20 October 2015

Remembering Yuri Razuvaev

Photo report by Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili from the Dvorkovich Saloon.

A rapid chess tournament among seniors, Jubilees-2015, was held in the cozy Vladimir Dvorkovich Saloon at the weekend of October 17-18 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the birth of Yuri Razuvaev, the outstanding grandmaster and coach, who left us untimely in 2012. The organizers also celebrated this year's jubilees: Anatoly Golikov (aged 90), Vasily Kuritsin (85), Mikhail Udov (80), Yury Frumson (80), Aleksander Nikitin (80), Vladimir Drozdov (75), Grigoriy Osipov (70), Evgeny Sveshnikov (65), Vladimir Skorodumov (65), Liudmila Belavenets (75), Rimma Bilunova (75), and Larisa Khropova (60).

Before the competition started, the Living Room's cordial hostess and Deputy Chair of the Russian Chess Federation's Seniors Commission, Galina Dvorkovich, and the RCF Seniors Commission Chair, GM Evgeni Vasiukov, wished the ladies a happy jubilee and presented them with cups,  "For Distinguished Labor" medals on behalf of the Russian Municipal Academy, letters of appreciation on behalf of the RCF, flowers, and other pleasant and useful gifts.  

Five rounds with a 10+5 time control were played on the first day, and the final six rounds on the second. The tournament brought together Muscovites as well as guests from other cities and resembled a gathering of good old friends: the participants chatted with each other passionately, discussed events and competitions of the past, shared plans for the future, and were keen to read a new edition of the 64 Chess Review magazine with a photo of Anatoly Golikov on the cover page. 

The leaders' tables witnessed some really heated battles, however. After the first five rounds, Evgeny Sveshnikov had a 100% score, with the rating favorite Evgenij Kalegin and Oleg Zilbert half a point behind.  An evening party to commemorate Yuri Razuvaev was held at the end of the first playing day, culminating with a presentation of Chess Academician Yuri Razuvaev, published as part of the new Russian Chess Federation Library series. The book includes three volumes: memories of contemporaries, including world champions; Razuvaev's selected games commentated by leading grandmasters; and his articles on chess theory and school chess training as well as interviews. Vladimir Kramnik, the 14th world champion, wrote the preface, and Honored Coach of Russia Boris Postovsky compiled the book. The party guests included: Razuvaev's widow Natalya and their son Alexander; the world's oldest grandmaster Yuri Averbakh; RCF Presidential Aide and Executive Director at the Chess Federations Association Alexander Bakh; research fellow at the Institute of Theory and History of Pedagogy of the Russian Academy of Education Igor Sukhin; the 64 Chess Review magazine publisher Igor Burshtein; grandmasters Sergei Shipov, Alexey Kuzmin, Sergey Janovsky, Igor Berdichevsky, historian and author Sergey Voronkov; International Arbiter Eduard Dubov; 64 Chess Review's Editor-in-Chief Maxim Notkin; Russian Chess House Director Murad Amannazarov, and many others.

Boris Postovsky started the party by telling the audience about his friendship with Yuri Razuvaev and the history of writing the book. 

Yuri Averbakh, Igor Sukhin, Igor Burshtein, Evgeni Vasiukov, Alexey Kuzmin, Galina Strutinskaia, Arkadi Vul, Evgeni Dragomarezkij, Vadim Faibisovich, Anatoly Kremenetsky, Sergei Voronkov, Eduard Dubov, Stanislav Zhelezny, Evgeny Gik, and others shared memories of Razuvaev.

Natalya Razuvaeva thanked everyone for the warm words about her late husband and for the publication of the book.

As for the tournament, Evgeny Sveshnikov failed to retain the leadership he seized on the first playing day, and the victory went to IM Evgenij Kalegin, with Sveshnikov, IM Dragomarezkij, and FM Oleg Zilbert lagging behind by half a point. Sveshnikov took the second place and Dragomarezkij the third, won by tiebreakers.

WGM Galina Strutinskaia showed the best performance among women, scoring 6 points and getting ahead of WGM Elena Fatalibekova, WFM Larisa Khropova and WIM Natalia Titorenko by tiebreakers.

Evgeni Vasiukov and Galina Dvorkovich presented everyone with gifts from Biblio-Globus provided by Boris Esenkin, the head of Moscow's most famous bookstore.

The winners and those celebrating a jubilee received prizes from Vasily Ovchinnikov, mayor of Mozhaisk and deputy chair of the RCF Seniors Commission, and  the top 20 men and women were awarded by Vladimir Shumilin, another deputy chair of the commission. Some people received two or three prizes each, because the winners were also awarded with prizes from the organizers, and journalist Grigory Osipov gave several people "100th Anniversary of Tvardovsky's Birthday" medals provided by the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists.

By way of conclusion, I hope that our senior players will enjoy great health and have a lot of fun, meetings with friends and new achievements at the chessboard.