Ponomariov, Kosteniuk win Golden Blitz in Moscow

by ChessBase
9/14/2005 – A knockout blitz tournament was held in the Jazz Town Casino in Moscow, with eight male and four female players. It was organised by the ACP and broadcast on NTV + Sport. The winners were former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov and reigning Russian women's champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Illustrated report by Pufichek.

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Golden Blitz Moscow 2005

The ACP has staged a "Golden Blitz" Tournament in Moscow, on September 13 and 14, 2005. It consisted of a men's event with eight players: Alexander Grischuk, Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Motylev, Pavel Tregubov (all Russia), Nigel Short (UK), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Vlad Tkachiev (France), Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland); and a women's event with four participants: Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Zhu Chen (China), Almira Skripchenko (France), Irina Krush (USA). The format was knockout, with two games between pairs of contestants.

The event took place at the "Jazz Town Casino" in the centre of Moscow and was broadcast by the Russian TV channel "NTV + Sport". The tournament is sponsored by "IGP" (International Games Promotion) and organized by "V&V Profi", in association with the ACP.

The tournament has just ended and we have received the following information: the men's section was won by former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, who beat Evgeny Bareev in the final round, Tkachev in the semi-finals, and Grischuk in the quarter-finals. Bareev knocked out Tregubov in the semis and Short in the quarters. Tkachiev beat Motylev and Tregubov beat Pelletier in the quarter-finals.

In the women's section Alexandra Kosteniuk beat former world champion Zhu Chen in the first and Almira Skripchenko in the final round. Almira got to the finals by beating Irina Krush.

The tournament was held in the Casino Jazztown on Taganskaya Square, Moscow, a very nice venue The matches were played upstairs, spectators were downstairs


Almira Skripchenko vs Irina Krush in the first round of the women's section


Spectators downstairs are watching the games downstairs on big screens.


The winner was the newly crowned French women's champion Almira Skripchenko


Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Zhu Chen: 2-0. This was a revenge for the final of the Women's World Chess Championship 2001 in Moscow, where Zhu beat Alexandra and took the title.


The semi-finals between Vlad Tkachev and Ruslan Ponomariov


The two on the big screen. Ponomariov won convincingly


Tkachev being interviewed in the "studio" downstairs


Afterwards interviews for TV with the players: in the foreground Alexandra being interviewed by Marina Makarycheva and in the background Almira by the TV host.


The women's final between Alexander Kosteniuk and Almira Skripchenko (here with Arbiter Igor Bolotinsky). Alexandra won the match 2-0.


The winner of the women's section of the Golden Blitz


The final between Evgeny Bareev and Ruslan Ponomariov


Ruslan Ponomariov won the final 1.5 -0.5


The Golden Blitz champion Ruslan Ponomariov


A tandem match between the men's and women's finalists.


The women gained the advantage, but the men defended well and managed to get a draw


Good friends and a great team: Alexandra and Almira


The winners: Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukraine, and Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russia


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