Russian Higher League kicks off in Sochi

The Russian Higher League

Russia was the first country to keep a major chess tournament  going during the pandemic. As is well known, extensive measures were taken during the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg to isolate the players from contact with the outside world in March. The tournament had to be abandoned at half-time, not because of a Covid-19 fall among the players, but because of the incipient lockdown in Russia: in the end, all participants were afraid that they would not be able to return home after the tournament. “Made it to Paris”, twitted a relieved Maxime Vachier-Lagrave safe at home.

Master Class Vol.10: Mikhail Botvinnik

Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusion

And Russia has so far not really attracted attention with its scandalous handling of the pandemic, even if the vaccine already presented would not receive approval in Germany due to the omission of an important test phase. Of course, people in Russia know what they are doing, and if there can be a national championship in Germany, why not have this tournament in Russia as well? You have to hope that everything will go well in the end.

Nine rounds will be played according to the Swiss system in the Open and Women’s categories. The venue is the Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina in Sochi, near the Black Sea. The best five players in each group will qualify to the Superfinals, the concluding events of the Russian Championships.

The prize fund of 5 million Roubles corresponds to approximately 55,000 Euros. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game; there is a 30-second increment per move from the start.

October 13 is a rest day. The rounds are played daily starting at 14:00 CEST.

Shaking hands — Aleksandra Goryachkina and Pavel Ponkratov

In the following game from the first round between well-known grandmaster Denis Khismatullin and FM Dmitrij Rodin, we can see why it is not a good idea to play too cautiously against a stronger opponent. Or, if you decide on that strategy, you should stick to it:

Standings after Round 2 - Open

The Accelerated Dragon - a sharp weapon against 1.e4

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6! leads to the so-called "Accelerated Dragon Defense". On this DVD the Russian grandmaster and top women player Nadezhda Kosintseva reveals the secrets of her favourite opening.

...51 players

Standings after Round 2 - Women

...37 players

All available games - Open

All available games - Women’s

Links

• Official site
• Full results at Chess-Results