of Dan Dzo PGMB, Andrey Maximov, said that his club is the best in Ukraine, and that Kievchess would fight for third place. Indeed Dan Dzo PGMB won all its matches and finished in the first place. The hosts, Law Academy Kharkiv, headed by two Olympic champions, unexpectedly finished last. PVK Kievchess had some chances to share the last place with them. The last game between Illya Nyzhnyk and Oleg Ivanov lasted 137 moves. It finished in a draw and brought the second place to Kievchess. “Wild bisons from Rivne” finished in third place.

Nyzhnyk,I (2535) - Ivanov,O (2494)
Femida-2010 www.chesslaw.org.ua (3.8), 2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.Qc2 Bxf3 8.gxf3 e6 9.Bd3 Be7 10.Bb2 0-0 11.c5 g6 12.Ne2 Nh5 13.f4 Nd7 14.Ng1 a5 15.Nf3 Ng7 16.0-0-0 f5 17.h4 Nf6 18.Ne5 Qe8 19.Rdg1 Nfh5 20.Be2 Bf6 21.Nf3 Ra7 22.Qd1 Kh8 23.Nd2 Rg8 24.Kc2 Rf8 25.Bc1 Rff7 26.Nf3 Rf8 27.Ng5 Bd8 28.Qf1 Bxg5 29.hxg5 Rff7 30.Qg2 Rfb7 31.Rh4 Re7 32.Bd3 Rf7 33.Re1 Rf8 34.f3 a4 35.b4 Re7 36.e4 Qd7 37.Kc3 Rd8 38.Qf2 Kg8 39.exd5 exd5 40.Re5 Rde8 41.Rh1 Re6 42.Rhe1 R8e7 43.Rh1 Kf8 44.Qh4 Ke8 45.Rhe1 Kd8 46.a3 Kc7 47.Rg1 Qe8 48.Rge1 Qf7 49.Rg1 Re8 50.Bf1 R6e7 51.Bh3 Ne6 52.Rh1 Nf8 53.Rhe1 Ng7 54.Bd2 Nge6 55.Kd3 Nd7 56.R5e3 Nef8 57.Bf1 Rxe3+ 58.Bxe3 Ne6 59.Bf2 Re7 60.Qh2 Kd8 61.Kc3 Ke8 62.Bd3 Kf8 63.Be3 Kg8 64.Bd2 Ng7 65.Rh1 Nf8 66.Qf2 Nh5 67.Rh4 Ne6 68.Bc2 Neg7 69.Kd3 Qe8 70.Bd1 Kf7 71.Qg1 Ne6 72.Qf2 Qb8 73.Qh2 Qh8 74.Qf2 Qg7 75.Kc3 Qh8 76.Bc2 Neg7 77.Bb1 Qb8 78.Bc2 Ke8 79.Bb1 Kd8 80.Qh2 Qc8 81.Bc2 Qe6 82.Bd3 Kc7 83.Qf2 Kb7 84.Qh2 Qf7 85.Bc2 Qe8 86.Kd3 Ne6 87.Qf2 Kc8 88.Bd1 Kd8 89.Bc2 Kd7 90.Qg1 Qb8 91.Qh2 h6 92.Kc3 Qh8 93.Qf2 Nhxf4 94.Rxh6

Now 94...Ne2+ 95.Kb2 (95.Kd3 N6f4+ 96.Bxf4 Nxf4+) 95...Qxd4+ 96.Qxd4 N2xd4 is good for Black, who unfortunately played 94...Rh7??, which got him into terrible trouble. 95.Bxf4 Rxh6 96.Be5 Qh7 97.gxh6 Qxh6 98.Kb2 Ke7 99.f4 Qh3 100.Bd1 Qd3

Now 101.Qh4+ leads to a forced mate, but young Nyzhnyk decided to take a strategic path: 101.Qe2 Qxe2+ 102.Bxe2 Kd7 103.Kc3 Kc8 104.Kd3 Kd7 105.Ke3 Kc8 106.Kf3 Kd7 107.Kg3 Ke7 108.Kh4 Kf7 109.Bd3 Ke7

White can still win, but not after 110.Bxf5? gxf5 111.Kh5 Kf7 112.Kh6 Nf8 113.Kg5 Ke6 114.Bg7 Nd7 115.Kg6 Nb8 116.Bf6 Na6 117.Bh4 Nc7 118.Kg7 Kd7? (gives White new winning chances) 119.Kf6 Ne6 120.Ke5 Ng7 121.Bf6 Nh5 122.Kxf5 Ng3+ 123.Ke5 Nf1 124.f5 Nd2 125.Bg5

Now, Dr. Fritz tells us, the game is once again a draw - and the Ivanov proceeds to demonstrates that our silicon friend is right. 125...Nc4+ 126.Kf6 Nxa3 127.Kg6 Nc2 128.f6 Nxd4 129.f7 Ne6 130.Bf6 a3 131.Kh7 a2 132.Kg8 d4 133.Bxd4 Nxd4 134.f8Q a1Q 135.Qf7+ Kd8 136.Qf8+ Kd7 137.Qf7+ ½-½.

Final standings

Pictorial impressions from Kharkov

A view of the not exactly packed playing hall

On the stage the games are under way

Law academy playing Dan Dzo PGMB

Ruslan Ponomariov, PVK Kievchess, in a crucial game against Baadur Jabava from
Dan Dzo PGMB, which Jobava won, deciding the result of the match in favour of his team

Yuriy Kuzubov plays the French Defence against Sergei Zhigalko - and wins in 47 moves

An interesting game between Evgeny Missroshnichenko and Andrey Volokitin ended in a draw

Eldar Gasanov playing for the Wild Bisons against Nazar Firman for Law Academy. In this game

During the second day GM Evgeniya Doluhanova, GM Mikhail Brodky and IM Alexander
Ipatov played simul exhibitions against young chess players from Kharkov

IM Alexander Ipatov played against the strongest pupils

Waiting patiently for their turn to move

Super-Talent Illya Nyzhnyk of PVK Kievchess is interviewed by a local newspaper

Pavel Eljanov talks to a Ukrainian TV reporter

Two Olympic champions Pavel Eljanov and Alexander Moiseenko sign autographs for fans

The happy winners of Dan Dzo PGMB: Andrei Volokitin, Anton Korobov, Baadur Jobava

PVK Kievchess in the second place, with 14-year-old Illya Nyzhnyk, Vladimir Baklan
and Alexander Areshchenko

The “Wild bisons from Rivne”, with Martyn Kravtsiv , Volodymyr Iakymov and Oleg
Ivanov, get their prize for third place

The players of “Law Academy”

No closing ceremony at the Law Academy can pass without a concert

About the author Anastasiya (Nastja) Karlovich was Ukrainian champion and vice-champion among girls under 16, 18 and 20. She was European Champion with the Ukrainian team in the Youth Team Championships. She is also a candidate officer in the National Law Academy “Yaroslav the Wise”, a member of the chess club “Law Academy” a member of the German club Grosslehna one of the organisers of WGM and GM closed tournaments “Cup of Rector”. a Woman Grandmaster since 2003

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.

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