Dmitry Andreikin leads a friendly, 6-game match against Ian Nepomniachtchi with a score of 2-1. The match has the same sponsor as the Aronian-Kramnik earlier this year, and a similar rule is in effect: in case of short draws the players will turn to rapid chess.

Andreikin (l.) and Nepomniachtchi | Photos courtesy of the Russian Chess Federation

A friendly match is under way between Dmitry Andreikin and Ian Nepomniachtchi, two members of a new generation of strong Russian grandmasters. Andreikin is the reigning Russian champion, Nepomniachtchi the 2010 champion.

The match takes place October 30th-November 5th, 2012 at the International Center for Chess Education in Moscow, Russia. The match is at the same time a memorial for Yuri Razuvaev, who passed away earlier this year.

Sponsor is Oleg Skhortsov, the same man who was behind the Aronian-Kramnik match back in April. The format is kept the same as well: six games, and if a game finishes in a draw in less than three hours, the players will play a rapid game. So far this hasn't happened yet.

Sponsor Oleg Skhortsov, Ian Nepomniachtchi (r.) and his second Vladimir Potkin 

In the first game Nepomniachtchi started ambitiously with white, castling queenside in a Rubinstein French. After lengthy deliberation Dmitry Andreikin sacrificed a pawn on the queenside and grabbed the initiative. White soon had to return the material and transpose into an endgame that was slightly better for Black. Nepomniachtchi then put his hopes on a piece sacrifice, but this turned out to be incorrect. Andreikin could have won the game earlier perhaps, but the result was never in doubt.

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The start of game 1

For the second game Andreikin had prepared a tricky and rare version of the 4.Bf4 Grünfeld, and as a result both players started thinking early on. A complicated and very sharp middlegame arose, in which it was white who got an advantage at some point. Missing a few promising continuations, Andreikin eventually let it slip away and Nepomniachtchi escaped with a draw. At move 51 only kings and bishops were left on the board.

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Andreikin-Nepomniachtchi: Bf4 in the Grünfeld

In the third game of the match Andreikin switched from 1...e6 to 1...c6, and the young champions got a Caro-Kann, Advance variation on the board. Also in this game Nepmniachtchi castled queenside, and yet another very interesting game developed. As early as move 17 an unusual material imbalance appeared on the board: a queen and two connected passed pawns against a rook, bishop and knight. Nepomniachtchi might have overestimated his chances and played inaccurately, allowing his opponent to successfully regroup and launch an attack on his king. To avoid the worst, White had to give back his queen and go for a difficult ending with two pawns against a knight. He held this to a draw, while it might have been winning for Black at some point.

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Andreikin with behind him Yuri Razuvaev on the match poster

Friday was rest day. The last three games are scheduled for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. You can follow them live e.g. at Crestbook.com where Sergey Shipov is providing live commentary.

Andreikin - Nepomniachtchi 2012 | Score