Chess in Museums

Chess in Museums is an international programme implemented by the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) together with the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation


The idea of organising chess events in major museums was for the first time realized in 2012, when the World Chess Championship match between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand took place in the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), thanks to the efforts of Andrey Filatov and Gennady Timchenko. 


In 2013, the CFR and the Timchenko Fund organized the Alekhine Memorial. The first half of the supertournament was played in the Louvre (Paris), the second part took place in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg



The 2013 Russian Superfinal was played in museums in Nizhny Novgorod



The 2014 Russian Superfinal took place in Kazan, and the players competed in the Museum of Art in the Kazan Kremlin



In 2015, the Higher League of the 68th Russian Men's Chess Championship and the 65th Women's Chess Championship was held Kaliningrad. For the first time, the competition became a part of the international programme Chess in Museums.

The Higher League was opened within the walls of Fort No. 5, a unique fortification structure built in the late 19th century.

A children's program was organized on the free day, June 27 in the Museum of the World Ocean, which will host a simultaneous exhibition for 50 young players. In the museum's lobby, visitors could see the exhibition Chess in the War Years 1941-1945 from the collection of the Museum of Chess and Our Chronicle organized under the auspices of the Elena And Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation.

 


The 10th jubilee Tal Memorial was held from September 25 till October 6, 2016, in the Museum of Russian Impressionism in Moscow.

 

The 2016 Russian Superfinals took place on October 15-27 in the Novosibirsk State Museum of Local History. The winners of men's and women's tournament received a special prize – Renault Kaptur car.



On December 23, 2016, the Central House of a Chess Player was solemnly reopened in Moscow. The legendary club, which celebrated its 60th anniversary, was rebuilt with a help and support of Moscow Government. 

The ceremony was attended by a number of VIP guests, including Sergey Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, Chairman of RCF Board of Trustees and Press-Secretary of the Russian President, Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy Prime Minister of Russian Government, metropolitan Ilarion, bishop of Russian Orthodox Church, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE President, Andrey Filatov, RCF President, FIDE Vice-President, Yunus-bek Evkurov, Republic of Ingushetia President, Alexander Zhukov, Deputy Speaker of Russian Duma, Gennady Timchenko, founder of Timchenko Charitable Foundation, Andrey Guriev, CEO of PhosAgro, Boris Mints, Chairman of O1 investment group, Vladimir Vorozheikin, Vice-President of Sberbank, General Director of French-Russian Board of Trade and Industry Pavel Chinsky, Eduard Taran, President of RATM Holding, RCF Executive Director Mark Glukhovsky, 64-Chess Review publisher Igor Burshtein, famous director Andrey Konchalovsky, TV producer Tina Kandelaki, world's eldest grandmaster Yury Lvovich Averbakh, Vice-World Champions Sergey Karjakin and Boris Gelfand, grandmasters Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ernesto Inarkiev, Alexander Riazantsev, Sergey Rublevsky, Vladimir Potkin, Sergey Shipov, Yury Dokhoian, Valentina Gunina, Natalia Zhukova, members of RCF Supervisory Board, and many other honored guests. 

They all listened to welcome speeches of Andrey Filatov, Sergey Sobyanin, Arkady Dvorkovich, Dmitry Peskov, metropolitan Ilarion, Yury Averbakh, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, and Sergey Karjakin. 

The ceremony ended with a concert of the world famous pianist Nikolay Lugansky and cellist Boris Andrianov. “Sergey Rachmaninov recited in this building in the past”, said Andrey Filatov, “and now we have Nikolay Lugansky!”


 

The Superfinals of 70th Russian men's championship and 67th Russian women's championship were held on December 2-15, 2017, at the State Museum of Political History of Russia in Saint Petersburg. 






The 2017 Russian champions Peter Svidler and Aleksandra Goryachkina received a special prize – a four-wheel-drive crossover Renault Kaptur. The ceremony took place in the Central Chess Club in Moscow.


The 11th edition of the international tournament named after the 8th World Champion Mikhail Tal was played in the Museum of Russian Impressionism (Moscow), one of the leading private museums in Russia, and the Central Chess Club in Moscow. The tournament consisted of the rapid and blitz parts.


Viswanathan Anand won the rapid part of the 2018 Tal Memorial with 6 points out of 9, while the blitz event ended with a victory of Sergey Karjakin. 


The 2018 Superfinals of the Russian championships among men and women took place from August 24 till September 6 in Satka, Chelyabinsk Oblast. The venue for the Superfinals was the Magnezit Palace of Culture. 


The works of the Soviet and Russian painter, a representative of Socialist Realism Geliy Korzhev (1925-2012) were exhibited during the 2018 Superfinals. The exposition Unknown Korzhev from the the artist's family archive will include sketches, studies, and drawings, created during his work on the key paintings of the war, historical, biblical and other series in 1953-2012. 


The winners Dmitry Andreikin and Natalija Pogonina received bright and stylish city crossovers Renault Kaptur. 


Two cities of the Udmurt Republic hosted the 2019 Russian Championships Superfinals among men and women. The Museum Estate of Pyotr Tchaikovsky in Votkinsk and the International Friendship Centre in Izhevsk became the venues for the tournament. 




The 2019 Russian champions Evgeny Tomashevsky and Olga Girya were given the RENAULT ARKANA cars. The ceremony took place in the Central Chess Club in Moscow on December 20, 2019. 




The Superfinals of the 73rd Russian championship and the 70th Russian women's championship were held from the 4th of December (arrival) till the 17th of December (departure) 2020 in the Central Chess Club in Moscow.  



Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Russian champion's title for the second time, while Aleksandra Goryachkina became the three-time Russian women's champion, having defeated Polina Shuvalova on tiebreak.



The Superfinals of the 74th Russian championship and the 71st Russian women's championship were held in Ufa from the 8th till the 21st of October, 2021. The tournament was a part of the Chess in Museums international programme realised by the Chess Federation of Russia and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation. 

The Opening Ceremony and the drawing of lots was held in the Bashkortostan State M.V. Nesterov Art Museum.




The winners are Nikita Vitiugov and Valentina Gunina.


Chess is a very special game that is strongly connected with history and cultural heritage. The Chess in Museums programme aims at demonstrating these bonds to everyone. We found an original format of organizing chess events in the best museums of Russia and world, thus exposing both chess and art to the broader audience. Without a doubt, the list of such tournaments will continue to grow!