The Russian Cup competitions among men and women consist of regional tournaments (open and women’s), which have a status of the Russian Cup stages, and final tournaments – for men and women separately. Regulations of the stages are developed by regional chess federations and agreed with the Russian Chess Federation. 

Sportsmen have a right to play in an unlimited number of the Russian Cup stages during the year. Cup points, scored by participants in all stages, are summed up. Cup points are awarded only to participants who have Russian citizenship. 

14 best participants of the men's Russian Cup stages and 7 best participants of the women's Russian Cup stages qualify to the final competitions.

The final tournaments of the Russian Cup are knockout events with 16 participants in the men's section and 8 participants in the women's section. Two nominees from the Organizer are added to the men’s tournament, by agreement with the RCF. One Organizer's nominee is added to the women's event, by agreement with the RCF.  

Tournament Calendar 2018

Men

1.    Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial 2018, January 14-24, Taganrog

2.    Moscow Open, January 26 – February 5, Moscow

3.    Aeroflot Open, February 19 – March 1, Moscow

4.    Alekhine Memorial, June 11-22, Voronezh

5.    L. Polugaevsky Memorial, July 9-19, Samara

6.    Ural Ches Festival 2018, July 31 - August 11, Yekaterinburg 

7.    V. Kortchnoi Memorial, August 14-24, Saint Petersburg

8.    40th R. Nezhmetdinov Memorial, September 12-22, Kazan

9.    M. Chigorin Memorial, October 26 - November 5, Saint Petersburg
    
10.   XIII Ugra Governor’s Cup, November 16-26, Khanty-Mansiysk

11.   Russian Cup Final, December 3-14, Khanty-Mansiysk

Women

1.    Moscow Open, January 26 – February 5, Moscow 

2.    The Russian Women’s Cup stage,  March 5-15, Krasnodar

3.    Satka Autumn, September 10-20, Satka

4.   Russian Women’s Cup Final, December 4-11, Khanty-Mansiysk