18 December 2021

Russian Team Award Ceremony Takes Place in Central Chess Club in Moscow

Arkady Dvorkovich presented gold medals of the FIDE Online Olympiad.

 

Saturday, December 18, Moscow, the Central Chess Club named after Mikhail Botvinnik hosted a ceremony to honour the Russian national team, the winner of the FIDE Online Olympiad. As FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich highlighted in his speech, 2021 may be safely named as the year of the Russian women's national team, since Russian female players have won all team competitions in which they participated, such as the European Championship, the World Championship, and the Online Olympiad; besides, Alexandra Kosteniuk took the World Cup. 

Arkady Dvorkovich awarded the Online Olympiad gold medals to Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina, Polina Shuvalova, Leya Garifullina, Vladislav Artemiev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Andrey Esipenko, Volodar Murzin, and the national team coaches Alexander Riazantsev, Sergei Rublevsky, and Andrey Filatov. Unfortunately, Alexander Grischuk, Daniil Dubov, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexander Motylev, and Evgeniy Najer could not attend the ceremony.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich presented the first FIDE certificate of honour to Andrey Filatov, who celebrates his 50th anniversary on this day:

– We have decided to present the first, newly-introduced FIDE award, to the President of the Chess Federation of Russia Andrey Filatov, as it is president who ultimately stands for a federation and its success at the official level. Besides, I have decided to exercise my authority to nominate Andrey Filatov for the title of the FIDE Honorary Member. My application has been submitted to the FIDE General Assembly, and I hope to see it approved.

Wrapping up his speech, Arkady Dvorkovich wished good luck to everyone: "Smile more often because it makes life easier!"

CFR President Andrey Filatov: 

– I would like to say words of gratitude to our national team for its achievements, which we are rightfully proud of. We have won the FIDE Online Olympiad for the second time in a row. Naturally, many thanks to FIDE and you, Mr. Dvorkovich, for introducing this competition format. I do hope the Russian team will keep up its high achievements to make chess fans happy!

In addition, Andrey Filatov announced that the CFR Supervisory Board convened the day before had recommended Arkady Dvorkovich for the post of FIDE President on behalf of our country. In turn, Arkady Dvorkovich declared about having taken a firm decision to nominate himself for the FIDE presidency at the elections to be held in the summer of 2022. 

Pictures by Eteri Kublashvili