The Russian Championship Superfinal is heading for a nerve-racking finish as no less than six players are tied for first place with two rounds to go. Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Dmitry Jakovenko, Dmitry Andreikin, Evgeny Alekseev and Alexander Potkin all scored 4/7 and are half a point ahead of Peter Svidler, who is defending his title. In the women's tournament Natalija Pogonina is leading with 5.5/7.

Natalija Pogonina, first in the women's section | Photo © Russian Chess Federation

After seven rounds of play, a remarkable situation in the men's section of the Russian Championship Superfinal has arisen. With a draw percentage as high as 71.4% plus one is enough for first place at the moment, and six out of ten players have reached this score! Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Dmitry Jakovenko, Dmitry Andreikin, Evgeny Alekseev and Alexander Potkin all scored 4/7. Peter Svidler, who is defending is title, is on 50%.

After the first round, which we covered here, it took some time before the tournament heated up. In rounds 2-5 only 3 out of 20 games ended decisively, and each time it was Sanan Sjugirov who went down. On Saturday the European Champion of 2011, Vladimir Potkin, had an easy day:

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Two days later Dmitry Jakovenko won with some luck. This time Sjugirov played well in a difficult ending, only to lose on time just when the draw was in reach.

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On Tuesday poor Sjugirov was, for the third time, the only loser.

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16-year-old Daniil Dubov, who had played so well in the Higher League (the qualifying tournament for the Superfinal), continues to impress at the highest level. He drew his first five games and his opponents included Grischuk, Karjakin and Svidler! In round 5 the half point against Potkin was gained in spectacular fashion.

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In the 6th round Dubov suffered a loss as Vitiugov simply was too strong on this day.

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Sjugirov's personal drama continued as he lost his quickest game thus far. In a Caro-Kann Andreikin tried a sharp idea which was played before in a correspondence game and in just a few moves White had a winning position:

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Alekseev and Andreiking were sharing the lead after six rounds with 4/6, followed by Jakovenko who had half a point less. On Friday Alekseev went down against Karjakin in a game that could have gone either way if you look at how sharp that middlegame was.

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Vladimir Potkin won a quiet game against Nikita Vitiugov which could also be described as a (positional) model game!

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Grischuk outplayed Andreikin from the opening, a Sicilian Four Knights.

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Dubov was yet again involved in a fascinating draw:

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In the women's tournament Natalija Pogonina is half a point ahead of Tatiana Kosintseva. The tournament leader defeated title holder Valentina Gunina in round 5, a game that shouldn't be missed:

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The Russian Championship Superfinal is being held at the Radisson Slavinskaya hotel in Moscow. The last two rounds will be played on Saturday and Sunday.

Russian Championship Superfinal | Round 7 standings

Russian Championship Superfinal (women) | Round 7 standings