12 March 2016

In Close Proximity To The Kremlin

The Moscow Candidates Tournament opening in the review of Vladimir Barsky.

Buzzing like a beehive is a native Pashkov... Still fresh in the memory are the past Tal Memorials held in Pashkov House, but the number of spectators used to be fewer by a huge ratio. The most deserted scenery here was seen in 2012, when the chess event was carried out in parallel with the European Football Championship, coupled with it being hot in June in Moscow on top of that. As for the Candidates Tournament opening, it was being swarmed into by fans of chess and get-togethers - a huge dance hall turned out to be packed to capacity. At the stage of that of its end sides, where grandmasters used to be seated once, shots of Armenian brandy and the Russian "Beluga" were served, while the look of other drinks would betray nothing in terms of their strongly pronounced national colors. Across the hall there were arranged tables for guests in a neat chess order: one with flowers and candles, while others with chess sets and chess clocks on them. Neither tables would stay unclaimed while waiters helped guests fill leisure time with champagne and snacks.

Everything is set up for a civilized recreation

The arrival of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was being anticipated. The day before the ceremony, the Russian president was also on the anticipation list, but then it became clear that he would not be able to make it. The candidates were being waited for as well. Those of grandmasters, who left the Four Seasons Hotel (built on the site of the famous Moscow Hotel) by cars, found themselves in a serious traffic jam. Others came on foot within mere ten minutes - the good thing being that on Thursday the weather in Moscow was amazingly fine. The ceremony hosts, chief editor of Forbes Nikolai Uskov and journalist Tatiana Arno, were monitoring the road situation; while they were still informing the public about Veselin Topalov being yet on his way to Moscow, the play-hall was stepped into by Vladimir Kramnik.

“I thought that if someone happens to fail to show up, I will come out to replace him!” quipped Vladimir when the author of these lines let him in the know of the current situation.

But here a sudden whirlwind would swept through the hall: muscular body gents with wires attached to their ears (they were no cheaters - God defend us against such!) were seen forming a semicircle, taking VIP guests under their wings and escorting them directly to the stage. Welcoming speeches were delivered by Arkady Dvorkovich, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE president (first alone, then together with Serzh Sargsyan), Andrey Filatov, RCF President, and Dmitry Peskov, Chairman of the RCF Board of Trustees. Thanks were expressed to sponsors and organizers, while the players were wished good luck and beautiful chess games. Andrey Filatov joked:

“Despite Russia’s favoring other sports such as football, hockey and wrestling, chess has come closest to the Kremlin!”

Alexander Zhukov, Dmitry Peskov, Gennady Timchenko, Andrey Filatov, Igor Levitin, Serzh Sargsyan and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Indeed, the windows of Pashkov House (exactly from out of the hall where the action used to take place) offer a perfect view of the gateway through which the Kremlin is accessed by black limousines with flashing lights. I also remember Kirsan Ilyumzhinov this time welcoming the audience not "in the name and on behalf of the FIDE Presidential Board", but on behalf of the entire International Chess Federation.

Let’s pay tribute to the organizers: the speeches were brief and to the point. Having listened to the Russian anthem, the guests of honor lingered for a few more minutes near the stage, posing for numerous photographers and cameramen, and then the whirlwind took them again, this time raising them up to the VIP-zone located on the third floor. I was surprised by the fact of candidates not having been invited to come out to the stage, who, in theory, were the essence of the whole social event as such. It is true that the screen would now and then display the portraits of players, but the similarity with the originals was very remote, and if it not for signatures below the pictures, you could easily start believing that those in front of you are in fact eight members of the Armenian championship.

Familiar strangers

The grandmasters, however, were drawn to chess. The initial games saw Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Ruslan Ponomariov fighting each other. One of the former FIDE World Champions assists Fabiano Caruana in Moscow, whereas the other one had participated in the "Aeroflot Open" and was delayed a little bit. Then Rustam was replaced by Peter Svidler, who could resist playing chess no longer and joined the struggle half a day ahead of other competitors! Meanwhile, a respectable audience was entertained by composer and pianist Anton Batagov and the artists of the modern ballet.

Drawing of lots would otherwise be a usual highlight of an opening ceremony program, but it is well-known to have been carried out in advance in such a way as to assure compatriots being faced off with each other at the start. So, on March 11 the first round will see the following pairs: Sergey Karjakin - Peter Svidler (both from Russia), Hikaru Nakamura - Fabiano Caruana (both from the USA), Anish Giri (Netherlands) - Levon Aronian (Armenia) and Vishy Anand (India) - Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria). The tournament will be held at the Central Telegraph building.