58th
Russian Individual Championship (Semi-Final)The Russian Championship Qualifier is being held in Kazan from September 2nd – 12th, 2005. The event is a nine-round Swiss tournament, with the games starting at 15:00h Moscow time (13:00h CEST, 7:00 a.m. NY). Time controls are 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves and 10 minutes for the rest of the game. There is a 30 seconds increment after each move, from the first move on. The prize fund is US $100,000.
After five rounds GMs Mihail Kobalia and Sergey Volkov are in the lead with four points each. Both won two black games and one white, with two games ending in a draw. Kobalia defeated Bareev with black.
GM Mihali Kobalia, 2614, Russia
GM Sergey Volkov, 2622, Russia
The drawing average of all 165 games was 52%, with 33% white and 15% black wins. The shortest draw given was in the official bulletin was Shaposhnikov-Popov(3), which went 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 ½-½. But there are 15 games given with no moves, only results, so it is possible that the organisers are having dificulty getting complete gamescores.
|
|
Statues of Lenin can still be found in Kazan in 2005, 14 years after the
fall of communism
... alongside statues of the great poet Alexander Pushkin
The main street of the city, with lovely fountains, is lively and restricted
to pedestrians
Some streets are being redone entirely – here the continuation of Bauman
street
Russian women's champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in Kazan. Alexandra is playing
in this "men's" event and fighting out each game against strong male
GMs. She has taken time off to give us these pictures.
Alexandra points out the famous Kul Sharif Mosque for us
That is not a bat, it is Alexandra in the belfry (actually a viewing
tower)
The city is full of churches and coupolas
The Soviet-style Hotel Tatarstan, where the participants are logded
Soviet-style statues adorn the city and go well with the hotel
GM Evgeny Bareev, 2688, Russia
GM Alexander Motylev, 2675, Russia
GM Vadim Zvjaginsev, 2659, Russia
GM Sergei Rublevsky, 2645, Russia
GM Ernesto Inarkiev, 2618, Russia
IM Alisa Galliamova, 2453, Russia
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2516, Russia
All pictures were provided by Pufichek.
You can see many more on the Alexandra
Kosteniuk web site.
