Russian Championships Superfinals Officially Opened in Votkinsk

Drawing of lots was held as well.

 
The Superfinals of the 72nd Russian Championship and the 69th Russian Women's Championship were officially opened in Votkinsk, the Udmurt Republic, on August 9.

The opening ceremony took place under the open sky on the premises of the Museum Estate of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

Head of the Udmurt Republic Alexander Brechalov, Director General of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation Maria Morozova, and Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation Mark Glukhovsky delivered speeches in the official part of the ceremony.

Then a drawing of lots was held by the chief arbiter of the competition IA Elena Polovina. Chess players were offered the choice of books The Childhood Years of P. Tchaikovsky, which had the starting numbers hidden inside:

Men’s section:

1. Alexander Motylev, 2. Aleksandr Predke, 3. Dmitry Jakovenko, 4. Kirill Alekseenko, 5. Alexey Sarana, 6. Alexey Dreev, 7. Nikita Vitiugov, 8. Evgeny Tomashevsky, 9. Vladimir Fedoseev, 10. Maxim Matlakov, 11. Vladislav Artemiev, 12. Ernesto Inarkiev.

Women’s section:

1. Olga Girya, 2. Daria Charochkina, 3. Polina Shuvalova, 4. Alexandra Kosteniuk, 5. Natalija Pogonina, 6. Valentina Gunina, 7. Zarina Shafigullina, 8. Elena Tomilova, 9. Aleksandra Goryachkina, 10. Anastasia Bodnaruk, 11. Margarita Potapova, 12. Alina Kashlinskaya.

Round one pairings of August 10 are as follows:

Men:

Motylev - Inarkiev, Predke - Artemiev, Jakovenko - Matlakov, Alekseenko - Fedoseev, Sarana - Tomashevsky, Dreev - Vitiugov.

Women:

Girya - Kashlinskaya, Charochkina - Potapova, Shuvalova - Bodnaruk, Kosteniuk - Goryachkina, Pogonina - Tomilova, Gunina - Shafigullina.



The creative part of the evening began with the performance of Andrey Shashkin, the scholarship holder of Denis Matsuev's New Names charity foundation, winner of the Udmurt Republic Government Prize and of the All-Russian Young Talents Competition, a young pianist and child prodigy. It was followed by the musical ensemble Saikan (Awakening) performing Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings on the national Udmurt instrument krez. Towards the end of the ceremony several musical pieces were performed by Yuri Rozum, the People’s Artist of Russia, a laureate of international competitions and a famous pianist. 

The organizers are the Russian Chess Federation, Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, and the Government of the Udmurt Republic. The competition is also supported by Renault Russia Company, Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (Rosseti Group), and PhosAgro, the RCF's partner since 2010. Logistics partner of the Russian Chess Federation is Russian Post.

The tournament is a part of the Chess in Museums program, carried out by the RCF together with Timchenko Foundation since 2012. 

The Museum Estate of Pyotr Tchaikovsky will be the venue for the Superfinals in Votkinsk on August 9-12, while the International Friendship Centre in Izhevsk will host the event on August 13-23. 

The total prize fund is increased by 1 million rubles and amounts to 10,000,000 rubles. 

Besides, the winners of the men's and women's tournaments are entitled to a brand-new coupe-crossover Renault ARKANA, which, according to the partnership agreement, has become the official car of the Russian Chess Federation in 2019.  

The events are 11-round all-play-all tournaments.  

The match days: August 10-11, 13-17, and 19-22. Free days: August 12 and 18. 

The rounds start at 2 p.m. while the final 11th rounds begins at 12:00 p.m. (Moscow time).

In case of a tie for the 1st place by two or more participants, an additional rapid competition is played to determine the winner.   

GM Sergey Shipov will be commenting the games in Russian, and doing same in English will be GMs Pavel Tregubov and Daniil Yuffa. 

All chess events running under the Chess in Museums program feature a special social program for a rest day, which primarily aims at children and veterans. Master-classes and simultaneous displays give chess fans a chance to meet their heroes in person, test their own chess ability, and sometimes even defeat a renowned grandmaster.

Photo album

Report by E. Kublashvili 

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