22 July 2024

100th anniversary of Chess Federation of Russia Celebrated in Central Chess Club

The CFR Golden Badges and medals in honour of the 100th Anniversary of the Russian Ministry of Sports were awarded.

Friday, July 19, a ceremonial reception in honour of the International Chess Day took place at the Central Chess Club named after M. Botvinnik in Moscow. The CFR Golden Badges and jubilee medals dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation were awarded at the event.

The ceremony welcomed such guests as Anatoly Karpov, a many-time World Champion, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation; Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the sixth FIDE President; GM Sergey Karjakin, President of the Moscow Oblast Chess Federation; CFR Vice-Presidents Andrey Guryev, Natalya Komarova, Pavel Chinsky and Sergey Smagin as well as famous chess players and coaches, members of the CFR Supervisory Board; Andrey Khazin, rector of the Russian State Social University, representatives of political and business circles and many others.

Alexander Tkachev, the CFR Executive Director, awarded the CFR Golden Badges to Andrey Beletsky, Chairman of the CFR Children and Youth Commission; Igor Burshtein, a member of the CFR Supervisory Board and editor-in-chief of the "64" chess magazine; Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the sixth FIDE President; Ivan Popov, Valentina Gunina's trainer, GM and coach; Albert Stepanyan, Executive Director of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Chess Federation; Elena Fedorova, Doctor of Economics and former Chairman of the CFR Internal Audit Commission; Gennady Shanturov, Chairman of the Tyumen Oblast Chess Federation; and Viktor Tchernyi, a well-known Moscow chess coach.

Many laureates thanked the CFR and its President Andrey Filatov for prestigious awards and the organisation of this chess festival, emphasising Mr. Filatov’s great contribution to the development of chess.

Andrey Filatov awarded jubilee medals in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Ministry of Sports to Valentina Gunina, World Blitz Champion; Sergey Karjakin, Vice World Champion and World Cup Winner; Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, Vice World Champion; Galina Strutinskaia, a many-time World Senior Champion; merited USSR coaches Yuri Balashov and Igor Zaitsev; Alexander Bakh, advisor to the CFR President; Sergey Janovsky, head coach of the Russian national teams; Sergei Rublevsky, head coach of the Russian women's national team; Alexander Riazantsev, coach of the Russian national team; coach of the national teams Konstantin Sakaev; merited coaches of Russia Alexander Zlochevskij, Vladimir Potkin, Pavel Lobach, and Jouri Goriatchkin; GM and coach Sergey Kishnev; CFR Vice-President Sergey Smagin; the CFR School Chess Commission chairman Alexander Kostiev; Chairman of the CFR Children's Chess Commission Andrey Beletsky; member of the CFR Supervisory Board Amir Gilyazov; Director of the Central Chess Club and the CFR Chief Administrator Olga Voronina; Editor-in-Chief of the CFR website Vladimir Barsky; and CFR Press Officer Eteri Kublashvili.

CFR President Andrey Filatov, "Dear friends, I congratulate you on this wonderful event - the 100th anniversary of the Chess Federation of Russia. It is an honour that today, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of FIDE and the International Chess Day, there was a ceremony of awarding state prizes to Russian chess players. It is a great honour for me to work in such a close-knit team, and I would like to say a word of gratitude to those who develop and popularise chess. We are proud of our many achievements. We thank the President of Russia Vladimir Putin for his high appreciation of our work. Among us today is Anatoly Karpov, life in chess without whom would be impossible to imagine. Thank you for having found the strength to serve chess throughout your life".

In his reply, the many-time World Champion Anatoly Karpov congratulated everyone on the forthcoming International Chess Day and noted that chess is developing despite all the challenges, and this is the great merit of the President of the Chess Federation of Russia Andrey Filatov. The legendary Grandmaster thanked the CFR for this festive event and for honouring representatives of regional federations and the coaches who had worked with him at different times in the past − Igor Zaitsev, Yuri Balashov, and Alexander Riazantsev. He called upon the chess world to unite, to stick to the motto Gens Una Sumus and not to get involved in politics.

The official ceremony followed by a blitz tournament for all guests. The winner was Danila Pavlov, a many-time world champion in solving chess problems.