I first noticed Igor Lysyj after seeing the game analysed below. It was a convincing win for white in the Makagonov KID where it seemed that black played all the normal KID moves and yet lost badly.

Then his books on the Berlin Defence and 1…e5 black repertoire came out. I remember reading his story how he came about to creating his black repertoire based on 1…e5 and the Berlin after suffering for several years with the French Defence.

This year’s Russian Superfinal witnessed his finest hour – Lysyj won clear first with 5.5/9, with 4 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws, half a point ahead of Jakovenko, who only beat him and drew the rest!

What I found surprising were the lousy scores of Karjakin and Svidler – Karjakin shared last place witn 4/9 while Svidler managed to crawl back to 50% with a last round win over Zvjaginsev. I somehow have the feeling that the constant talking while commenting on the World Championship match in Sochi served Svidler badly – when the mouth moves too much it gives no chance to the brain to start working. Svidler’s comments were excellent, but his play left much to be desired. As for Karjakin, perhaps buying his wife a big jeep before the tournament wasn’t the best possible psychological preparation?!