23 October 2016

A Social Day At Russian Superfinal

Four simuls on the Superfinal's rest day were carried out by the commentators.

The Russian Chess Championship Superfinal, which is underway in Novosibirsk, had a day off on October 22. All chess events running under Chess in Museums project, carried out by RCF and Timchenko Charitable Foundation, feature a special program for a rest day, which primarily aims at children. Master-classes and simultaneous displays give young chess fans a chance to meet their heroes in person, test their own chess ability, and sometimes even defeat a renowned grandmaster. 

The simuls ran in four different places: chess department of Junior School for Technical, Extreme, and Mind Sports (Novosibirsk), Biotechnopark (Koltsovo), Maestro Junior Chess Center (Berdsk), and Center for Junior Development and Creative Works (Toguchin). The young players met grandmasters Sergey Rublevsky (gave a simul in Novosibirsk), Evgeny Najer (went to Koltsovo), Pavel Tregubov (visited Berdsk), and Evgeny Miroshnichenko (played in Toguchin). 

Pavel Maletin, grandmaster and president of Novosibirsk Region's chess federation, told us that he participated in similar simuls a few times and considers them very helpful. “In 1995 there was a strong tournament with grandmasters Rublevsky, Svidler, and Khalifman participating. I played in an alternative simul given by Svidler and Khalifman and was deeply impressed – I still remember it all very vividly. Children who participate in such simuls, often stay in chess for a long time”, said Mr Maletin. “Children are usually stewing in their own juice, so to speak – they play in junior tournaments almost exclusively. On one hand, this is good because it gives practice, on the other hand, they don't get experience from playing against really strong players. Taking part in simuls against grandmasters of such level can definitely bring new knowledge and experience. Post mortem analysis together with a coach will often have a positive impact on their opening knowledge and will sometimes lead to a complete change of one's opening repertoire. This is something that happened to me as well.”

60 players came to Biotechnopark in Koltsovo to play with Evgeny Najer, that's why the former European champion received assistance from Yury Markov and IM Vassily Malyshev. Najer won 23 games and made two draws, with the 11-year-old Liza Tumashevich and senior player Viktor Podzhunas. 

Nikolay Krasilnikov, mayor of the scientific city, also took part in the simul, and presented the grandmaster his book of poetry and songs with a poetic inscription. 

Sergey Rublevsky played against 20 players of varying age. The grandmaster scored 18.5 points, losing to Egor Gubsky and drawing with Vladimir Antonenko. 

Evgeny Miroshnichenko gave a simul on 26 boards and won all games. Mr Miroshnichenko noted four players – Oleg Pochivalov (who received a special Cup for the best game), Yury Orlov (87 years old), Nikolay Dyunin, and the young Ilya Sashirin, who only learned chess a year ago. 

One should note that in the morning of October 22, a combined team and individual championship of the Toguchin District took place. Six teams participated, each one having four players of different ages, ranging from 1929 to 2008. The team of Toguchin Center for Junior Development and Creative Works took first place, but all participants received memorable medals and diplomas. 

The simul by Pavel Tregubov gathered more than 20 chess enthusiasts from Berdsk and Akademgorodok. The final score – 21-0 in favor of the grandmaster. 

Mikhail Tischenko, the principal of Maestro Junior Chess Center: “Our center invests a lot of effort into chess promotion. Each weekend we organize five or six tournaments; right now there are two tournaments underway in the second hall. However, the event we are doing today is unique – meeting a famous grandmaster gives our sportsmen an incentive to improve. This is a real fest for all chess enthusiasts.”

After the simuls, all participants received memorable gifts and certificates from the organizes, and took a collective photo with the grandmasters followed by an autograph session. 

The organizers of the Superfinal are Russian Chess Federation, Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, government of Novosibirsk Region, and Novosibirsk mayor's office. General partner of the event – RATM Holding. This year the winners of men's and women's tournament will also receive a special prize – Renault Kaptur car. On May 31, Renault Russia company signed a partnership deal with RCF, and Renault Kaptur became an official car of the Russian Chess Federation. The tournament is a part of the Chess in Museums program, carried out by RCF together with Timchanko Foundation since 2012. During this period, a number of high-level chess competitions were organized in museums: World Chess Championship 2012 took place in the Tretyakov Gallery, Alekhine Memorial – in Louvre (Paris) and Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), Russian Superfinals – in Rukavishnikov Estate (Nizhny Novrogod) and State Art Museum of Tatarstan (Kazan), all-Russian Higher League competition – in Fort #5 (Kaliningrad), and the 10th Tal Memorial – in the Museum of Russian Impressionism.