Photos by Vladimir Barsky

Women's Team Championship

The Women's competition is as tough as nails as can be and surprises were revealed in the very first round. At the very top of the Elo ladder is Alexandra Kosteniuk, whose recent spate of good results have taken her rating to over 2550 throughout the year, a personal best. The problem is that when it was shown she was listed, the first question that sprung to mind was whether this was a mistake or a marketing ploy, after all she was currently playing in Batumi in the Women's Grand Prix (where she came in second) and the Team event would already be well underway. Not a problem as the Russian in high demand was flow straight from Batumi to Sochi without a minute to spare in order to bolster her team. Very impressive considering she had just played an eleven-round event.

Talk about stamina! Alexandra Kosteniuk had just fought her way to clear second in the FIDE
Grand Prix in Batumi, and without a single day of rest she flew to Sochi to help her team. She
arrived in time to play the fourth round..... which she won.

Her teammate Kateryna Lagno is of course no lightweight and the second highest rating of the competition, but she ran into an unexpected brick wall in the very first round when she faced 17-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina. Goryachkina had been the subject of considerable speculation since after peaking at 2509 just a couple of months ago, she had suffered an unpleasant setback in the Russian Boy's under-21 losing 18 Elo and was now down to 2485. She showed this was all it was: a temporary glitch.

Kateryna Lagno chatting with her childhood friend Sergey Karjakin

Alexandra Goryachkina was anxious to show she was back with a vengeance

Kateryna Lagno - Alexandra Goryachkina

A brutal performance by the teenager. After five rounds she has 3.0/5 and a 2554 performance. That said, in spite of this excellent result, her team "University" from Krasnodar lost its match against the Muscovite "Legacy Square Capital". It should be noted that the Muscovites are not only the top seed of the event with a 60 Elo average edge over the nearest rivals, but are untouched with five wins in five matches. Their secret weapon has been IM Alina Kashlinskaya on board four who has 4.5/5 and a 2588 performance. Here is a sample of her handiwork:

Dina Belenkaya - Alina Kashlinskaya

Elementary my dear Watson! Black to play and win.

GM Natalia Zhukova is on second board at "University", right behind Goryachkina. She was
doing fine until round five when she lost to...

...WIM Elena Tomilova (2305 FIDE) who has been on a roll and has scored 4.0/5 with a 2603 performance!

Marina Baraeva's credentials include clear second in the Russian Girls Under-18 in 2012

Former world champion Anna Ushenina

11-year-old prodigy Bibisara Assaubayeva is playing the Women's Team championship (not
the Girl's) and after five rounds has a 2235 performance

Standings after five rounds

Annotation:
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: points (game-points)
Tie Break3: The results of the teams in then same point group according to Matchpoints

Senior Team Championship

The Senior Team Championship is hitly contended and offers a great opportunity for players past their prime to not only compete with their peers and colleagues, but show they teeth are still more than sharp enough to warrant lot of care. Consider the example below.

83-year-old GM Vasiukov (left) is still as feisty as ever and quite active with an average of 3-4 tournaments
per year even now. Here he faced legendary theoretician GM Evgeny Sveshnikov, the second seed.

Evgeny Vasiukov - Evgeny Sveshnikov

Standings after five rounds

Annotation:
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: points (game-points)
Tie Break3: The results of the teams in then same point group according to Matchpoints

One of the boards where the crosstables are posted

The event also has a Russian Team event for Boys and another for Girls

Also, the Russian Chess Federation decided to institute a new event in parallel: the All-Russian
Orphanage and Boarding School Championship.

Links Official tournament site All Premier games in PGN All Higher games in PGN All Women's 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.