St. Petersburg All-Russian tournament, Round 2: Evtifeev defeats Lebedev to take sole lead; Alekhine, Bogoljubow win

Peter Evtifeev took advantage of an oversight by Sergey Lebedev in a heavy-piece endgame to record his second consecutive victory and claim sole possession of the lead after two rounds of the All-Russian Masters' tournament at St. Petersburg.  Other winners on the day included Alexander Alekhine and Efim Bogoljubow, both rebounding from first-round defeats, as well as Alexander Evensohn and Andrey Smorodsky, the latter playing his first game of the event following the postponement of his opening-round encounter vs. Aron Niemzowitsch.

The full table of the day's results was as follows:

Lowtzky ½-½ Niemzowitsch

v. Freymann  0-1  Smorodsky

Gregory  ½-½  Levenfish

Lebedev  0-1  Evtifeev  

Evensohn  1-0 Levitsky

Znosko-Borovsky  ½-½  Salwe

Bogoljubow  1-0  Taubenhaus

Alapin  ½-½  Flamberg

Alekhine  1-0  Eljaschoff

Standings after 2 rounds:  Evtifeev 2; Lowtzky, Levenfish, Evensohn, Alapin, Flamberg 1 1/2; Smorodsky, Levitsky, Znosko-Borovsky, Salwe, Bogoljubow, Alekhine 1; Niemzowitsch, Gregory, Taubenhaus 1/2; Lebedev, v. Freymann, Eljaschoff 0.

We have received six games from the day's play, and present them below.

Lowtzky-Niemzowitsch proved a most fascinating affair, with White winning a piece at the 20th move and Niemzowitsch fighting back through a series of aggressive thrusts that included a sham Queen sacrifice. The contest was at last agreed drawn at the 61st move.

Gregory-Levenfish, another fascinating struggle, saw White survive a host of complications to emerge with an extra exchange in the endgame, an advantage he nevertheless proved unable to turn to account.

Ledebev battled Evtifeev on even terms until the unfortunate 31.g4? led to the collapse of his position.

Evensohn played a powerful game to defeat the Sicilian Defense of Levitsky.

Bogoljubow defeated Taubenhaus with the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez; matters may well have turned out differently, however, had the latter found the clever thrust 29...f5! after White's 29.Kf4?

Alapin and Flamberg played to a draw in a rather quiet Ruy Lopez.