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The Russian Team Chess Championship has been in a tough competition with the Bundesliga for years for the title of the strongest national team chess championship. This year it will be held in Loo district of resort city Sochi (the host of 2014 Olympics) from April 8th to April 16th. The format is a 7-round Swiss for men and a round robin for women.
Men's section
Half the world's chess elite players are coming to the championship, including World Cup'2011 winner Peter Svidler and the European Chess Champion'2012 Dmitry Jakovenko. To be precise, 22 of the top-46 players in the world are participating:
#
Player
Rating
World Rank
Fed.
Team
Board
1
Fabiano Caruana
2767
7
ITA
SHSM-64
1
2
Sergey Karjakin
2766
8
RUS
Tomsk-400
1
3
Alexander Morozevich
2765
9
RUS
Economist-SGSU
1
4
Peter Svidler
2744
15
RUS
SPB-Federation
1
5
Evgeny Tomashevsky
2736
17
RUS
Economist-SGSU
2
6
Wang Hao
2733
19
CHN
SHSM-64
2
7
Leinier Dominguez Perez
2730
20
CUB
SPB-Federation
3
8
Dmitry Jakovenko
2729
21
RUS
Ugra
2
9
Ruslan Ponomariov
2727
23
UKR
Tomsk-400
2
10
Peter Leko
2720
24
HUN
SHSM-64
3
11
Ian Nepomniatchi
2718
26
RUS
Economist-SGSU
3
12
Anish Giri
2717
27
NED
SHSM-64
4
13
Alexander Riazantsev
2710
28
RUS
SHSM-64
5
14
Nikita Vitiugov
2709
30
RUS
SPB-Federation
2
15
Alexander Moiseenko
2706
33
UKR
Economist-SGSU
4
16
Boris Grachev
2705
35
RUS
SHSM-64
6
17
Vladimir Malakhov
2705
36
RUS
Ugra
3
18
Pavel Eljanov
2704
37
UKR
Economist-SGSU
5
19
Krishnan Sasikiran
2703
38
IND
Navigator
2
20
Sergei Movsesian
2702
41
ARM
SPB-Federation
4
21
Alexei Shirov
2701
44
LAT
Ugra
1
22
Emil Sutovsky
2700
46
ISR
Navigator
1
A few more are rated over 2700 on the live rating list (Inarkiev, RUS - 2707, Dreev, RUS - 2704, Bologan, MOL - 2704, Andreikin, RUS - 2704), or were rated above 2700 in the past (Alekseev, RUS - top rating of 2725, Motylev - top rating of 2710, Efimenko, UKR - top rating of 2708, Rublevsky, RUS - top rating of 2704).
It is easy to guess by looking at the table which teams are the main favorites. The reigning champion SHSM-64, European Club Chess Champion SPB-Federation and three more super clubs - two-times European Club Chess Champion Economist-SGSU, 4-times Russian Team Chess Champion Tomsk-400 and a very well-rounded team Ugra coached (!) by ex-FIDE World Chess Champion Alexander Khalifman himself.
Searching for new impressions and a challenge, Natalia Pogonina decided to take part in the men's event. Her team, Chess Club Rakita, is by far not the rating favorite, but nearly all the players have a very decent potential:
GM Boris Savchenko (2580) - a formidable attacking player; top rating - 2655
GM Ivan Popov (2605) - a young padawan of Mark Dvoretzky; top rating - 2617
GM Alexander Danin (2539) - a very original player; top rating - 2545
GM Alexandr Ivanov (2433) - the most experienced player in the team; top rating - 2503
IM Grigoriy Oparin (2487) - #1 player in the world born in 1997; top rating - the same
IM Mikhail Antipov (2435) - #3 player in the world born in 1997; top rating - 2436
WGM Natalia Pogonina (2449) - a top female player; top rating - 2501
Vitaly Babynin (2021) - 2nd reserve player
Women's section
In the women's section this time there are only 7 teams. With the absence of the European Club Chess Champion, AVS (the team Natalia Pogonina usually plays in), the main favorites are the extremely powerful Ladia Kazan', the reigning champion SHSM-RGSU and a rather solid team Ugra.
Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the most informative and entertaining tweets from last week:
Showing some optimism and English humor
The authors of Kramnik facts (Part I, Part II) have to agree!
Bad news, although expected
Russia retains the European Chess crown for the 4th year straight
Chess is about making decisions. So is life.
Quote of the week
The real question: what is larger - Topalov's apperance fee, or the 1st prize at the EC?
Thanks to our colleagues for a great broadcast!
Kamsky vs Nakamura and Krush vs Zatonskih is always exciting
Blatant self-promotion? Maybe, but still a happy anniversary!
Have we missed some of the best tweets? You can contribute to our next top-10 stories chart by retweeting the post you like and adding @Pogonina to the message so that we can see it.
A good old picture featuring Vladimir Potkin (European Chess Champion-2011), Dmitry Jakovenko (his successor) and Natalia Pogonina
After 11 rounds of intense chess fights 176 GMs and many other strong players from all over Europe have determined who this year's champion will be. For the 4th year straight the title goes to a Russian player. This time the winner was Dmitry Jakovenko (2729), born in 1983, who was rated #5 in the world and #1 in Russia in 2009, but then suffered somewhat of a setback and lost his place in the Russian national team. In the final round he was in a must-win situation against French GM Laurent Fressinet, who had half a point more than Dmitry. GM Jakovenko emerged as a solo winner with 8.5/11 and a performance of 2832.
Top-20 players were awarded with prizes (total prize fund: 100, 000 euros - the same as the women's event, but distributed between 20 players instead of 14). Also, the same people have qualified for the next World Chess Cup. Naturally, if some of them have secured their qualifications spots earlier, then the right is passed on to the players who have finished right out of the top-20.
The Russian players have proved their dominance once again: 50% of the top-20 places were occupied by members of the RCF
The tournament was dimmed by a few scandals: first a few players failed to show up on time for the round because of summer time switch confusion. Then Mamedyarov got forfeited for arriving just a few seconds late at the board. Moreover, Shakhriyar agreed to a draw against IM Alonso Rosell before move 40 in the next game (which violates the ECU tournament rules), and the arbiter decided to adjudicate the game 0-0, i.e., forfeit both the players. A similar situation has occured in GM Baron Tal vs GM Safarli Eltaj game. Even in the final round some of the players didn't show up at the board, or came too late (like Antoaneta Stefanova).
Some of the underdogs have shown some very impressive performances. For example, 14-year old FM Kiril Alekseenko (2367) from Russia managed to win a GM norm and over 60 rating points. Georgian IM Azaladze Shota (2419) - 34 points and a GM norm. FM Boruchovsky Avital (2333), Israel, - 66 points and a GM norm. IM Paichadze Luka (2491), Georgia, - 15 points and a GM norm.
Arguably, the greatest upsets of the event were: Caruana Fabiano (2767), seeded 1st, finished 38th and lost 7 rating points. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2752), 2nd seed, withdrew from the tournament and lost 26 rating points. Anish Giri (2717), seeded 4th, placed 91st and lost a virtual seat in the 2700+ club by decreasing his rating by 22 points. Boris Grachev (2705), seeded 9th, ended up being 81st with 15 ratings points scattered away. And so on.
The best women's result was demonstrated by WGM Irina Bulmaga (2307). She performed at 2500-level and earned 38 rating points. Interestingly enough, she has also played at the Women's EC, but less sucessfully - a performance of 2409, ranked #34.
From March 1st to 19th most of the strongest European female chess players gathered at Gaziantep, Turkey to compete for the classical, rapid and blitz titles. I dont want to dwell too much on the statistics and peculiarities of the tournament struggle and will dedicate more time to the atmosphere and general impressions. After all, we had to spend over two weeks at the same venue, which is not very easy.
This year I decided to arrive at the Championship one day in advance. Two flights require a lot of energy, so the spare day was quite handy in terms of taking a rest, getting some sleep and familiarizing myself with the place.
Preparation for a chess tournament is by far not limited to working on ones chess. Many other things are important as well: your physical shape, psychology, living conditions. By the latter I mean the hotel, nutrition, working schedule, etc. Having good Internet access is critical for communicating with your coach/second and other people via Skype. Overall the hotel was fine, although a lot of noise came through my window in the mornings. Also, the Internet was ok in the hall, but quite unstable and slow in the room itself. Last but not least, the choice of dishes at the restaurant was somewhat limited, so by the middle of the tournament many of us got bored with the cuisine and started eating out.
As I like to take walks before the game and afterwards, it is important for me to have a park nearby. In this case a park was available within 15 minutes by foot. I wonder how many miles I walked during those 19 days?!
The playing hall was spacious and comfortable:
I started the event with a win, but then slowed down and made four draws. In round 6 I won again and got 4/6. March 8th was a rest day aka International Womens Day. In Russia it is considered to be a popular holiday, but I am indifferent towards it since I have a birthday on March 9th. Therefore, all the attention that is left over from celebrating Fischers birthday (also March 9th) is transferred to mine. Frankly speaking, I dont like participating in tournaments on the eve of my birthday. I tend to get reflective and reconsider my life in general not the best state of mind for playing competitive games. Nonetheless, I have been doing it on a regular basis, from the Russian junior championships until now. This year the game against Olga Girya in round 7 was also quite challenging. Eventually I got a draw. Naturally, one cant celebrate the birthday too actively during a tournament, so the procedure was limited to a modest cake-eating ceremony with my friends on March 8th, reading a nice column titled "Do women have a chance against men?" and having a chuckle at a list where I was named one of the top-10 Russian female athletes.
After a victory in round 8 I found myself at 5.5/8. On the next day I had a promising position against Kateryna Lahno, but made a blunder and lost. Just like in 2011, I had to win both final games to qualify for the World Championship. I succeeded in both cases: 2/2 with Black and 5th-11th place (10th by tie-break); 8 rating points gained. The total prize of the classical chess championship was 100,000 with a record 20,500 for the winner. My share was 5,170 (about $6,900) obviously, not much for 11 days of work, but at least more than enough to compensate for travel expenses, accommodation and the services of my chess second. Being a chess pro is tough even if you perform well.
The new ECU dress code was introduced for the first time during this championship. For example, women werent allowed to wear sports shoes and suits and undo over two buttons on their blouses. Funny, isnt it? That is one of the few situations when chess news makes it to the mass media. Of course, the regulations were a popular discussion topic among the participants in private conversations and on Twitter. From my personal experience I can tell that not a single player was a fan of the new rules, but maybe such women do exist. My opinion is that dress code is relevant at super tournaments, World Championships and at other elite events with personal invitations. On the other hand, the European Championship is an open tournament that attracts people of different ages, cultures and backgrounds, so I dont think its a good idea to impose such limitations. However, in reality some of the players were wearing sports shoes or too short skirts, and no one reprimanded or punished them for it.
After the classical tournament some players decided to stay for the rapid and blitz events. For some of the girls the idea was to have fun and train, while others were taking things seriously and aiming at the titles. Russia has confirmed its status as the #1 chess country in Europe: all three gold medals went to members of our national team. Having played 42 games in 19 days, I was rather tired and anxious to get home as soon as possible. This was typical of other participants as well.
At the Moscow airport I and my friend Baira Kovanova went to a traditional Russian restaurant and ordered borsch, meat rissole and fried potatoes. Home, sweet home!
In the first round I had to face my compatriot and long-time friend Liza Bronnikova.
White chose a risky plan with 14.g4. The attack is illusionary, while the kingside gets weakened for real. After an overactive move 22.g5 the White king got into trouble, and Black quickly capitalized on the mistake.
Melkumyan (2628) - Andreikin (2689), 2012
White to move
Only one move can save the day for White. In the actual game White made an error, but Black failed to capitalize on it. Can you find the correct continuation?
Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the most informative and entertaining tweets from last week:
Most, but not devoted chess fans
Seeded 2nd; only 2.5/5 so far; time to change the tide
Natalia is at 2816 at the moment
Radjabov and Nakamura would support this proposal
Dragon Age
Political season is over in Russia, time for some chess
Like?!
Quote of the week
Save time and play the match on Twitter?
Will Andrew Paulson be able to revolutionize the way we look at chess?
Have we missed some of the best tweets? You can contribute to our next top-10 stories chart by retweeting the post you like and adding @Pogonina to the message so that we can see it.
Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the most informative and entertaining tweets from last week:
Last chance to watch Anand play before the WC match
How it feels to become an European Champion
Chess News: Valentina Gunina's interview - "When I returned to my hotel room, I started squealing and jumping like mad!"
Nice to see Garry Kasparov tweet chess
The question is: how much younger?!
Mental & physical
Payback time
Too good to be true
Quote of the week
On Russian elections - no Putin this time!
Women's European Chess Championship-2012
Have we missed some of the best tweets? You can contribute to our next top-10 stories chart by retweeting the post you like and adding @Pogonina to the message so that we can see it.
Valentina Gunina wins Women's European Chess Championship
Written by Administrator
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Valentina Gunina vs. Anna Muzychuk
Before the final round the rating favorite, GM Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia, seemed to be almost there: she was hovering one full point above all the opposition. However, in round 11 the reigning Russian champion Valentina Gunina managed to defeat her with White and clinch 1st! Tatiana Kosintseva, two-times European Chess Champion, demonstrated her skills by beating Nana Dzagnidze with Black and sharing first. The final allocation of medals: Gunina - gold, Kosintseva T. - silver, Muzychuk A. - bronze.
As you might remember, there are 14 main prizes at the event, and 14 participants qualify for the Women's Chess Championship-2014. Here are the lucky players:
Natalia Pogonina has qualified for the Women's World Championship for the second year in a row. Her performance can be called a success since she has increased her rating by 8 points.
Frankly speaking, I dont like participating in tournaments on the eve of my birthday. I tend to get reflective and reconsider my life in general not the best state of mind for playing competitive games. Nonetheless, I have been doing it on a regular basis, from the Russian junior championships until now. This year the game against Olga Girya in round 7 was also quite challenging. Eventually I got a draw. Naturally, one cant celebrate the birthday too actively during a tournament, so the procedure was limited to a modest cake-eating ceremony with my friends on March 8th, reading a nice column titled 
