Pal Benko dies at age 91
It is with the deepest sadness that we learnt about the passing of Pal Benko, a two-time candidate for the world title (1959 & 1962), as well as a renowned composer of endgame studies and chess problems. He was 91 years old. To the chess family, Benko was a historical figure of legendary proportions, whose name and legacy will never be forgotten as long as people keep playing this game. His love for chess and his contributions to many aspects of the game, from the opening to the endgame, were an inspiration to several generations of players. Very few in the history of the game demonstrated the inextricable link between art and chess quite as he did. He left behind an invaluable legacy, compiled on several books. Besides, he was a fantastic individual, respected by everybody who crossed paths with him. His personal charm and bonhomie earned him countless friendships among his colleagues.
Egypt takes the Gold at the African Games
Egypt topped the standings at the team’s competition of the African Games Chess Championship, undefeated with eight matches won and one match drawn, but with just one point margin over Algerie. Zimbabwe, Bronze, performed above their initial expectations and was the only team to hold the winners to a draw. Egypt’s victory was hardly a surprise, with a line-up that included two of the four Grandmasters present in the competition, as well as the two only Woman Grandmasters. However, the second day of play started with a surprise when both Ahmed Adly and Bassem Amin suffered a shocking losses in their morning games (round 7) against Rodwell Makoto and Emarald Mushore – despite a rating difference of 250 and 500 points respectively. This allowed Algeria to close in a little in the standings. This result was a wake-up call for the Egyptian team, that cruised past the remaining three rounds defeating Botswana, Zambia and Malawi and scored 11 points out of 12 games. This sealed their victory, and gave the Egyptians their 17th medal in the African Games.* Today (Monday) the first five rounds of the individual championship will be played. While in the teams’ event there were 20 nations in the competition, in the individual championship the number goes up to 24, making chess one of the sports with a strong representation of different countries at the African Games. Official website: https://www.jar2019.ma Final standings after 9 rounds: Rank Team Points (board points) 1 EGYPT 17 31 2 ALGERIA 16 25 3 ZIMBABWE 12 21½ 4 NIGERIA 11 21 5 BOTSWANA 10 20½ 6 NAMIBIA 10 20½ 7 MOROCCO 10 19½ 8 CAMEROON 10 19½ 9 ETHIOPIA 10 18½ 10 TUNISIA 10 18 11 ZAMBIA 9 20 12 MALAWI 9 18½ 13 ANGOLA 8 20 14 KENYA 8 19½ 15 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 8 17½ 16 MAURITIUS 8 16 17 MALI 5 13 18 CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC 5 7½ 19 ERITREA 3 9 20 CAPE VERDE 1 4 * Contrary to previous editions of the African Games, this year no individual medals are awarded for the results in the teams’ championship.
Tomashevsky and Girya become the new Russian Champions
The Superfinals of the 72nd Russian Championship and the 69th Russian Women’s Championship finished in Izhevsk on August 22. Both events were 11-round all-play-all tournaments. Scoring 7 points out of 11, Evgeny Tomashevsky wins the Russian Championship Superfinal for the second time, repeating his success of 2015. Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov and Ernesto Inarkiev have got 6.5 points each. Vitiugov won the silver medal thanks to his superior tie-break, while Matlakov took the third place. Final standings: 1 Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706) 7 2 Nikita Vitiugov (2728) 6,5 3 Maxim Matlakov (2710) 6,5 4 Ernesto Inarkiev (2682) 6,5 5 Vladislav Artemiev (2757) 5,5 6 Alexander Motylev (2668) 5,5 7 Alexandr Predke (2650) 5,5 8 Kirill Alekseenko (2668) 5,5 9 Alexey Dreev (2662) 5 10 Vladimir Fedoseev (2671) 4,5 11 Alexey Sarana (2655) 4,5 12 Dmitry Jakovenko (2704) 3,5 Olga Girya and Natalija Pogonina both scored 8 points in the women’s tournament. According to the regulations, they had to play a tie-break for the first place, like last year. Olga Girya won the first rapid game, but Natalija Pogonina managed to win the second. The rivals had to play a sudden death game, which was won by Olga Girya, who had the white pieces. The grandmaster from Ugra became the Russian women’s champion for the first time in her career. The World Champion Candidate, Aleksandra Goryachkina, took third place with 7.5 points, repeating her last year’s performance. Final standings: 1 Olga Girya (2462) 8 2 Natalia Pogonina (2457) 8 3 Aleksandra Goryachkina (2564) 7,5 4 Valentina Gunina (2497) 7 5 Margarita Potapova (2335) 6 6 Alina Kashlinskaya (2491) 6 7 Alexandra Kosteniuk (2507) 5,5 8 Daria Charochkina (2352) 5 9 Anastasia Bodnaruk (2429) 4 10 Polina Shuvalova (2419) 4 11 Elena Tomilova (2376) 3 12 Zarina Shafigullina (2332) 2 The total prize fund amounted to 10,000,000 rubles. The winners of the men’s and women’s tournaments also won brand-new coupe-crossovers Renault ARKANA, which, according to the partnership agreement, became the official car of the Russian Chess Federation in 2019. The Closing Ceremony was held in the Udmurtia State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Head of the Udmurt Republic Alexander Brechalov, Director of the program Sport of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation Igor Baradachev and Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation Alexander Tkachev made speeches in front of the participants and guests. Official website: http://ruchess.ru/en/ (Photos: Andrey Pozdeev, Press service of the Head and the Government of the Udmurt Republic)
The 3rd World Cadets Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships finished in Minsk
The 3rd FIDE World Cadets Rapid & Blitz Championships among boys and girls under 8, 10 and 12 years old have finished in Minsk (Belarus), on June 18. 635 young chess players from 35 federations took part in the World Cadets Blitz Championships. Two players Aleksandr E. Usov from Russia (Open U-10) and Yeganegi Barad from Iran showed perfect score in the tournament 9/9. First Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism Vyacheslav Durnov, FIDE Vice-president Lukasz Turlej and FIDE Vice-president, Head of the Belorussian Chess Federation Anastasia Sorokina delivered speeches at the closing ceremony. The winners of all categories were awarded cups, medals and presents. The organizers of the Championships are the National Olympic Committee of Belarus Republic, Ministry of Sport and Tourism of Belarus republic, Belorussian Chess Federation, chess school FIDE Belarus, President’s sports club of Belarus. Girls, U8 1 Diana Preobrazhenskaya RUS 8,5 2 Tong Thai Hoang An VIE 7,5 3 Mai Chi Nguyen VIE 7,5 Girls U10 1 Afruza Khamdamova UZB 8 2 Evgeniia Satanovskaia RUS 8 3 Ngoc Vy Ho VIE 8 Girls U12 1 Yana Zhapova RUS 8 2 Klara Szczotka POL 7 3 Milana Babic BIH 7 Open U8 1 Barad Yeganegi IRI 9 2 Savva Tereschenko RUS 8 3 Maxim Tsoy KAZ 7,5 Open U10 1 Aleksandr E. Usov RUS 9 2 Pavel Boykov RUS 8 3 Savva Vetokhin RUS 7,5 Open U12 1 Erdem Khubukshanov RUS 7,5 2 Gleb Pidluznij LTU 7,5 3 Dmitriy Mochalov RUS 7,5 Photos: Niki Riga
Full pairings for the Women Grand Prix in Skolkovo
The drawing for the first leg of the Women Grand Prix (Skolkovo, 10-23 September 2019) was made yesterday at our office in Lausanne. FIDE’s Chief Operating Officer, Willy Iclicki, picked the numbers, and the Chief Arbiter for the event, Andrzej Fillipowicz, conducted the round-by-round pairings accordingly. Round 1 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 1 Cramling, Pia – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 3 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 4 4 Gunina, Valentina – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 5 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Sebag, Marie 8 6 6 Koneru, Humpy – Harika, Dronavalli 7 Round 2 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Harika, Dronavalli 7 2 8 Sebag, Marie – Koneru, Humpy 6 3 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Lagno, Kateryna 5 4 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Gunina, Valentina 4 5 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 6 1 Cramling, Pia – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 Round 3 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Cramling, Pia 1 3 4 Gunina, Valentina – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 4 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 5 6 Koneru, Humpy – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 6 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Sebag, Marie 8 Round 4 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Sebag, Marie 8 2 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Harika, Dronavalli 7 3 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Koneru, Humpy 6 4 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Lagno, Kateryna 5 5 1 Cramling, Pia – Gunina, Valentina 4 6 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 Round 5 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 4 Gunina, Valentina – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 3 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Cramling, Pia 1 4 6 Koneru, Humpy – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 5 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 6 8 Sebag, Marie – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 Round 6 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 2 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Sebag, Marie 8 3 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Harika, Dronavalli 7 4 1 Cramling, Pia – Koneru, Humpy 6 5 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Lagno, Kateryna 5 6 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Gunina, Valentina 4 Round 7 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 4 Gunina, Valentina – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 3 6 Koneru, Humpy – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 4 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Cramling, Pia 1 5 8 Sebag, Marie – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 6 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 Round 8 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 2 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 3 1 Cramling, Pia – Sebag, Marie 8 4 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Harika, Dronavalli 7 5 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Koneru, Humpy 6 6 4 Gunina, Valentina – Lagno, Kateryna 5 Round 9 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 6 Koneru, Humpy – Gunina, Valentina 4 3 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 4 8 Sebag, Marie – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 5 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Cramling, Pia 1 6 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 Round 10 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 2 1 Cramling, Pia – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 3 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 4 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Sebag, Marie 8 5 4 Gunina, Valentina – Harika, Dronavalli 7 6 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Koneru, Humpy 6 Round 11 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 6 Koneru, Humpy – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Lagno, Kateryna 5 3 8 Sebag, Marie – Gunina, Valentina 4 4 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 5 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 6 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Cramling, Pia 1
Levon Aronian wins Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz
Levon Aronian is the sole winner of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, the 4th leg of the Grand Chess Tour. He takes home $37.500 and 13 GCT points, jumping to the third spot in the overall series standings, after Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen. This is his second victory in this event, that he already won in 2017. Both Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave rocketed in rapid, which brings twice as many points, and slowed down in blitz. However, in the end, Aronian was just a little more solid (despite being defeated by the Frenchman in the very last round!). Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished tied for second, just half a point behind the winner. In the event where “everything went wrong” for him, Magnus Carlsen lost as many as 10 games in rapid and blitz. “My confidence is long gone. You’re probably going to see more of the same tomorrow”, said the world champion in the interview after the first day of blitz. That is indeed what happened: 4,5 out of 9 on the final day and the place in the lower part of the table. The World Champion will have barely two days to restore his confidence and heal his wounds, since the action in Saint Louis will resume on August 17th with the Sinquefield Cup. Games, video replays and other info at the official website: Grand Chess Tour Levon Aronian. Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour.
FIDE abolishes entry fees for the World Senior Championship
The Presidential Board received the proposal of waiving the entry fee for the participants in the World Senior Championships. This proposal was met with unanimous approval at the 2nd quarter of 2019 meeting. In view of this, the FIDE President has decided: 1. To abolish the aforementioned fee, starting from the World Senior Championship 2019. 2. To request from the General Assembly to confirm the above decision of the President, making the necessary amendments to the FIDE Financial Regulations. 3. To issue a full refund to all participants who had already registered. We would like to take the chance to remind you that the registration deadline for this event is September 11th, 2019. Below you will find more information. Bucharest will host the 29th edition of World Senior Championship, from November 11th (arrival day) to November 24th (departure day). The initial prize fund of 16,000 Euro offered by the organizers was increased by the International Chess Federation with another 30,000, as part of FIDE’s strategy of supporting senior chess. Hence, the prize fund amounts to a very attractive 46,000 Euro. The venue is the four-star Rin Grand Hotel, and the playing hall is the 950 sqm “Bucharest” conference hall, located within the hotel. The organizers are preparing side activities with the aim to make participants enjoy their stay in Bucharest: city tours and visits to interesting places, a blitz tournament, wine tastings, and others. The 2019 edition of World Senior Championship is a great occasion for senior players (amateurs, retired and successful active players alike), to take part in a top chess tournament, to explore an attractive city like Bucharest, and to share some good moments with other chess friends. The event is sponsored by Orange, Turkish Airlines, Aqua Carpatica, BIC and Promotop, and it counts with the support of Agerpress, the national press agency. Official website: www.worldseniors2019.comFacebook page: www.facebook.com/fideseniors2019
World Cup 2019 Pairings
FIDE published the pairings for the World Cup 2019 which will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk from September 9 to October 4. PAIRINGS (pdf) Official website: khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en FIDE World Cup 2019 Round 1 (No Color) 1 GM Ding, Liren CHN – 128 FM Press, Shaun PNG 2 GM Giri, Anish NED – 127 FM Mohammad Fahad, Rahman BAN 3 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA – 126 IM Anwuli, Daniel NGR 4 GM So, Wesley USA – 125 IM Duran Vega, Sergio CRC 5 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian RUS – 124 Gan-Erdene, Sugar MGL 6 GM Aronian, Levon ARM – 123 GM El Gindy, Essam EGY 7 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE – 122 IM Rakotomaharo, Fy Antenaina MAD 8 GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier USA – 121 GM Escobar Forero, Alder COL 9 GM Grischuk, Alexander RUS – 120 IM Pultinevicius, Paulius LTU 10 GM Radjabov, Teimour AZE – 119 GM Ziska, Helgi Dam FAI 11 GM Artemiev, Vladislav RUS – 118 GM Iljiushenok, Ilia RUS 12 GM Yu, Yangyi CHN – 117 GM Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan IRI 13 13 GM Karjakin, Sergey RUS – 116 GM Megaranto, Susanto INA 14 GM Nakamura, Hikaru USA – 115 GM Bellahcene,Bilel ALG 15 GM Andreikin, Dmitry RUS – 114 GM Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag BRA 16 GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw POL – 113 GM Christiansen, Johan-Sebast NOR 17 GM Harikrishna, Pentala IND – 112 GM Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri CUB 18 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof POL – 111 GM Henriquez Villagra, Cristo CHI 19 GM Svidler, Peter RUS – 110 GM Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos D CUB 20 GM Vitiugov, Nikita RUS – 109 GM Urkedal, Frode Olav Olsen NOR 21 GM Wei, Yi CHN – 108 GM Santos Ruiz, Miguel ESP 22 GM Le, Quang Liem VIE – 107 GM Aleksandrov, Aleksej BLR 23 GM Navara, David CZE – 106 GM Yuffa, Daniil RUS 24 GM Bu, Xiangzhi CHN – 105 GM Xu, Xiangyu CHN 25 GM Wang, Hao CHN – 104 GM Pridorozhni, Aleksei RUS 26 GM Shankland, Sam USA – 103 GM Safarli, Eltaj AZE 27 GM Matlakov, Maxim RUS – 102 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek UZB 28 GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny RUS – 101 GM Petrov, Nikita RUS 29 GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi IND – 100 GM Pichot, Alan ARG 30 GM Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS – 99 GM Martinez Alcantara, Jose E PER 31 GM Xiong, Jeffery USA – 98 GM Lysyj, Igor RUS 32 GM Firouzja, Alireza IRI – 97 GM Pashikian, Arman ARM 33 GM Dubov, Daniil RUS – 96 GM Cordova, Emilio PER 34 GM Amin, Bassem EGY – 95 GM Tabatabaei, M.amin IRI 35 GM Jones, Gawain C B ENG – 94 GM Flores, Diego ARG 36 GM Grandelius, Nils SWE – 93 GM Rakhmanov, Aleksandr RUS 37 GM Adams, Michael ENG – 92 GM Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. IND 38 GM Gelfand, Boris ISR – 91 GM Lu, Shanglei CHN 39 GM Cori, Jorge PER – 90 GM Nihal Sarin IND 40 GM Rodshtein, Maxim ISR – 89 GM Bartel, Mateusz POL 41 GM Inarkiev, Ernesto RUS – 88 GM Karthikeyan, Murali IND 42 GM McShane, Luke J ENG – 87 GM Delgado Ramirez, Neuris PAR 43 GM Korobov, Anton UKR – 86 GM Gupta, Abhijeet IND 44 GM Anton Guijarro, David ESP – 85 GM Narayanan.S.L IND 45 GM Naiditsch, Arkadij AZE – 84 GM Huschenbeth, Niclas GER 46 GM Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR – 83 GM Esipenko, Andrey RUS 47 GM Nabaty, Tamir ISR – 82 GM Sethuraman, S.P. IND 48 GM Fedoseev, Vladimir RUS – 81 GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar IND 49 GM Alekseenko, Kirill RUS – 80 GM Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son VIE 50 GM Berkes, Ferenc HUN – 79 GM Jumabayev, Rinat KAZ 51 51 GM Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter GER – 78 GM Parligras, Mircea-Emilian ROU 52 GM Sevian, Samuel USA – 77 GM Tari, Aryan NOR 53 GM Adhiban, B. IND – 76 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduard VEN 54 GM Cheparinov, Ivan GEO – 75 GM Adly, Ahmed EGY 55 GM Sjugirov, Sanan RUS – 74 GM Mareco, Sandro ARG 56 GM Saric, Ivan CRO – 73 GM Bok, Benjamin NED 57 GM Piorun, Kacper POL – 72 GM Abasov, Nijat AZE 58 GM Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB – 71 GM Bareev, Evgeny CAN 59 GM Maghsoodloo, Parham IRI – 70 GM Chigaev, Maksim RUS 60 GM Sarana, Alexey RUS – 69 GM Predke, Alexandr RUS 61 GM Demchenko, Anton RUS – 68 GM Hovhannisyan, Robert ARM 62 GM Kovalenko, Igor LAT – 67 GM Lupulescu, Constantin ROU 63 GM Gledura, Benjamin HUN – 66 GM Najer, Evgeniy RUS 64 GM Movsesian, Sergei ARM – 65 GM Oparin, Grigoriy
FIDE signs a sponsorship agreement with SILA International Lawyers
Neuchâtel, Switzerland, August 7th 2019. The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce a new partnership with SILA International Lawyers. FIDE and SILA signed an agreement for a period of 1 year, from August 2019 to August 2020, with the possibility of further extension. From now on, SILA will act as an official legal partner of FIDE and in this capacity will advise the International Chess Federation on various legal issues. SILA International Lawyers is an international firm with offices in Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria. The firm’s trademark is the sports law practice – SILA represents numerous famous athletes, coaches, agents and clubs. The firm has extensive experience of representing clients in the Court of arbitration for sport (CAS). SILA is also widely experienced in legal advising for international sports competitions, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship. Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President: — We are looking forward to this cooperation with SILA. This firm’s professionalism is well known in the field of sports law, and we are confident that their support will be essential in the legal development of FIDE. I am also particularly pleased to note that the contract is of sponsorship nature, which confirms that FIDE has become an attractive possibility for brands with a global scope in any sector. Alexandre Zen-Ruffinen, Head of the Switzerland office of SILA International Lawyers: — We are proud that FIDE has chosen our firm as its official legal partner. For SILA, this is a big step forward and a source of particular pride. We hope to live up to the trust FIDE administration has placed into us, and we are confident that together we will be able to improve the quality of normative regulation of chess. More info about SILA Lawyers:http://silalawyers.com@LawyersSILA(Announcement at the SILA lawyers website) Announcement at the SILA LAWYERS WEBSITE
Russian Championships Superfinals Begin in Udmurtia on August 9
The Superfinals of the 72nd Russian Championship and the 69th Russian Women’s Championship will be held in the Udmurt Republic on August 9-23 The Museum Estate of Pyotr Tchaikovsky will be the venue for the Superfinals in Votkinsk on August 9-12, while the International Friendship Centre in Izhevsk will host the event on August 13-23. Line-up, men: Vladislav Artemiev (2757)Nikita Vitiugov (2728)Maxim Matlakov (2710)Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706)Dmitry Jakovenko (2704)Ernesto Inarkiev (2682)Vladimir Fedoseev (2671)Kirill Alekseenko (2668)Alexander Motylev (2668)Aleksey Dreev (2662)Alexey Sarana (2655)Alexandr Predke (2650). Line-up, women: Aleksandra Goryachkina (2564)Alexandra Kosteniuk (2507)Valentina Gunina (2497)Alina Kashlinskaya (2491)Olga Girya (2462)Natalija Pogonina (2457)Anastasia Bodnaruk (2429)Polina Shuvalova (2419)Elena Tomilova (2376)Daria Charochkina (2352)Margarita Potapova (2335)Zarina Shafigullina (2332). The opening ceremony will take place on the premises of the Museum Estate of Pyotr Tchaikovsky in Votkinsk. The organizers are the Russian Chess Federation, Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, and the Government of the Udmurt Republic. The competition is also supported by Renault Russia Company, Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (Rosseti Group), and PhosAgro, the RCF’s partner since 2010. Logistics partner of the Russian Chess Federation is Russian Post. The tournament is a part of the Chess in Museums program, carried out by the RCF together with Timchenko Foundation since 2012. Photos: Press service of the Museum Estate of Pyotr TchaikovskyOfficial website of the Russian Chess Federation – http://ruchess.ru/en/Contact information:Eteri Kublashvili, Press service of the Russian Chess Federation