Alexander Riazantsev Conquers Mount Elbrus

The grandmaster played a friendly game atop. 

The Russian champion, one of the coaches of the Russian women's national team GM Alexander Riazantsev conquered the highest mountain in Europe and played a game of chess on the summit for the first time ever. 

Alexander Riazantsev shares his impressions:

"I got the idea to climb Mount Elbrus a couple of years ago, when my friend and I were ascending the Eastern Sayan Mountains. This year I had the time to do it, and my friend, quite a strong chess amateur Yuri Bochkarev and I decided to conquer Mount Elbrus and play a game of chess at the top of the highest peak in Europe.

The preparation started on August 17: we joined the group of 11 people and went to Terskol village, then we climbed up to 4,100 metres in the "Refuge of the 11". On the night of August 21st to 22nd, we started to strom it. At the 4,800m elevation, Yura didn't manage to continue climbing due to his insufficient acclimatization. Finally, after almost 10 hours of ascending from the "Refuge of the 11", amid difficult weather conditions, I found myself at the top of Elbrus - 5,642 metres! Fortunately, some people of our group know how to play chess, and, as a result, probably the first game of chess was played at 10:20, on the summit of 5,642 metres.

I would like to thank Lesya, Marina, Polina, Milana, and our instructor Ruslan for a wonderful atmosphere and congratulate them with the ascension. I am sure that there will be more chess games played at the tops of other world famous mountains!"