Russian Superfinals News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Going into Wednesday’s final round in the Russian Superfinals, both the open tournament and the women’s championship have a sole leader with a half-point edge over two players sharing second place. In the open, Nikita Vitiugov leads, with Maxim Matlakov and Vladimir Fedoseev standing close behind; among the women, Valentina Gunina is the frontrunner, with her closest chasers being Evgenija Ovod and Polina Shuvalova. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

After taking down former leader Kirill Alekseenko in round 4, Dmitry Andreikin was defeated by Nikita Vitiugov on Wednesday. Vitiugov thus grabbed the sole lead on 3½/5 points. In the women’s section, Valentina Gunina is now sharing first place with Evgenija Ovod, who scored back-to-back wins in rounds 4 and 5. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

€29.90 A good day for the underdog Except for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, all the players that advanced to the semifinals of the Airthings Masters were lower-rated than their quarterfinal opponents (in rapid). Moreover, it was somewhat surprising to see Wesley So knocked out by ‘MVL’, as the Filipino-born grandmaster came from winning the Skillings Masters — in fact, all four players that were knocked out on Wednesday reached the semis in the first event of the Champions Chess Tour. Nonetheless, it seems odd to call Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov and Vachier-Lagrave “u...

€29.90 A two-time Russian champion Plenty of exciting chess was seen at the recent Russian Superfinals, so much so that “Game of the Week” host Merijn van Delft changed his mind at the last minute as Daniil Dubov was about to score a fantastic win over Sergey Karjakin while he was starting to record the show. Luckily for Daniel King, Van Delft’s original choice was also a brilliant encounter. In it, the now two-time Russian champion took down Andrey Esipenko’s Petroff Defence. ‘Nepo’ gave up a piece for an attack and then showed great precision to convert his ad...