Shukhman and mate: how a talented junior broke Goryachkina's record

The men's and women's Superfinals of the Russian Classical Chess Championship have ended in Moscow. For a long time there was no sole leader in the men's tournament, but in the seventh round Arseny Nesterov defeated Savva Vetokhin and topped the standings. In the remaining rounds, the competitors failed to get close to the leader, and Arseny became the winner of the Superfinal for the first time. Anna Shukhman was in the lead in the women's Super Final for a long time, but after losing in the ninth round to Anastasia Bodnaruk, Leia Garifullina overtook her. Before the last round, Leia was half a point ahead of Anna, but was defeated in a personal meeting, after which Shukhman took the lead, becoming the youngest Russian champion in history.

Hat trick by Shuhman

Anna Shukhman could have been overtaken by Daria Charochkina, who tried to beat Anastasia Bodnaruk to the last, but in the end the game ended in a draw. As a result, 16-year-old Shukhman, beating Garifullina and Charochkina by half a point, became the winner of the women's Superfinal.

"The tournament wasn't going well for me," Anna Shukhman told Izvestia. — It was a good start when I scored five points in six opening games. But then there were several draws and a defeat. As a result, I had to win on an order from Leia Garifullina. I'm glad that I was able to do this on my mom's birthday. I gave her such a gift. I am very grateful to her, she always accompanies me to tournaments, helps me a lot mentally. Overall, the tournament turned out to be difficult. The squad was even, there were no weak players, so I had to give my best in each game.

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Shukhman became the youngest Russian champion in history. Previously, this record belonged to Alexandra Goryachkina, who in 2015 became the champion of Russia a month before her 17th birthday. Anna turned 16 on May 9, 2025.

This is not the first success for a native of Orenburg this year. In March, she became the world champion among juniors (under 20) in Montenegro, scoring 9 points out of 11 possible, and in August, as part of the Russian national team, she won the World Chess Olympiad under 16 in Colombia. In Barranquilla, Shuhman scored 7 out of 9 possible points, coming second on the fourth board. She was beaten only by a young man from India, Sherla Pratamesh. After her success in the Superfinal, Anna will go to the World Team Championship as part of the national team, which will be held in Linares in November. This was stated by the President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov.

The World Cup will be played in a 45+10 control. This is the format in which Anna successfully played in Colombia. Daria Charochkina can also get a place in the national team. Last year, the 35-year-old Muscovite sensationally became the second at the Super Final in Barnaul, where Ekaterina Lagno and Alexandra Goryachkina played, and this year she lost only to Shukhman.

— I would single out Daria Charochkina's performance: she has been creating a sensation for the second year in a row. This year she is playing even more confidently, and the game was sharp and especially beautiful against Polina Shuvalova. And Leia Garifullina, as always, shows her stability at a distance," Russian 2023 champion Baira Kovanova told Izvestia.

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On the third attempt

The men's winner was the fifth seed Arseniy Nesterov. In the first round, the vice-U-21 World champion (2023) beat Ilya Ilyushenko, and in the seventh — Savva Vetokhin. As a result, two wins and nine draws were enough for the final victory (last year I shared 3-5 places).

— Before the final round, everything was going perfectly for me, — said Arseniy Nesterov. — I didn't even have a position where I stood worse. The game with Sergey Lobanov was extremely unsuccessful. I got analyzed, got into a difficult position. Somewhere it seemed to me that the position was lost, and only closer to the 40th move did I realize that there was a good opportunity to hold the draw. It was my third Super Final. I played terribly in Cheboksary and rightfully took last place by a margin. Everything was good in Barnaul, but I didn't have enough energy for the ending. I remember losing a long game to Andrey Esipenko and being eliminated from the competition for prizes. This time, we managed to maintain our strength for the entire distance and achieve victory. Who helped me prepare? Vladimir Potkin. We prepared before the tournament and consulted during the Superfinal.

Daniil Dubov, Andrey Esipenko and Vadim Zvyagintsev, the ranking favorite, were half a point behind Nesterov. According to the results of the tournament, the latter has not lost for 103 classic games. The grandmasters' additional scores turned out to be the same, so all three were awarded silver medals and all of them will be eligible for next year's Superfinals.

Nesterov, Dubov, and Esipenko will also play at the World Cup, which will be held in Goa, India, from October 31 to November 27, 2025. Yan Nepomnyashchy, Vladislav Artemyev, Evgeny Naer, Volodar Murzin, Ivan Zemlyansky and Sergey Lobanov will also compete from Russia for three tickets to the 2026 candidates tournament.

It should be noted that the prize fund of the Superfinal amounted to 11 million rubles. The champion and the champion of Russia received certificates for LADA cars from AvtoVAZ JSC.