His fifth samovar – Morozevich wins 64th Moscow Blitz

by ChessBase
9/1/2010 – Many were worried about his recent absence from the chess circuit. The very volatile GM Alexander Morozevich, who has dropped from number two in the world (July/October 2008) to 37th in the current list, was in great form in the yearly Moscow Blitz Championship, taking first place with 14.0/19 points. We bring you lots of interesting portraits in this pictorial report by WGM Yana Melnikova.

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64th Moscow Blitz Championship

Report by WGM Yana Melnikova

The 64th Anniversary Moscow Blitz Championship took place on Sunday, hosted by the Russian State Social University, where every year the traditional Moscow Open Festival is held. In two weeks the Women's World Blitz Championship will be held at the university. The prizes for the Moscow Blitz 2010 were sponsored by the newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva (Evening Moscow).

The winner of the main tournament was Alexander Morozevich, who scored 14 points out of 19 games. Mikhail Kobalia finished second, half a point behind the winner. Bronze went to the young grandmaster Vasily Papin, who was the big surprise in this tournament. Here are all the results in the style of the progressive scoreboard used at such events:

# Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Pts
Rnk
1 Mozharov, Mikhail ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0
7.5
14
2 Vasiukov, Evgeni ½ 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0
5
18
3 Shipov, Sergei 1 1 1 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½
10
11
4 Dragomarezkij, Ev.  0 1 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
7.5
12
5 Khruschiov, Alexey ½ 1 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½
6.5
16
6 Popov, Ivan 1 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½
12.5
7
7 Papin, Vasily 1 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1
13
III
8 Nikolenko, Oleg ½ 0 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 0 1 0 1
11.5
8
9 Smagin, Sergey 0 1 1 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
7.5
13
10 Mesropov, Konst. 0 1 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
6.5
17
11 Dubov, Daniil 1 1 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 ½ 0
11
9
12 Amonatov, Farrukh 1 1 1 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1
13
5
13 Petukhov, Yury 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
3
20
14 Vlassov, Nikolai 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
4.5
19
15 Jakovenko, Dmitry 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½
13
4
16 Kobalia, Mikhail 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1
13.5
II
17 Korotylev, Alexey ½ 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0
12.5
6
18 Morozevich, Alex. 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 0 1 1
14
I
19 Vorobiov, Evgeny E. ½ 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0
7
15
20 Bareev, Evgeny 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 ½ 0 1 0 1
11
10

Picture gallery


The President of the International School Chess Union Alexander Kostiev and the
head of the Moscow Chess Federation Vassily Zhukov open the Championship


The venue of the Moscow Blitz in the Russian State Social University


Two top ranked GMs: Mikhail Kobalia and Evgeny Bareev


Kobalia in action – the 32-year-old Russian GM came second, with 13.5/19 points


Evgeny Bareev finished 10th with 11.0/19 points. A former top-ten player and second of Vladimir Kramnik is currently running on the weReurope ticket of the Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yazici for ECU Presidency. Evgeny is a really funny guy and a world-class cynic.


Sergei Shipov finished 11th with 10/19 points. Sergey wa a former blitz sparring partner of Garry Kasparov (in his best years), the author of a book called "The complete Hedgehog", and a very well-respected Internet commentator and chess couch. When we asked him for a link to which to send people he gave us www.hmmm?.com – but then settled on Crestbook, where he does most of his work.


Fifteenth: Evgeny E. Vorobiov, with 7.0/19 points


Sixteenth: Alexey Khruschiov, with 6.5/19 points


Yury Petukhov, 20th with 3.0/19 points


Evgeni Dragomarezkij, twelfth with 7.5/19 points


Ninth: Daniil Dubov, with 11.0/19 points


Ivan Popov, seventh place with 12.5/19 points


Alexey Korotylev, sixth with 12.5/19 points


Mikhail Mozharov, fourteenth with 7.5/19 points


The big surprise: GM Vasily Papin came third with 13.0/19


The winner: Alexander Morozevich, with 14 points out of 19 games


Apart from the usual prizes the winner traditionally receives a Russian samovar

Alexander Morozevich won the championship for the fifth time, and thus became the owner of his fifth samovar. The greatest number was collected by the immortal Michael Tal – he had 12 samovars!


WGM Valentina Gunina with a truly astounding result

In the women's section WGM Valentina Gunina, member of the Russian National team, 21 years old and rated 2465, produced an incredible 100% result, winning all seventeen games she played.


The hair style of a champion


Silver went to IM Irina Vasilevich, who scored 13.5/17 points


WIM Daria Charochkina, rated 2303


WGM Tatiana Fatianova, rated 2289


WFM Varvara Repina, rated 2278


Friend and colleague: WGM and TV journalist Elmira Mirzoeva, rated 2239


Irina Noideawhokova – maybe someone can correctly identify this interesting young player


Another unknown player for our readers to identify


About the author

WGM Yana Melnikova, Russia, is:

  • a graduate of the N. Bauman Moscow State Technical University, management faculty;
  • an organizers of chess events for the Moscow Chess Federation;
  • a member of German chess club Bad Konigshofen;
  • a Woman Grandmaster since 2005.

Copyright Melnikov/ChessBase


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