Malachite wins Russian Team Championship

by Frederic Friedel
4/15/2014 – Four teams were way ahead of the other nine, with Malachite Sverdlovsk taking gold in the end. That was in no small part due to a 6.0/7 score and 2940 performance on board two by Alexander Grischuk, who gained 15 rating points and is now the number three player in the world. In the women's section Ugra won ahead of SHSM. Big report with lots of pictures.
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Malachite wins Russian Team Championship in Loo/Sochi

The Russian Team Championships took place in Loo, Sochi, from April 7th April to 13th. There were 13 teams with players like Grischuk, Karjakin, Svidler, Vitiugov, Nepomniachtchi, Jakovenko, Morozevich, Leko, Shirov, Jobava, Bologan, participating.


Loo, a district of Sochi, lies on the Black Sea coast of Russia – Click to view larger Map

The 21st Russian Team Championship was won by the team Malachite, with the players Sergey Karjakin, 2772, Alexander Grischuk, 2777, Peter Leko, 2730, Alexei Shirov, 2702, Vladimir Malakhov, 2701, Alexander Motylev, 2685, Igor Lysyj, 2662, and Viktor Bologan, 2649. All are GMs, all are from Russia, with the exception of Leko (Hungary) and Bologan (Moldova). Their individual results and performance may be seen here.

The winners Malachite [Photo Vladimir Barsky for the Russian Chess Federation]

Final ranking (after seven rounds)

Rk. SNo Team
+ 
= 
–
 MPts 
 BPts 
1 1 Malachite Sverdlovsk
5
2
0
12
28.5
2 4 SHSM-Our Heritage
5
1
1
11
25.5
3 2 St. Petersburg CF
4
2
1
10
24.0
4 6 University Belorechensk
4
2
1
10
23.0
5 3 Ugra (Khanty)
3
1
3
7
23.0
6 9 Chigorin Club
2
3
2
7
21.0
7 5 Ladya (Kazan)
2
2
3
6
20.5
8 8 Polytechnic Nizhny Tagil
2
2
3
6
20.5
9 7 Lada Samara
2
2
3
6
15.5
10 10 Turbopump Voronezh
2
1
4
5
20.0
11 11 Moscow region
2
1
4
5
18.0
12 13 Atom Desnogorsk
2
1
4
5
16.0
13 12 Yamal
0
1
6
1
17.5

Here are the players from the top four teams and their individual scores:

Malachite

Bo. Ti. Name Rtg FED
Pts.
Gms
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2772 RUS
4.0
7
2 GM Grischuk Alexander 2777 RUS
6.0
7
3 GM Leko Peter 2730 HUN
5.0
7
4 GM Shirov Alexei 2702 LAT
4.0
6
5 GM Malakhov Vladimir 2701 RUS
2.5
5
6 GM Motylev Alexander 2685 RUS
2.0
3
7 GM Lysyj Igor 2662 RUS
2.0
3
8 GM Bologan Viktor 2649 MDA
3.0
4

SHSM-Our Heritage

Bo. Ti. Name Rtg FED
Pts.
Gms
1 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2732 RUS
4.0
6
2 GM Morozevich Alexander 2722 RUS
3.5
6
3 GM Dubov Daniil 2619 RUS
2.5
6
4 GM Grachev Boris 2659 RUS
3.5
6
5 GM Najer Evgeniy 2655 RUS
3.5
6
6 GM Popov Ivan 2651 RUS
3.5
5
7 GM Potkin Vladimir 2617 RUS
4.0
5
8 GM Mozharov Mikhail 2557 RUS
1.0
2

St. Petersburg Chess Federation 

Bo. Ti. Name Rtg FED
Pts.
Gms
1 GM Svidler Peter 2756 RUS
3.0
6
2 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2747 RUS
3.0
6
3 GM Dominguez Leinier 2757 CUB
5.0
6
4 GM Movsesian Sergei 2670 ARM
3.5
6
5 GM Matlakov Maxim 2690 RUS
2.5
5
6 GM Efimenko Zahar 2657 UKR
2.0
5
7 GM Khairullin Ildar 2650 RUS
2.5
4
8 GM Shimanov Aleksandr 2637 RUS
2.5
4

University

Bo. Ti. Name Rtg FED
Pts.
Gms
1 GM Jobava Baadur 2706 GEO
4.5
7
2 GM Alekseev Evgeny 2678 RUS
2.5
6
3 GM Kobalia Mikhail 2633 RUS
3.0
7
4 GM Landa Konstantin 2608 RUS
3.5
6
5 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2620 RUS
3.5
7
6 GM Aleksandrov Aleksej 2539 BLR
5.0
7
7 GM Beshukov Sergei 2425 RUS
0.5
1
8 GM Cherniaev Alexander 2430 RUS
0.5
1

The hero of the championship was Alexander Grischuk, playing on board two for Malachite (behind Karjakin): Grischuk won five games and drew two, against an average opposition of 2672, to chalk up a 2940 performance (according to our calculations) and gain 15 rating points. That puts Alexander Grischuk on place three on the current world live ratings:

# Name Rating Age
1 Carlsen 2882.3 23 (30.11.1990)
2 Aronian 2814.8 31 (06.10.1982)
3 Grischuk 2792.1 30 (31.10.1983)
4 Anand 2785.0 44 (11.12.1969)
5 Kramnik 2783.0 38 (25.06.1975)
6 Caruana 2783.0 21 (30.07.1992)
7 Topalov 2772.0 39 (15.03.1975)
8 Nakamura 2772.0 26 (09.12.1987)
9 Karjakin 2770.3 24 (12.01.1990)
10 Dominguez 2768.3 30 (23.09.1983)

Pictures from Loo/Sochi

The following images were provided to us by WFM Maria Emelianova, who visited the tournament for the final round and the closing ceremony.

The playing hall at the start of the final round

Polytechnic playing Malachite. On the left we see Pavel Smirnov and Anton Shomoev, on the right Alexei Shirov, Peter Leko, Alexander Grischuk and Sergey Karjakin. Sergey drew his game, Grischuk won, as did Shirov and Alexander Motylev (just visible in the background). The total score was 4½:1½ for Malachite.

Alexander Motylev and Vladimir Malakhov playing for Malachite

GM Alexander Riazantsev scored 4.5/6 on board six for Ugra

Ian Nepomniachtchi on board one for SHSM-Our Heritage (score: 4.0/6)

GM Denis Khismatullin, rated 2681, on board four for Ugra

Baadur Jobava, 2706, on board one for University scored 4.5/7

Boris Grachev, 2659, scored 3.5/6 for SHSM-Our Heritage

Evgeny Alekseev, 2678, scored a disappointing 2.5/6 for University

Sergey Karjakin, 2772, playing on board one for Malachite, scored 4.0/7
against average 2701 opposition, which translated to a 2755 performance.

Anton Shomoev, 2587, scored 2.0/7 on board two for Polytechnic

Ernesto Inarkiev, 2691, scored 2.5/6 for Ugra

Dmitry Jakovenko, 2726, scored 3.0/5 for Ugra

Deputy chief arbiter Igor Bolotinsky

A young spectator

The start of the game Valentina Gunina vs Anastasia Bodnaruk

Full concentration in Alina Kashlinskaya vs Gulnar Mammadova...

... but a moment of intense levity in the analysis, where team compatriots and friends Alina Kashlinskaya and Valentina Gunina love to play friendly blitz matches. Vladimir Malakhov (not in the picture) has just said: "The one who loses will have to get married". We will not reveal the final result.

Women – final ranking after six rounds

Rk. SNo Team
+ 
= 
–
 MPts 
 BPts 
1 4 Ugra
3
3
0
9
15.0
2 3 SHSM-Our Heritage
2
4
0
8
13.5
3 2 Rook
2
2
2
6
12.5
4 1 Chigorin Club
0
1
5
1
7.0

The winners Ugra (Khanty-Mansiysk): Marina Guseva, Baira Kovanova, Tatiana Shadrina,
captain Pavel Lobach, Natalia Pogonina and Viktorija Cmilyte

Is it real gold? Natalia and Viktorija check out their medals.

 

Best women on board one: Viktorija Cmilyte (1), Alisa Galliamova (2) and Valentina Gunina (3)

The best on board two: Elena Zaiatz (3), Baira Kovanova (1), Alina Kashlinskaya (2)

Links

The games were 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.

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