Denis Khismatullin wins Dvorkovich Memorial

Aerial view of Taganrog

In spite of his status as one of the overwhelming favorites, Morozevich barely
made fifth, showing how tough the competition was

Anton Korobov in good company

Although as usual, there were more than a few surprises throughout the events, the most noteworthy was the culmination of Denis Khismatullin’s incredible run over the last month, during which he has added an astounding 43.4 Elo to his current 2674 rating, and skyrocketed him from a highly respectable world 75th to a superb world 30th.

Denis Khismatullin has had a stellar month of chess

This was not only due to this last open, where he earned 17 Elo alone, but a match held in the UAE a week earlier where he crushed GM Salem Saleh (2564) by 7-1, and the Ugra Governor’s Cup before that, that ended in the first days of January, and thus have not been computed yet. As it stands, his next rating will be 2717.

The opening ceremony with Anatoly Safronov, the Deputy President of the Southern
Federal Dsitrict, and recipient of the Hero of the Russian Federation medal. He
earned this for exemplary service in the airforce.

Ivan Bukavshin in action

Bocharov and Demchenko played the longest game in the rapid tournament

Evgeny Potemkin often shares his videos of chess events

The female contingent was in full force

The rapid tournament was won by the top seed Anton Korobov, with 8.5/11 who despite being of a similar classic rating to Morozevich (2723 as opposed to 2722), has a 25 Elo edge in FIDE Rapid ratings. In spite of this, it was evidence of the difficulty of the competition as Morozevich only managed to come in fifth, and this as a result of a crucial last-round win. In spite of the heavy presence of grandmasters and masters, it was the result of 13-year-old Alexey Sarana, rated under 2300 FIDE, who astonished as he came in tenth with a Rapid performance in excess of 2600, including a win over GM Belous in the last round. Yet another young Russian talent to be on the watch for.

13-year-old Alexey Sarana came in tenth with a 2600+ rapid performance

Anastasia Bykov - the best among girls

The first round saw the sensational loss of Anton Korobov to the 70-year-old
grandfather IM Alexander Zakharov. Bear in mind that Zakharov played in the
USSR finals twice and has met seven world champions over the board.

Veterans continued to advance: Igor Dmitriev dangerously attacked last year's
winner Dmitry Kokarev, but drew in the end

60-year-old Gennady Tunik beat Alexander Motylev in spite of a 250 Elo difference

The winners Anton Korobov (gold in the rapid) and Denis Khismatullin (gold in
the classic)

Denis Khismatullin receives his first prize

Photos by N. Kulieva and D. Elizarova

Final standings after nine rounds

Click for complete standings

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.