Russian Championships Superfinals Lineups Confirmed

The total prize fund is increased by 1 million rubles.

The Superfinals of the 72nd Russian Championship and the 69th Russian Women's Championship  will be held in the Udmurt Republic on August 9-23. 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 organizers are the Russian Chess Federation, Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, and Government of the Udmurt Republic. The competition is also supported by Renault Russia Company, Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (FGC UES), and PhosAgro. 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. 

Line-up, men: 

Vladislav Artemiev, Nikita Vitiugov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Maxim Matlakov, Ernesto Inarkiev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Aleksey Dreev, Alexander Motylev, Kirill Alekseenko, Alexey Sarana, and Alexandr Predke. 

Line-up, women:  

Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina, Alina Kashlinskaya, Olga Girya, Natalija Pogonina, Anastasia Bodnaruk, Polina Shuvalova, Daria Charochkina, Margarita Potapova, Elena Tomilova, and Zarina Shafigullina. 

The total prize fund is increased by 1,000,000 rubles and amounts to 10,000,000 rubles. The guaranteed prize fund for the open event is 6,500,000 rubles and 3,500,000 rubles for the women's tournament.   

The winners will be given RENAULT ARKANA cars as well. 

The events are 11-round all-play-all tournaments. The default time is 15 minutes. If a player arrives at his/her place after a chess clock was started, but within first 15 minutes, he/she shall be fined at a rate of 10,000 rubles.  

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 round begins at 12:00 p.m. (Moscow time).

Tie-break criteria: 1) number of games played with Black, 2) Sonneborn-Berger, 3) number of wins, 4) direct encounter, 5) Koya system.  

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

Chief arbiter is IA Elena Polovina (Rostov region).  

It is to be reminded that the Udmurt Republic got the right to host the Supefinals following the results of the contest conducted by the Russian Chess Federation and the Charitable Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko.  

The tournament will be held as part of the International program Chess in Museums. 

The International program Chess in Museums, carried out by the Russian Chess Federation together with Timchenko Foundation since 2012, demonstrates the connection between chess, culture, history, sport, and art. The national championship, organized within a framework of the Chess in Museums program, obtains an extensive media coverage, aids to attract attention to the cultural heritage of a region, and, as a result, promotes the growth of people's interest to chess and art.  

The Russian Championships Superfinals started to be a part of the program in 2013, when the tournament was held in the Rukavishnikov Estate in Nizhny Novgorod. In 2014, Superfinals took place in the National Art gallery Hazine in the Kazan Kremlin, in 2016 - in the Novosibirsk State Museum of Local History and Nature, in 2017 - in the State Museum of Political History in Saint Petersburg, and in 2018 - in the town of Satka, where a special exhibition of Geliy Korzhev's works was organized during the event. 

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.