Ranking favorites Tamir Nabaty (Israel) and Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia) are still leading in the 2018 Men’s and Women’s Cups of Russia. However, in the third round the blood of higher ranked chess players flew like water. A bright victory of young Elizaveta Solozhenkina (Russia) over grandmaster Iulija Osmak (Ukraine) is worth of special attention. Liza’s evaluation of the key moments of this game can be watched in the video of the third round. The game between Maksim Schekachikhin and Ilia Iljiushenok from Russia was named a game of the day.
It’s highly possible that in this game Ilia Iljiushenok relied much on the theoretical recommendation dated 22 (!) years ago. Trying to return a part of the “stolen stuff” with a 16…Nc2 move, the black didn’t expect that the rival will not even want to have a look at the gift. Having one castle less the white were calm enough to continue the attack on the king with quiet moves, showing unconditional triumph of spirit over substance!