7 May 2016

Alexandra is Spoiling for a Fight

Day Four of the Russian Team Championships, held at the hotel Zhemchuzhina, in the review of Vladimir Barsky.

They play chess in the famous Sochi Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina from early morning until late evening. This year the enormous tournament playhall has its special “red corner” managed by the rating administrator of the Russian Chess Federation Ilya Filippov. You are free to come here almost any time of the day to enjoy some blitz or bughouse games or to analyze the finished ones. Everyone willing is also able to participate in the classical tournament Zhemchuzhina Open. Although it is not yet as populated as we would like it to be, a good start is half the race! With God’s blessing, the tournament will become a traditional one so that in a few years from now a small corner is likely to be sufficient for it no longer. 

Ongoing is the All-Russian Championship of Orphanages and Boarding Schools, which is organized by the Russian Chess Federation with the support of a group of construction companies Don and the Charity Foundation Severnaya Korona. In my opinion, the organizers have made a strong move by inviting an experienced organizer and teacher Alexander Kostjev to hold a seminar for orphanage school chess teachers. It is not enough to just present children with chess clock and literature - it is a lot more important (and a lot more difficult at that!) to set a permanent learning process running and to cast a spell of chess on children. Alexander Nikolayevich shared about the methodological programs and tutorials available for beginners and more experienced players, as well as about computer programs, starting with the elementary “Dinosaurs teach chess.” By the way, I had the opportunity to sound the program some 10 years ago and now it is funny to hear your own voice through the speakers: “Hello, children! I am Professor MakDinozavr “! 

The main problem hindering the development of chess both at the orphanage and at the conventional schools is the shortage of teachers. Nowadays, however, modern technology allows distance education, including that at the elementary level. It is a pleasure to note that the second day of the seminar was attended not by teachers alone, but also by those children who quickly finished their games as the material presented was equally interesting for both groups. The Russian Chess Federation is ready to continue supporting the enthusiasts promoting chess at schools, whereas “Chess into the Russian orphanage schools” is considered one of our most popular and fastest growing projects. 

The All-Russian Championship of Orphanages and Boarding Schools

Now let’s switch from the topic of universal education to that of the sporting affairs. The key matchup of the Premier League Siberia - The Bronze Horseman was narrated about by Dmitry Kryakvin in his blog. The second match pair was between the “outsider” teams - Ladya of Kazan and Zhiguli of the Samara region. Although the “outsider” definition is unlikely to fit our situation since both have anyway secured their participation at the European Club Teams Cup, which is scheduled to take place this fall. As tradition has it, The Russian League has four qualification tickets into the European event at stake, whereas because the last year’s European Cup was taken by Siberia, the number of tickets now is as many as five. It is as many as the number of teams participating in the Premier League. However, reputation is yet another very important concept – therefore no easy rounds happen here. 

As a result, Zhiguli won a strong-willed victory by a slim margin. Even though the second player in the game Grigoriy Oparin - Artyom Timofeev sacrificed a pawn in the opening, seized the initiative, and rejected a draw by repetition, Oparin, as usual, put up strong and creative resistance. And then, when the endgame was approximately equal, Black missed an unexpected blow, ending up down a pawn. The other member of the Samara team who distinguished himself as well was Dmitry Frolyanov, while the consolation point for Kazan was scored by the young Ramil Faizrakhmanov by defeating the Ukrainian women’s team coach and the Togliatti RCF grandmaster center coach Michail Brodsky. 

The Moscow women’s team leader Alexandra Kosteniuk arrived in Sochi (following the end of the FIDE Grand Prix in Batumi) the night before the 4th round and immediately, without taking any rest, rushed into a new battle. The result of this is her victory in a hard-fought match versus Boavishta. The fighting spirit of the 12th World Champion cannot but command respect! 

The first victory was scored by Ladya over Donchanka (with a score of 3-1), and its leader, the seasoned Alisa Galliamova, defeated the young starlet Aleksandra Maltsevskaya. Ugra outplayed the Youth of Moscow 3.5-0.5 (a draw was achieved only by Polina Shuvalova versus Natalia Pogonina), while the Belorechensk University defeated Bukavushki 3-1. 

The Premier League saw a change of leadership: the awe-inspiring Bulbasaurs, headed by the awe-inspiring Denis Khismatullin, outplayed Malachite and reached the top line in the tournament standings. However, this victory was not quite a follow-up from the logic of the struggle, but Sergei Volkov messed up pretty badly in a promising position against Vitaliy Bernadskiy and in the end missed even a draw. The Togliatti players have gained 7 match points, trailing one point behind are the Yekaterinburg Malachite and two Moscow teams Avtomatika and SergArk team, the latter named so in honor of the playing coach grandmaster Sergey Arkhipov.