The 2012 Russian Team Championship is under way in a microdistrict that lies 18 kilometres from the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The name "Loo" comes from one of the greatest Abazin feudal families, Lau or Loo. The open event is a seven-round Swiss with 18 teams, each sporting eight players, with six (maximum three non-Russians) playing in any individual round. The time controls are 90 minutes for 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds increment from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (13:00h CEST, 12:00h London, 07:00 a.m. New York).The zero tolerance and and Sofia rules are being implemented, i.e. players must be seated at their boards when the starting gong is sounded and may not offer draws in less than 40 moves. The top four teams will qualify to represent Russia in the next European Club Cup.
Loo, a district of Sochi, lies on the Black Sea coast of Russia –
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Of the 144 players 20 are rated over 2700: Caruana (2767), Karjakin (2766), Morozevich (2765), Svidler (2744), Tomashevsky (2736), Wang Hao (2733), Dominguez (2730), Jakovenko (2729), Ponomariov (2727), Leko (2720), Nepomniachtchi (2718), Giri (2717), Riazantsev (2710), Vitiugov (2709), Moiseenko (2706), Grachev (2705), Malakhov (2705), Eljanov (2704), Movsesian (2702 and Shirov (2701).
Parallel to this tournament the Russian Women’s Team Championship is being held in Loo/Sochi. There are seven teams with five players each (four playing in each round), and the event is a round robin.
The playing venue is AquaLoo
The arbiters prepare for the arrival of the teams and players
Top-seed ShSM-64 is bolstered by Fabiano Caruana (2767) on board one and
Wang Hao (2733) on board two.
Though the strength of the top teams is among the highest in the world, only truly rivaled by the German Bundesliga, the disparity can be rather extreme in some cases as can be seen below:
| Rk | Team | Avg Rtg |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ShSM-64, Moscow | 2725 |
| 2 | Economist-SGSEU, Saratov | 2720 |
| 3 | St. Petersburg Chess Fed. | 2711 |
| 4 | Tomsk - 400 | 2708 |
| 5 | Ugra, Khanty-Mansiysk | 2700 |
| 6 | Polytechnik, Nizhniy Tagil | 2583 |
| 7 | University, Belorechensk | 2570 |
| 8 | Chigorin Chess Club, St. Petersburg | 2553 |
| 9 | Navigator, Moscow | 2551 |
| 10 | EGU-Perspektiva, Lipetsk | 2533 |
| 11 | Rakita Chess Club, Belgorod Region | 2516 |
| 12 | Nezhmetdinov Chess School, Kazan | 2514 |
| 13 | Zhiguli, Samara Region | 2455 |
| 14 | DFU, Vladivostok | 2431 |
| 15 | Kemerovo Region Chess School | 2410 |
| 16 | Orienta, Moscow | 2401 |
| 17 | Atom, Desnogorsk | 2397 |
| 18 | Belogorie, Belgorod Region | 2202 |
No fewer than six teams include at least two 2700 players in their lineup. After three rounds, second-seed Economist is in the lead with three wins, followed by Tomsk-400 and ShSM-64 with two wins and a draw. None of the top players have three wins, due to the incredible strength of the tournament, though Karjakin leads the performance with 2.5/3. Of note also is Alexander Morozevich back in action with his singular brand of explosive chess, with one starting loss followed by two wins, and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who had only one event since the Tal Memorial last year.
In a curious twist on the ruckus created by the "zero-tolerance" episodes at the last European Championship, the rule used is that players may arrive up to fifteen minutes late, but if they do arrive late, they must still pay a fine of 2000 rubles (equivalent to USD 68) to be able to play.
Here is an endgame selected and annotated by noted endgame authority GM Karsten Mueller:
Pictures by Dmitry Kryakvin
Links
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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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