Pavel Ponkratov Wins Russian Championship Higher League
Ekaterina Goltseva triumphed among women.
The City of Novokuznetsk farewells the Russian Championships Higher League. The athletes taking 1st-5th places are now entitled to participate in the Superfinals of the Russian Championships, respectively.
Grandmasters Pavel Ponkratov (Moscow), Volodar Murzin (Moscow Oblast), Evgeniy Najer (Moscow), Artyom Timofeev (Republic of Tatarstan), Klementy Sychev (Moscow Oblast), and Ivan Rozum (Vologda Oblast) scored 6 points apiece in the open section. It was in this order that additional tiebreakers have sorted them out. Ponkratov, Murzin, Najer, Timofeev, and Sychev have advanced into the Superfinal.
Women's section has also seen a big share of places as four participants have scored 6.5 points. FM Ekaterina Goltseva (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) took first place over best tiebreakers, with WFM Anna Shukhman (Orenburg Oblast) finishing second, WIM Olga Matveeva (Perm Krai) third, and WFM Mariya Yakimova (Republic of Tatarstan) – fourth. With 6 points under her belt, WGM Baira Kovanova (Saratov Oblast) has taken the fifth qualification place to overtake IM Alina Bivol and WIM Aleksandra Dimitrova (both from Moscow) via better additional tiebreakers.
The Russian Championships Superfinals will be staged at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve (St. Petersburg, the city of Pushkin) from 30 September to 13 October, 2023. The competition is part of the "Chess in Museums" project, co-organised by the CFR and the Timchenko Foundation.
The overall management of the Russian Championships Higher League was under the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the All-Russian public organization "Chess Federation of Russia". Competition organizers: Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports of the Kemerovo Oblast and regional public organization "Chess Federation of the Kemerovo Oblast".
General partner of the CFR is PhosAgro. The CFR partner is Aeroflot.
Photos by Yulia Sergeeva and Andrey Chernikov
