Here are the standings before today's sixth round.
| Ranking | Team | ELO average | Match points | Game points | Top board |
| 1 | SPb Chess Fed | 2700 | 9 | 21.5 | Vasily Ivanchuk 2748 |
| 2 | ShSM-64 | 2700 | 9 | 19 | Boris Gelfand 2750 |
| 3 | Economist-SGSEU-1 | 2704 | 8 | 20 | Wang Yue 2749 |
| 4 | Yugra | 2689 | 6 | 15 | Alexander Grischuk 2756 |
| 5 | Chigorin Chess Club | 2584 | 6 | 14.5 | Ildar Khairullin 2617 |
| 6 | Ural | 2618 | 4 | 15 | Ian Nepomniachtchi 2656 |
| 7 | Tomsk-400 | 2687 | 3 | 14 | Ruslan Ponomariov 2737 |
| 8 | Economist-SGSEU-2 | 2548 | 3 | 10.5 | Alexander Kovchan 2595 |
| 9 | Etude-Contact | 2555 | 2 | 11.5 | Igor Khenkin 2597 |
| 10 | BelGU | 2493 | 0 | 9 | Alexander Ivanov 2481 |
The three teams in contention are as follows:
SPb (St.Petersburg) Chess federation (9 match points, 21.5 game points)
| Name | Country | Rating | World ranking |
| Vasily Ivanchuk | UKR | 2748 | 11 |
| Peter Svidler | RUS | 2750 | 8 |
| Nikita Vitiugov | RUS | 2710 | 28 |
| Sergei Movsesian | SVK | 2709 | 29 |
| Vadim Zvjagintsev | RUS | 2643 | 101 |
| Zahar Efimenko | UKR | 2640 | 105 |
| Konstantin Sakaev | RUS | 2635 | 118 |
| Vasily Yemelin | RUS | 2576 | 236 |
ShSm-64 (The legendary 64-magazine team)(9 match points, 19 game points)
| Name | Country | Rating | World ranking |
| Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2750 | 9 |
| Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2725 | 21 |
| Wang Hao | CHN | 2715 | 25 |
| Fabiano Caruana | ITA | 2680 | 52 |
| Boris Grachev | RUS | 2667 | 60 |
| Alexander Riazantsev | RUS | 2660 | 71 |
| Evgeniy Najer | RUS | 2665 | 65 |
| Boris Savchenko | RUS | 2652 | 83 |
Economist- SGSEu-1 (Saratov in Southern Russia, actual European champions) (8 match points, 20 game points)
| Name | Country | Rating | World ranking |
| Wang Yue | CHN | 2749 | 10 |
| Pavel Eljanov | UKR | 2736 | 16 |
| Evgeny Tomashevskvy | RUS | 2701 | 36 |
| Evgeny Alekseev | RUS | 2700 | 37 |
| Ni Hua | CHN | 2667 | 62 |
| Alexander Moiseenko | UKR | 2668 | 59 |
| Michael Roiz | ISR | 2652 | 86 |
Other 2700 players present:
| Name | Country | Rating | World ranking | Team |
| Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2756 | 7 | Yugra |
| Ruslan Ponomariov | UKR | 2737 | 15 | Tomsk |
| Dmitry Jakovenko | RUS | 2725 | 20 | Yugra |
| Vladimir Malakhov | RUS | 2721 | 22 | Yugra |
| Alexander Motylev | RUS | 2705 | 32 | Tomsk |
Highest Individual Scorers:
| Name | Country | Rating | Points from games played |
| Pavel Eljanov | UKR | 2736 | 4/5 |
| Mikhail Kobalia | RUS | 2637 | 4/5 |
| Sergei Rublevsky | RUS | 2697 | 3.5/5 |
| Sergei Movsesian | SVK | 2709 | 3.5/4 |
Women's team championship
After six of the seven rounds the table is as follows:
| Ranking | Team | Seeding | Match points | Board points | Top board |
| 1 | Giprorechtrans | 5 | 8 | 11.5 | Natalia Zhukova 2492 |
| 2 | AVS | 1 | 7 | 14.5 | Antoaneta Stefanova 2555 |
| 3 | SPb Chess Fed | 2 | 7 | 12.5 | Viktorija Cmilyte 2485 |
| 4 | ShSM | 3 | 6 | 11.5 | Alexandra Kosteniuk 2524 |
| 5 | Economist-SGSEU | 4 | 4 | 9 | Zhao Xue 2490 |
| 6 | Dvorets | 7 | 3 | 7.5 | Marina Romanko 2409 |
| 7 | Chigorin Chess Club | 6 | 1 | 5.5 | Tatjana Molchanova 2369 |
The surprise leaders are only the fifth seeds:
Giprorechtrans (a Moscow based River transport & construction company) have 8 match points with one match remaining.
| Name | Title | Country | Rating | World ranking |
| Natalia Zhukova | WGM | UKR | 2492 | 17 |
| Batkhuyag Munguntuul | WGM | MGL | 2428 | 59 |
| Elena Zaiatz | IM/WGM | RUS | 2391 | 76 |
| Irina Vasilevich | IM/WGM | RUS | 2324 | 153 |
Top Scorers
| Name | Title | Country | Rating | Points from games played |
| Batkhugay Munguntuul | WGM | MGL | 2428 | 3.5/5 |
| Viktorija Cmilyte | IM | LTU | 2485 | 3/3 |
The other 2500 players present are members of the AVS team:
| Anna Muzychuk | SLO | 2533 |
| Natalija Pogonina | RUS | 2501 |
Here is an all-2700 battle that was won by Black.
Pavel Eljanov (2736) - Alexander Motylev (2705)
Dagomys (Russian Premier League 2nd round) 02.04.2010
Semi-Slav Defence (D10)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.e3 e6 5.b3!?
After 5.♘f3 ♘bd7 6.b3 ♗b4 7.♗b2? Black wins a pawn with 7...♘e4 8.♕c2 ♕a5 9.♖c1 ♕xa2. To avoid this the less convenient 7.♗d2 is necessary.
5...♗b4
A normal-looking move, but it seems that the most common plan for Black is to aim for the freeing break ...e6-e5 e.g. 5...♘bd7 6.♗b2 ♗d6 7.♘f3 0-0 8.♗d3 e5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.dxe5 ♘xe5 11.♗e2 ♘xf3+ 12.♗xf3 ♗e5 13.0-0 ♗f5 as in Radjabov,T-Cheparinov,I Sofia 2008, when Black was sufficiently active to compensate for his isolated pawn.
6.♗b2
Logical of course, but it's worth noting that in the more common analogous position (with the extra moves ♘-f3, ♘bd7 having been played) this move is considered unplayable.
6...0-0
Now after 6...♘e4 White can avoid any serious trouble with 7.♘ge2 although it's not clear if this leads to any advantage e.g. 7...♕h4 8.g3 ♕f6 9.f4 ♕g6 10.♗g2 ♘d7 11.a3 ♗xc3+!? 12.♘xc3 ♘df6 13.♗f3 h5 Hobuss,U-Lehmann,A Lenk 2005, with a firm defensive grip on the light-squares.
7.a3 ♗d6
In general Black does best to keep his dark-squared bishop if his other minor pieces aren't in a position to become very active.
8.♘f3 ♘bd7 9.♗e2 b6
Slowly but surely, the plan of freeing the light-squared bishop takes shape.
10.0-0 ♗b7 11.b4 ♕e7 12.♕c2 dxc4 13.♗xc4 c5
The diagonal is opened and the bishop sees the light of day. This thematic move seems to equalize as there seems to be no way for White to keep any pressure.
14.dxc5 bxc5 15.b5
Opting for an asymmetric structure. White now has a majority on the queenside but on the other hand loses some influence in the centre.
As an alternative, something such as 15.bxc5 ♗xc5 16.♖fd1 ♖ac8 17.♕e2 ♖fd8 would be fairly balanced.
15...♘g4! 16.♖fd1 ♘de5
Motylev must have looked long and hard at snatching the h-pawn: 16...♗xf3 17.gxf3 ♘xh2 (17...♗xh2+?? 18.♔g2) 18.f4 (but not 18.♗e2? as Black obtains a strong attack with 18...♕g5+ 19.♔h1 ♘g4!) 18...♘f3+ 19.♔f1 ♖fd8 20.♔e2, and with White's king tucked away on e2 he can switch to attacking using the newly opened lines on the kingside. Matters would then be very uncertain.
17.♘xe5 ♘xe5 18.♗e2 f5!
Denying White access to the e4-square. 19.f4 ♘g6 20.♗c4 ♖ad8 21.♖d2 ♔h8 22.♖ad1
With the forces being fully mobilized it's time to find a plan for the middle-game.
22...e5!
Activating and happily provoking complications.
23.♗d5 exf4! 24.♗xb7 fxe3 25.♖d5?
From now on it's Black who has all the play and it's certain that White should have preferred something else here.
The best option seems to be 25.♖xd6 ♖xd6 26.♖xd6 ♕xd6 27.♘d5 f4, when White has two bishops for rook and two pawns. A pair of Bishops is often a powerful force in open positions but here they are not particularly effective and Black's pawns are advanced and well-supported. Matters would be far from clear.
25...♘f4 26.♘e2?
It's too late for 26.♖xd6 as after 26...♖xd6 27.♗f3 e2! Black wins material e.g. 28.♘xe2 ♖xd1+ 29.♕xd1 ♖d8 30.♕f1 ♘xe2+ 31.♗xe2 ♖d2 32.♕xf5 ♖xe2 and wins as there is no back rank mate!
26...♘xd5 27.♗xd5
27...♗xh2+!
Insisting on forcing White's king into the open.
28.♔xh2 ♕h4+ 29.♔g1 ♕f2+ 30.♔h2 ♕h4+ 31.♔g1 ♕f2+ 32.♔h2 ♖d6!
Correctly going for the whole point.
33.♗xg7+
Desperate, but the only way to stave off the threat of ...♖h6+.
33...♔xg7 34.♕c3+ ♖ff6
Self-pinning, but not for long.
After 34...♔h6? 35.♕e5 Black would have nothing better than taking the perpetual check.
35.♖d3 ♕h4+ 36.♔g1 ♕f2+ 37.♔h2 f4!
Better than 37...♕xe2? 38.♖xe3 when White would seize the initiative.
38.♕e5 ♔f8
Renewing the threat of ...♖h6+.
39.♗e6 ♖h6+ 40.♗h3 ♖xh3+!
Of course!
41.♔xh3 ♖h6+ 42.♔g4 ♕xe2+
Winning the house.
0-1
Otherwise Eljanov won his other four games to be one of the two highest scorers!
For more information official tournament site
The relevant information is in Russian as the English version is out-of-date!
